`Tempo' staff split on future of the magazine

JAKARTA (JP): Some 162 employees of the defunct Tempo news magazine have accepted an offer by timber tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan to join in his endeavor to start a new magazine, but only 22 of them are journalists.

The majority of the 78 journalists rejected the offer, preferring to set up their own independent magazine, according to sources at the magazine.

Bambang Bujono, who heads the foundation of Tempo employees, announced yesterday that PT Era Media Informasi, a company owned by Bob Hasan, recently distributed forms to 279 Tempo staff and journalists both in Jakarta and throughout the region, asking them if they would like to join in its plan to begin a magazine, to be called Masa.

The forms were distributed with the consent of PT Grafiti Pers, the company that published Tempo.

Era Media Informasi said it was offering them jobs with salaries on par with what they have been receiving at Tempo.

Only 172 forms were returned, and 162 of these accepted the offer while 10 others rejected the offer, according to Bambang.

Bambang is also heading the foundation's plan to establish a magazine of it's own, to be called Opini, although many foundation members are pessimistic about their chances. They applied for a new publishing license with the Ministry of Information early this month.

"Those who accepted the offer of Era Media Informasi feel that the application for a new license for Opini will definitely be rejected," Bambang said.

"Masa is offering welfare certainty but Opini is offering certainty in editorial independence," Bambang said underlining the prime reason why the majority of journalists declined Bob Hasan's offer.

Tempo lost it's license in June when the government claimed that the proprietor has repeatedly ignored its warnings about some of the magazine's editorial content. (emb)