'Indonesia Today' says good-bye

JAKARTA (JP): After nearly five years of bringing the news to the country's English-speaking community, Indonesia Today signed off for the last time on Friday morning.

The show first appeared on RCTI in October 1996, making it the first English-language news show in the country to be aired on a private television station.

It started out as Indonesia This Week, a once-a-week roundup of news and events in the country. The program quickly attracted an audience and after nearly two years it was expanded to a daily program, appearing at 7 a.m.

At the time, the management of the station believed that western news dominated the English-language coverage of the country, and along with this coverage came a western bias, news reader and producer Julia Supadmo said during the final show.

In response, Indonesia Today was founded to bring what was felt to be a much-needed Indonesian perspective to reporting on the country.

The show strove to provide viewers with a complete coverage of the country, so instead of simply focusing on the latest news it also looked at diplomatic happenings, art, culture and travel, giving viewers the type of rounded coverage of Indonesia that just was not provided by foreign news outlets.

As an English-language program, the show was aimed at foreigners in the country, including the diplomatic community, educated Indonesians and people in neighboring countries who were interested in events in Indonesia.

While the program received a positive response when it first appeared, the audience continued to fall over the years, a result of both its morning time slot and increased competition from both foreign and local news outlets.

RCTI's Atmadji said, "Research showed that for the 7 a.m. time slot most of the show's viewers, expats, had already left home for work. The result was a dwindling audience."

He also pointed to the fact that many expats were now watching CNN and other foreign broadcasts or reading English-language newspapers to get information about the country.

Teguh Juwarno, the public relations manager at RCTI, painted a similar picture of falling audience numbers.

"It was a very difficult decision (to cancel Indonesia Today) ... but the show's target audience was not the best for its time slot (at 7 a.m.)."

Teguh said the station was currently concentrating on developing other news programs in Indonesian, but was considering introducing a new English-language news broadcast in a later time slot. However, if this does happen it is not likely to be before next year.

In the meantime, the cancellation of the program will leave a hole for the English-speaking community in the country who for the last five years have kicked off their day with Indonesia Today. (David Eyerly)