Media wages advertising war (2)
By Atmakusumah
The competitive media environment in Indonesia is strengthening the strong and sidelining the weak. This is the second of two articles.
JAKARTA (JP): The phenomenal success of commercial television in taking a large piece of the advertising pie is an indication of the large numbers of TV viewers in Indonesia.
Given that Indonesian society is said to be more a watching society than a reading society, it cannot be ruled out that there has been a shift in audience interest from the print media to TV. Observers, however, hope that there will be enough public interest for the print media as well as for TV and radio.
Competition between the commercial TV stations is no less fierce given the stations' plans for the near future:
* TVRI is to convert into a state-owned public company;
* RCTI and SCTV are to go public;
* Indosiar will be a technology pioneer as it looks to use digital technology to increase picture and sound quality;
* Commercial stations continue to expand their national networks. ANteve, for example, opened a bureau in Washington in early 1997.
With the rising tide of competition, some print media organizations have become more aggressive in recent years by revamping their physical appearance, writing style, promotional efforts and distribution and marketing activities.
Since 1995, some organizations in the print media have entered the world of the "electronic newspaper" by filing part of their editorial material to a provider for Internet distribution.
Republika was the first daily to go online. It was followed by Kompas, Gatra, Swasembada and Infokomputer, the last three being magazines. The electronic paper is seen as a promotional vehicle to attract more subscribers.
Several papers in Java have started to use long distance print technology since mid-1997. This allows a paper to go to print simultaneously in different cities for earlier distribution in target areas further afield.
The Jakarta-based Republika, for instance, started to print simultaneously in Surakarta, Central Java, in July 1997.
Meanwhile, Kompas, the largest nationally-circulated paper based in Jakarta, has been cooperating with the Semarang-based Suara Merdeka, the biggest paper in Central Java, to print both papers in both cities since September 1997.
The "war" between the print media and private TV initially concerned ads. The battle for the future, however, will expand to the news front. After the enactment of the Broadcasting Law on Sept. 29, 1997, private television and radio stations are now allowed to broadcast their own news coverage.
Previously, they were prohibited to do so. The official rule was that private radio and TV stations are permitted (and obliged) to relay the newscasts of the government-owned TVRI and RRI.
Prior to the 1997 law, however, private TV stations got around the restriction on broadcasting their own news coverage by calling their news coverage anything else but news.
This "guerrilla war" approach was to meet a growing viewer demand for current and critical coverage of events not found in TVRI. Given their 18 to 20 hours a day of air time, the private stations definitely have the edge on immediacy.
TVRI broadcasts two regular nationwide news bulletins, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The government station goes on the air at 2 p.m. and signs off at midnight. Private stations start broadcasting at 5 a.m. and begin their first news program of the day an hour later.
For instance, RCTI's regular news broadcasts are "Nuansa Pagi" (Morning Nuances) at 6 a.m. and "Seputar Indonesia" (Around Indonesia) at 6.30 p.m. TPI has "Selamat Pagi Indonesia" (Good Morning Indonesia) at 6 a.m. and "Lintas 5" (Cross Coverage 5) at 5 p.m.
SCTV has "Liputan 6 Pagi" (Morning 6 Coverage) and "Liputan 6 Petang" (Evening 6 Coverage). ANteve has "Halo Indonesia" (Hello Indonesia ) at 6 a.m. and "Cakrawala" (Horizon) at 5 p.m. Indosiar has "Horison" at 11 a.m.
ANteve has upped the ante by broadcasting news breaks that interrupt regular programs. This flash program called "Aktualita" has proved popular with breaking stories that require immediate reporting. One such story was the minor earthquake that hit Jakarta on Monday, March 17, 1997. Within an hour after the pre- rush-hour tremor, ANteve was on the air and in the street interviewing workers who fled their highrise offices.
Commercial radio stations had for years also adopted the same anything-but-news label in broadcasting their own coverage.
TV as well as radio stations are indeed expected by their audiences to broadcast "what is happening" instead of merely "what has happened" which appears in the print media. This expectation has spurred commercial TV and radio stations to organize live broadcasts from time to time.
However, the Ministry of Information warned stations in November that live broadcasts, especially those related to non- entertainment and non-sports programs, could only take place "in cooperation" with the government-controlled TVRI or with the consent of the ministry.
A lack of reporters, however, puts a strain on coverage efforts by news organizations. Indonesia has about 7,000 journalists now who are being fought over by nearly 300 print media publications and five private TV stations.
The outcome is that there are print media organizations in outer regions managed by only five journalists or less, whereas in major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, some newsrooms employ a news staff of 50 to 100 people.
Private TV stations with news coverage ambitions plan to recruit 100 to 200 new reporters, producers, presenters, cameramen and soundmen in the next one or two years. But the lack of professional staff has led to another kind of skirmish through "wage wars", as newsrooms try to poach qualified people from each other.
This situation will further marginalize smaller media organizations that are already experiencing cash and investment shortages. They may have to merge with bigger players or quit.
Media companies also have to take into consideration the impact of the rupiah's declining exchange rates against the U.S. dollar. Due to the increasing cost of newsprint and the decline in ad revenues, both the print and broadcast media have to postpone or slow down planned expansions, including the hiring of new reporters. Dailies will have to increase the retail prices of their papers and cut contents.
On the brighter side, however, aggressive news reporting tends to be the future trend. The organizations that can afford it will allocate more money for more critical, in-depth and balanced reporting. This is not due to intermedia competition alone but to the demands of a more critical public and by the more openness of sources.
These signs, hopefully, will herald a new page in press freedom in Indonesia, a freedom that got entangled when the government banned three critical news weeklies: Tempo, Editor, and Detik, on June 21, 1994.
(Translated by Warief Djajanto Basorie; the Indonesian version is appearing in the weekly magazine D&R)
Atmakusumah is an Indonesian media commentator. Formerly, he was the executive editor of the investigative Indonesia Raya daily. He is now executive director of the Dr. Soetomo Press Institute, a Jakarta-based journalism school for motivated university graduates who seek careers in the news media.