Children magazines' content mostly the same: Observer

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Adam and his elder sister Astri sat side by side on the floor. Both of were engrossed in looking at magazines. Adam appeared the more serious of the two although, at four years old, he cannot read a word.

"It's funny. Adam can't read yet, but he always wants to 'read' the magazine first," his mother, Susi, not her real name, said.

Susi, 33, formerly subscribed to only one children's magazine, Bobo, but her kids always fought to be the first to read the weekly. The house has been more peaceful since Susi started to subscribe to another children's magazine, Ina, in April.

Like Susi, many parents can now feel relieved. They no longer have to see their kids battle over a single children's magazine because there are now plenty of different publications available on the market.

Until last year, Bobo, figured as the country's only popular children's magazine. It first hit the market in 1973. Another children's weekly, Kuncung, began publishing in 1956 but its popularity faded in the 1970s. Today, it sells about 10,000 copies per edition and is only available in some schools, mostly outside Jakarta.

Kawanku was founded in 1970. It underwent a face-lift in June 1995 to become a magazine for girls between 13 years and 18 years of age. It now sells about 58,000 copies per edition.

Aku Anak Saleh magazine, which provides Islamic religious teaching for kindergarten and elementary school students, made its debut in 1991.

In the past few years many more children's magazines, like Ina and Orbit, and tabloids including Hoplaa, Fantasi and Bianglala, have arrived on the scene.

Every children's magazine claims to offer something different.

Ina, which was first published by PT Atmo Bismo Sangotrah in February this year, is trying hard to live up to its motto of being "more Indonesian" by providing more stories and comics with local nuances. This includes the title character, Ina, a pink cat who belongs to a happy family.

Through Ina's character, which is the work of Arswendo Atmowiloto, the company's president director, the magazine attempts to introduce moral values to children.

With covers and illustrations almost similar to Bobo, the magazine also features short stories, folk stories, items on science and technology and, of course, comics.

Most interesting is the magazine's discussion page. In its 18th edition in early June, it showed elementary school students trying to ride on the back of a van. It asked readers to discuss four questions -- such as whether the behavior was right or wrong -- with their friends, brothers, sisters or parents.

Ina's chief editor GB Sarsidi said it took at least a year to prepare the magazine, including three months' physical preparation. It was published along with two other media: Bianglala news, technology and science tabloid and Pro TV tabloid on television.

Although he declined to reveal the amount of investment for the magazine, he claimed it reached the break-event point within two months in its 10th or 11th editions. The magazine sells about 50,000 copies per edition.

Ina is targeting children up to fifth grade "but it's also read by junior and high school students", he said.

For a children's magazine, the 50-page Ina is relatively expensive at Rp 4,000 per copy. Bobo is sold at Rp 3,000 per copy, and Orbit is Rp 3,000. Children's tabloids are far cheaper. Fantasi is sold for Rp 2,000 per copy and Hoplaa is Rp 1,000 per copy.

Orbit, is not far different from Ina in terms of content. It also consists of short articles, stories and comics. Compared to Ina, Orbit's quality of paper is low and the colors in its illustrations are pallid.

Proclaiming itself to be a newsmagazine for children, Orbit was launched in May with Parni Hadi as the chief editor and general manager. Parni is general manager of Republika daily.

Aku Anak Saleh is more specific. Published once a month for each series -- there are kindergarten and primary school series -- the magazine sells a steady 50,000 copies per edition for each series.

According to the magazine's chief editor, Sabaruddin, it has received a good response from parents who are busy with their work but want their children to learn about Islam.

He said that like other children's magazines, Aku Anak Saleh depended more on its subscribers than advertisements. "We have to admit that there's still a low number of ads targeting children."

It is mostly read by students from Islamic kindergartens and elementary schools, including in Malaysia and Singapore.

"We're the market leader after Bobo," Sabaruddin said.

Bobo is still the most popular children's media, with a circulation of 220,000 copies per edition. According to the magazine's managing editor Eko Praptanto, it has not felt its market affected by the increasing number of children's magazines.

"At the moment, we don't feel their impact, including in marketing. At first, we thought that there would be a need for us to make changes ... but it turned out that they're following us," Eko said.

In general, it appears that children's magazines are better planned in the focus of their content than tabloids directed at the young.

The 24-page Fantasi, for instance, discusses TV programs for children, Japanese comic characters, games, the Backstreet Boys and other celebrities like Scott Moffatt and Geri Halliwell in its issue published in the first week this month. Fantasi was first published in 1993.

Fantasi's content, however, is not far different from the 16- page Bianglala, which claims to be the news and science and technology tabloid. Hoplaa tabloid also offers much of the same, despite its efforts to help children learn English on four of its 24 pages.

The growing number of media directed at children does not hearten Murti Bunanta, an avid observer of children's books.

"There are too many of them ... but the content is mostly the same, comics, films, celebrities ... nothing really new," said Murti, who received her doctorate in children's literature from the University of Indonesia.

She said the crop of new children's media was "uniform" and she was not interested in studying them.

"It's more interesting if each magazine has its own character, different ... but at the moment, there's no need to subscribe to more than one magazine since they mostly cover the same things," Murti said.