RI attracting foreign media

RI attracting foreign media

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is drawing greater international media
interest, judging from the growing number of foreign journalists
working in the country, particularly over the past year.

The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents' Club (JFCC) said yesterday
that it now has more than 60 members. The most recent additions
include correspondents from the Cable News Network (CNN), the
South China Morning Post, the soon to be published Asia Times
newspaper and the financial news service AFX-Asia.

"The growth in our membership demonstrates that Indonesia is
acquiring a much higher profile on both the regional and the
world stage," Reuters' bureau chief John Owen-Davies, the newly
appointed JFCC president, said in a statement.

"But it is important to have a group like JFCC to encourage
the government to provide more information on its policies to
overseas audiences," Owen-Davies said.

At a recent JFCC annual congress, Owen-Davis was appointed
chairman of the club, taking over from John McBeth of the Far
Eastern Economic Review. The new vice presidents are Bernard
Estrade of Agence France Presse and Nobuo Fukuda of Asahi Simbun.
Greg Earl of the Australian Financial Review is the new
treasurer.