Community rags find their niche in housing complexes

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid the rapid process of globalization, community media still has its niche especially thanks to its proximity to the readers.

Many still believe that such publications serve the needs of their readers better than the more widely-circulated publications as they can tailor their coverage to the needs of the community they serves. While the larger publications tend to go global, community magazines or newsletters go local.

With that principle in mind, seven residents of the Tebet district in South Jakarta, grouped under non-governmental organization (NGO) the Alternative Project, recently launched a local rag, Lintas Tebet.

"We believe that publishing such a community magazine with a bottom-up approach will solve a lot of problems in our community," editor in chief, Tri Warsono, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

"The residents now have better access to what is going on in their neighborhood and at the same time can express their own opinions."

Tri said the Tebet residents responded positively to the first issue which focused on the history of the Tebet area. Tebet was opened in late 1950's as a settlement for residents who formerly lived in Senayan area, which was developed as a sport complex to host the Jakarta 1962 Asian Games.

"We printed 10,000 copies for the first issue. We do not have any plan to increase the number too quickly. The readers want more pages and more columns but we just cannot accommodate that at the moment," he said.

Tri added that business circles in Tebet area also welcomed the new magazine.

The magazine is intended for residents of the Tebet district, which includes the seven subdistricts of Menteng Dalam, East Tebet, West Tebet, Bukit Duri, Manggarai, South Manggarai and Kebon Baru.

"There are some 57,000 families or 250,000 people living in our community. We come from all walks of life and from various ethnic backgrounds," said general manager Riana Puspasari.

"This forces us to work carefully not to overlook a certain group in our community."

She said the group did not intend the magazine to be the first community magazine in the city.

"We did not realize that there are already similar magazines being published in the city. We just published it to serve the people.

"There are distinct differences when we read those magazines although we all target a certain community."

Other community bulletins include monthly Bintaro magazine in Bintaro Jaya housing complex and Suara BSD tabloid in Bumi Serpong Damai housing complex.

Both publications are published by the developers of the housing complexes which are located in South Jakarta and Tangerang, Banten.

In Bintaro, however, there is also another monthly tabloid Bintaro Gazette published by a private company.

Meanwhile in Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, there are Info Kelapa Gading and Media Kawasan Kelapa Gading magazines which are published by two different companies.

The magazines in Kelapa Gading, however, concentrate more on advertorials and advertising instead of stories about their community.

Lintas Tebet magazine can be picked at several places in the community such as the subdistrict offices, local schools and large business premises in the area.

"We provide the magazine free of charge and will do our best to keep it that way.

"So far, we have received donations from the more affluent residents as well as business circles here," said Riana.

"We also strive to be self-efficient in financing the publication. We had quite an experience producing it."

She said that Project Alternative initiated a recycled-paper business at the height of the financial crisis that hit Indonesia in 1997.

But it seems that the magazine has to work harder to make the residents aware of its presence.

A resident of Menteng Dalam subdistrict, Ati, told the Post that she had not yet heard about the magazine.

"I haven't heard of this magazine. Do I have to pay to get a copy?" she asked.

Ati, a housewife with a son and daughter, said she would get one when told that the magazines were available at several places in her neighborhood.