'Gamma' weekly hits newsstands
'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)