`The trend nowadays is toward story-telling'

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

It's National Press Day. Almost five years since the print media was confronted with sudden and fundamental changes.

The downfall of Soeharto in May 1998 has given the media its freedom, but the lingering impact of the 1997 economic crisis and fiercer competition from the electronic media have become of greater concern since.

The Jakarta Post spoke with Suryopratomo, the chief editor of the country's largest and most influential newspaper, Kompas, over the changes the print media has undergone.

Question: How do you view the changes in the print media industry since the 1998 political reform?

Answer: From the market side, readers haven't completely recovered (from the economic crisis) and from the advertisers side, neither have companies. The economic recovery isn't quite running well.

Compare this with before 1997, the issue of cost was relatively light, (imported) raw materials like paper, ink and so forth. Now see the difference of Rp 2,400 against U.S. dollar with Rp 8,800 to the U.S. dollar today.

A third factor is that the market has become open to anybody. From the economic side the challenges have become very heavy. The question of survival has gained weight for the media now.

Q: What are the opportunities that the 1998 reform movement has brought about for the media?

A: The new opportunities are more like having no restriction on the number of pages. That's what has made so many publications survive (the crisis). Macro (economic) conditions however remain tough. It used to be that the limit was 24 pages, now we have more space for ads. However if we look at the trend, from the view of a publication firm's health, there must be a balance between advertisement and revenue from subscription, sales of the newspaper. Ideally, it should be 50 percent to 50 percent, that would be excellent, but normally it's more like 60 percent to 40 percent. Now we can't do it anymore. Now it's maybe 70 percent to 30 percent or even 80 percent to 20 percent. We have become too dependent on ads. That's because what I said before, people's purchasing power have limits. The economy is very weak.

Here public's interest in reading compared to other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). In Indonesia it is probably the lowest. The simplest example for this is when we have to raise the price of our newspaper by Rp 200 or Rp 300. Readers' complaints are just unbelievable. Now look that without realizing, the parking fee has risen from Rp 500 to Rp 1,000, and for that kind of increase there is no complaint. It's different with the media. And they (readers) not only complain verbally, they also take action. They stop subscribing. And that is even if the media provide information that is actually intellectually stimulating. But to sacrifice Rp 100 for that feels so hard.

Here is another problem: the media has serious problems as evidenced by the fact that over the past 10 years, the circulation of newspapers and magazine has been stagnant. It is one challenge that all of the media now must think about in order to break this constraint.

Q: How do you see the competition from the electronic media since 1998?

A: That's a different factor, with 11 television stations now it's not just cutting a slice from the ad cake, but they also provide information faster. Almost all of the media is now using news as their signature. So the signature of Indonesian television isn't just entertainment but has changed to infotainment. This is affecting the printed media.

Q: What has been the impact of the rise in the electronic media?

A: RCTI (Indonesia's first private television station) was established in 1991, right? Since then, circulation has stagnated. That was one of the factors.

Q: Are there any changes in writing news, or should there be any changes?

A: Now with the (competition) from the electronic media, the presentation of news has shifted. It is not just straight news anymore, but more on the how and why. This requires a deliberate change in reporters' attitude when covering and reporting this how and why. That's why we also do comparison with other papers. The trend nowadays is towards story-telling that is concise, comprehensive and able to explain the meaning. This, I think is the challenge.

Q: Does this reflect the readers' demands?

A: Yes, the readers are becoming more critical. Kompas owns a readers forum, a community of Kompas readers who are not paid. We have them in Jakarta, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.

Readers are very critical. One should never take them for granted when running a newspaper.

Q: How is the government -- media relationship?

A: Compared to before 1998, there is no more pressure on the media. We have the freedom to criticize the government and they too are very firm on us, I think our relationship is healthy.

Q: What can the government do to help the print media industry?

A: We have asked the government repeatedly, explaining that the media's role is not only to provide information but also knowledge, so it's only appropriate not to impose sales tax on print media products. Just look at countries like India. Why are people's reading interest and their productivity in writing books so high? Because all literary products there are cheap, there is no sales tax. After all sales tax are paid by the consumers and we producers must pass it on to the government in the form of other taxes they impose.

Q: How has press freedom altered the media?

A: Press freedom is like two sides of a coin. On one side, freedom has the meaning of freedom from fear, from intimidation, from restrictions by an authoritarian regime. But on the other side of the coin, there is the responsibility to educate professionally. So what is freedom for now? Freedom should have been used to educate, to fight ignorance, to fight corruption, collusion and nepotism and so forth. But, so far, we have been looking at freedom just from one side, only from the side of freedom from oppression.