'Gamma' weekly hits newsstands
JAKARTA (JP): New publication Gamma hit the stands on Monday with 140,000 copies, featuring an exclusive interview with Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo, the former chief of the Army Strategic Reserves Command.
Its management said it was optimistic despite several news weeklies on the market already, citing experience with a couple of leading national weeklies.
Chief editor Herry Komar said that although the government had issued licenses for 20 new news weeklies, among which "less than 10" could be considered contenders, he and his staff had experience in setting up and operating Tempo and Gatra.
The latter two were mentioned as the most serious contenders, with Tempo's circulation now reaching 138,000 copies since it resumed publication last year.
Herry was deputy director at Tempo when it was banned in June 1994. It resumed publishing last October. Herry then became chief editor of Gatra, set up in October 1994.
Late last year trouble brewed at Gatra, which according to the former management was controlled by tycoon Mohammad "Bob" Hassan. Herry was among management members dismissed by the board of directors.
In November, an exodus followed the dismissals in protest of perceived intervention in editorial content by the owners, and some of Gatra's employees, including a number of reporters, joined Gamma.
"We've had experience in building up two other magazines, Tempo and Gatra. So like the Greek words, (for us) alpha represents Tempo, beta is Gatra and now we've establish Gamma," Herry said.
"Many might think that the magazine's format is similar, such as the red rectangular frame and the layout. It's a standard image of weekly magazines," he said.
Gamma, with 16 colored pages, will sell for Rp 8,500. Initially it is selling at a promotion price of Rp 5,000. The weekly was set up with Rp 30 billion capital and is managed by PT Garda Media Mandiri.
Business manager Mahtum Mastoem said Rp 20 billion of the money would be used first and the remainder would be used if the break even point was not met within 10 months.
The long-distance interview with Prabowo, who is in Jordan, revealed that Prabowo was disappointed that President B.J. Habibie did not contact him for clarification before he publicly remarked on the deployment of troops around Habibie's residence on May 22.
Mahtum said Gamma's shareholders were all private individuals while contributions came from friends. Shareholders are general manager Lukman Setiawan, an executive of the Fajar publishing group Alwi Hamu, writer B. Kusuma and businessmen Ali Tanujaya and Suryadi.
"Together they will distribute 25 percent of the total share for employees, journalists and agents," Mahtum added. (edt)