Media revels in fiesta of democracy

Media revels in fiesta of democracy

JAKARTA (JP): With the race to lure voters in this year's
general election officially kicking off on Wednesday, another
fervent rivalry takes place on the sideline contesting the mass
media covering the event.

As an example, the respected daily Kompas, has dedicated four
pages every day to the election process over the past two weeks.
With nearly 90 reporters, photographers and researchers, the
country's largest circulating newspaper fills the four pages with
a wide range of items, including results of its straw polls.

Private stations SCTV and RCTI, offer almost an identical
package comprising election journals, breaking news, live
broadcasts and teleconferences plus a day-by-day report of
returns. Both are fielding a huge team, numbering up to 100 crew
members each.

"It has been our tradition to cover a major event in a special
package. There are a record 48 parties contesting the elections,
which for the first time since 32 years are arranged by non-
governmental institutions," SCTV news director Riza Primadi said
recently.

The station's election coverage, starting from May 14 through
June 14, takes most of the portion of its Liputan 6 news program
which is aired three times a day. Each program lasts one hour.

Riza said SCTV built three mini studios in Medan, Yogyakarta
and Surabaya, from which live shows outside Jakarta will be
broadcast.

Unlike SCTV, the country's leading private TV channel, RCTI,
has leased two rooms at the Wisata Hotel in Central Jakarta for
its home base until after the balloting day. A mini studio, from
which election journals and live shows will be broadcast, will
start operating on Friday until June 11. Each journal will shave
half an hour off its daily news program which is aired midday,
evening and midnight.

Apart from election journals, a two-minute election news clip
will be inserted in its hourly breaking news every day.

Producer of RCTI election coverage, Edy Sucipto, said on
Wednesday the station deployed a 150 member team in Jakarta
alone. He said his team would update the ballot counting every
two hours each day starting from June 7.

"Apart from Jakarta, we will specifically monitor the ballot
counting in troubled provinces of Aceh and East Timor plus
Surabaya, which represents the urban community," Edy said.

Edy said the special coverage had so far attracted
advertisements worth Rp 1.5 billion (US$187,500), although the
coverage is not classified as a special issue to invite sponsors.

"It just a matter of good ratings. Everybody is now absorbed
in the elections," Edy said.

While rivals compete with each other, Indosiar, the country's
youngest channel, opts for a low profile. Its spokesman, Gufroni
Sakaril, said Wednesday the station formed a smaller team of 23
reporters and 26 cameramen who would cover mostly Jakarta and its
surrounding areas.

"We don't place our crew outside Jakarta, except for an
extraordinary event which needs deep coverage. But the dispatch
of a team is restricted to towns in which we have built a
transmitter," Gufroni said.

The election report will be broadcast during its news program
called Fokus, which is aired twice a day. "Around 60 percent of
Fokus will be allotted for election news," Gufroni said.

He said that in line with its commitment to balance coverage,
Indosiar allocated each political party 30 minutes to socialize
with the public. The program, called Demokrasi 99 started on
Wednesday.

The station has also aired an interactive program called
Jurdil 99 every Saturday night since April 10. It features an
election-related talk show and a question and answer session with
audiences via telephone.

All the crew members of the three TV channels are protected
with insurance during their term of duties.

"Who knows what will happen to them on the field," SCTV
director Riza said.

The general election, touted as the most democratic one in the
country in the past three decades, puts Indonesia under world
scrutiny. Foreign media will represent the international
community's presence to watch the event.

Noted worldwide news agency Reuters is fielding about 30
television crew, photographers and journalists to cover the
election process here.

With 48 parties contesting, the news agency will focus on
political and economic issues dealing with several influential
and big parties, Jonathan Thatcher, Reuters bureau chief here
said.

"I saw the campaign at Merdeka square (on Wednesday). Well, I
think many people hope for the poll process to be a fair and
peaceful one. But we don't know what will happen tomorrow, do
we?" he said.

Some of the crew stay at hotels close to the office's base on
Jl. Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, such as Aryaduta and
Mandarin.

"Our crew will also travel around the country. Let's hope
we'll have great coverage," Thatcher said.

Another foreign media, BBC World Service, is revamping its
Indonesian web site to make extra news bulletins available in
real audio.

The redesigned site, which was launched on Wednesday,
increases the broadcasts available from 30 minutes to two hours.
The two main hour-long programs, including a newly introduced 15-
minute election special, broadcasts from 13.45 to 14.00 GMT and
will be accessible on the web straight after they are broadcasted
on air.

The new site is available at www.bbc.co.uk/indonesian.

Kompas set up a big team to anticipate the large news
coverage, one of its reporters, Pepih Nugraha, said.

"We have 44 reporters in Jakarta plus 44 more from regions
across the country," he said, adding that the team combined
reporters from different beats.

"We aim to give our readers a complete, comprehensive and
unique coverage," he said.

As for Suara Pembaruan, the evening daily, the election
coverage involves all its reporters and correspondents.

"So, apart from special pages dedicated for election news, we
have election-related news in every section of our daily," the
daily's political desk editor, Sabar Subekti, said.

Both Kompas and Suara Pembaruan do not provide their reporters
with a base camp outside their respective offices.

English newspaper, the Indonesian Observer, picked only five
reporters and two photographers to cover the "fiesta of
democracy" in Jakarta.

"We work as a small team," Observer's Bambang Murbianto, said.
(edt/amd)