'Audience prefers entertainment to news'
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With the economic crisis continuing unabated and a political climate vulnerable to conflict, media consumers are turning more to entertainment and leisure news.
A survey conducted by Media Research Ignas Kleden and Associates suggested that the media change their presentation of the news and offer more than factual news to grab consumers.
"We suggest the media invent a new style that combines hard news with entertainment. It may sound impossible, but why not?
"For example, the media can change the content by reducing the facts and inserting more human interest into the stories," the director of the research firm, Ignas Kleden, told The Jakarta Post after a media briefing at Wisma Antara building.
Citing an example, he said most media consumers were eager to know whether East Timor villagers were aware of their new citizenship following the country's independence. People, he added, were curious about what the East Timorese felt about their freedom rather than what government officials commented on East Timor's independence or about President Megawati Soekarnoputri's controversial visit.
Although the survey does not cover the reasons why people prefer entertainment to hard news, Ignas said Indonesians were still passive in what information they received.
He said media consumers failed to filter out the information they received or search for particular information they required.
"Our media consumers prefer a finished product rather than having to sift through the information, while entertainment news kind of delivers the message much clearer than hard news," Ignas said.
In a situation where media consumers were not mature enough to access information, mass media can become a burden for the media workers striving for freedom of the press.
It is obvious that consumers are tired of hard news on political issues using the favorite programs presented by television stations as the indicators.
Over the last few months, talk shows on factual political issues did not occupy prime time spots, but were found slots late in the evening as viewers preferred other programs with "- tainment" in them.
Informative programs will net greater attention if they offer interactive communication features with viewers or provide prizes to those who successfully answer skill-testing questions.
The survey was carried out over a four-month period from Sept. 1, 2001 to Jan. 1 of this year. It involved several leading newspapers, television and radio stations and dotcom news sites to find out what kind of articles and how often other media present the news provided by the agency.
The survey also questioned 963 respondents in Jakarta to learn the profiles and interests of users of online sites.
The survey revealed that television remains the main source of information, followed by daily newspapers and online sites, while radio and weekly news magazines took the fourth and fifth position respectively.