Newspapers allowed up to 24 pages daily<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Press Council, the industry's watchdog
\nagency, yesterday agreed to allow broadsheet daily newspapers to
\nexpand to 24 pages to allow them to better inform their readers
\nas well as compete with the growing broadcasting media.<\/p>\n
Tabloid papers will be permitted to expand to 48 pages, Antara
\nreported from Denpasar, Bali, where the council just ended its
\ntwo-day deliberation on the future of the Indonesian press
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
Currently, the government restricts the number of pages a
\ndaily newspaper is allowed to print each day to 20 pages at the
\nmost, with advertisement occupying not more than a third of the
\ntotal.<\/p>\n
The restriction was seen as necessary to prevent giant Jakarta
\nnewspapers from swallowing the smaller provincial papers and
\nallow the advertising cake to be shared out more equally between
\nthe dozens of competing newspapers.<\/p>\n
With the advent of commercial television in Indonesia in the
\nlast five years, the giant daily newspapers have also had to
\ncompete with the growing TV networks for advertising revenues.<\/p>\n
Jakob Oetama, the chief editor of Kompas daily newspaper and
\nexecutive director of the Press Council, told reporters yesterday
\nthe decision was made in view of the fact that people need more
\nin depth information from the press.<\/p>\n
Jakob said the Association of Newspapers Publishers will be
\nasked to set the price of newspapers more with their bigger
\npages.<\/p>\n
The move was seen as necessary so that the print media does
\nnot trail behind the broadcast media which have been growing by
\nleaps and bounds, he said.<\/p>\n
The council is also recommending that the government allow
\nnewspapers to begin \"long distant\" printing, a technology that
\nwould allow simultaneous printing of the newspaper in various
\ncities.<\/p>\n
Jakob said that long distant printing has been under
\ndiscussion since 1991.<\/p>\n
\"Minister of Information Harmoko in his speech to the council
\npointed out that Malaysian publications are already printing in
\nKuala Lumpur and Johore Bahru although the two cities are fairly
\nclose to one another. Indonesia consists of various islands with
\nlong distances between them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Harmoko is also the chairman of the council, which includes
\ngovernment officials, press executives and public figures.<\/p>\n
The Press Council, he added, will evaluate the long distant
\nprinting and will allow its' use for selected newspapers.<\/p>\n
He denied that the technology would threaten the existence of
\nsmall provincial newspapers. On the contrary, the provincial
\npapers are the ones most prepared to use the system, he claimed.<\/p>\n
The council also felt that the stronger competition from
\nbroadcast media has compelled newspapers to change and upgrade
\nits own presentation and organization. (emb)<\/p>",
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