`Tempo' staff split on future of the magazine

`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)