New tabloid for adults to hit the streets soon
New tabloid for adults to hit the streets soon
JAKARTA (JP): After such publications have been officially
banned in this country for years, a new tabloid for adults is
expected to hit the streets on June 18 to compete in the
increasingly tight market for publications fixated on sex.
The 16-page weekly tabloid Pop will have a cover price of Rp
2,000, with some pages printed in color, managing editor Heru B.
Iskandar said on Wednesday in a press conference.
Just like other tabloids focusing on sex and adult stories,
Pop -- in its May sample edition -- runs a sizzling portrait of
actress Sarah Azhari.
The publisher, PT Maret Aktualindo Media Utama, said that Rp
10 from every copy sold would be donated to street children.
The weekly aims to reach readers in Bali, Bandung, Surabaya,
several cities in Sumatra, and also overseas markets such as Hong
Kong, Singapore and Sydney, with 150,000 copies per edition.
In its sample edition, Pop features hot articles such as
"comfort blankets" (a euphemism for prostitutes) in Sukabumi,
West Java, and tips on how to achieve sexual satisfaction.
The words and pictures in the sample edition are explicit.
Therefore, the publisher warns on the front page that the tabloid
"is not to be sold to children under 17".
Just like many sex-oriented media here, including that
secretly published during the New Order, most of the stories in
Pop are accompanied by erotic photos, although the girls pictured
had nothing to do with the girls described in the arousing
stories.
According to Heru, the whole idea of starting the publication
was "to make money".
"What do Indonesian reporters earn here? They are made to work
like coolies. He or she could work for 10 years or more and still
earn between Rp 3 million and Rp 4 million a month. It's better
we make our own business based on our profession," Heru, 32, a
former reporter of Jawa Pos, said.
He said that he and his three colleagues invested Rp 1 billion
in the new tabloid.
Following the resignation of former president Soeharto and the
significant changes in every sector of life in the country, the
number of tabloids featuring sensationalist stories and pictures
-- which were prohibited for years -- have grown rapidly in the
past few months.
According to Soni, a newspaper seller at Senen bus terminal in
Central Jakarta, among the sex tabloids that sell well are Map,
Pengakuan, Kesaksian, Nyata, Tangisan Hati and even the sample
copies of Pop.
"It is indeed haram (religiously illicit) material. But it
still sells well and nobody, including housewives and girls, seem
to be ashamed about purchasing the tabloids," Soni said.
According to Heru, all photographs of women in the paper were
taken with the consent of the subjects.
"Each person is paid between Rp 100,000 and Rp 10 million for
one shot," Heru said.
But the management of Map has its own rules.
"We do not pay the women a single rupiah for the pictures.
They do it willingly," said Lazuardi Adi Sage, chief editor of
the 20-page Map. (ylt)