The Jakarta Post
Encyclopedia
The Jakarta Post is a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia
. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara, and the head office is in the nation's capital, Jakarta
.
The Jakarta Post was started as a collaboration between four Indonesian media under the urging of Information Minister Ali Murtopo
and politician Jusuf Wanandi
. After the first issue was printed on 25 April 1983, it spent several years with minimal advertisements and increasing circulation. After a change in chief editors in 1991, it began to take a more vocal pro-democracy point of view. The paper was one of the few Indonesian English-language dailies to survive the 1997 Asian financial crisis and currently has a circulation of about 40,000.
The Jakarta Post also features a Sunday and Online edition, which go into detail not possible in the daily print edition. It is targeted at foreigners and educated Indonesians, although the middle-class Indonesian readership has increased. Noted for being a training ground for local and international reporters, The Jakarta Post has won several awards and been described as being "Indonesia's leading English-language daily".
and politician Jusuf Wanandi
. Murtopo and Wanandi were disappointed at the perceived bias against Indonesia in foreign news sources. At the time, there were two English-language dailies, the Indonesia Times and Indonesian Observer. However, due to negative public perception regarding the existing papers they decided to create a new one. In order to ensure credibility, the two agreed to convince a group of competing newspapers (the Golkar
-backed Suara Karya
, the Catholic-owned Kompas
, the Protestant-owned Sinar Harapan, and the weekly Tempo) to back the nascent paper. It was hoped to become a quality English-language paper, similar to The Straits Times
in Singapore
, the Bangkok Post
in Thailand
, and the New Straits Times
in Malaysia.
After founding PT Bina Media Tenggara to back the paper, Wanandi spent several months contacting influential figures at the targeted newspapers. To receive their cooperation, Kompas requested a 25 percent share in the new newspaper, for which it would handle the daily business operations, such as printing, circulation, and advertising. Tempo offered to assist with management in return for a 15 percent share, while Sabam Siagian of Sinar Harapan was hired as chief editor, for which Sinar Harapan received stock. The establishment of the paper was further aided by incoming Information Minister Harmoko
, who received 5 percent interest for his role in acquiring a license. In total, the start-up cost Rp
. 500 million (US$ 700,000 at the time).
After further details, including the matter of Sinar Harapan share of stock and the publisher, were decided at a meeting at Wanandi's office in March 1983, the first edition — totaling eight pages — was published on 25 April 1983. The first newsroom of the new paper were located in Kompas former laundry room, a one story warehouse; the first employees had to do the layout by hand, using pica poles as straight edges. During the first few months, the writers translated and recycled previously published stories from Indonesian media, which were later picked up by foreign wire services. Original reporting was rare as the editors at first did not want to deal with the censorship of Suharto's New Order
government.
During the early years of publication, The Jakarta Post had difficulty attracting advertisers, to the point that some editions ran without ads. However, circulation increased dramatically, from 8,657 in 1983 to 17,480 in 1988. Although it was originally hoped that the paper would begin to turn a profit within the first three years, the recession in the early 1980's
led to the start-up funds being depleted. Eventually, in 1985 the paper took out an interest-free loan and received Rp. 700 million from its owners. After advertising increased, The Jakarta Post was able to turn a profit by 1988, and was considered "one of the most credible newspapers" in Indonesia.
In 1994, The Jakarta Post signed a distribution agreement with the British news service Reuters
and the American Dialog Information Services, allowing its stories to be more easily promoted overseas. By the mid 1990s, it had established a workshop to assist its new, foreign-born staff in learning the local culture. By December 1998, The Jakarta Post had a circulation of 41,049, and was one of the only English-language dailies in Indonesia after the 1997 Asian financial crisis; six other dailies had failed.
In November 2008, The Jakarta Post began to feel competition, dubbed "a wake up call", from the Jakarta Globe
, which is backed by billionaire James Riady
. Several reporters from The Jakarta Post left the paper to join the Jakarta Globe, and the initial print run of the latter was 40,000. , the chief editor is Endy Bayundi.
format. In the beginning, it featured an index on the front page, as well as short offbeat stories under the title "This Odd World". The lifestyle section had eight comic strips, and it used more photographs and graphics than was normal for Indonesian publications at that time. The editorials tended to be shorter than their Indonesian counterparts.
The Jakarta Post uses the inverted pyramid
style of reporting, with the most important information at the beginning of the article; during the 1980s, many Indonesian papers put the lede
further down. Bill Tarrant attributes this to the different writing styles in English and Indonesian
, with English favouring the active voice
and direct statements, while respectful Indonesian favours the passive voice
and a circuitous approach. Regarding this topic, Wanandi has said that "You cannot bullshit in English, like the Javanese way."
, notes that The Jakarta Post has been considered a "training ground" for local reporters, and offers apprenticeship programs. In 2009, six former The Jakarta Post reporters worked for Bloomberg
.
; other papers so recognized were Kompas and Indo Pos
. The paper received the Adam Malik Award in January 2009 for their reporting on foreign politics; the coverage was considered accurate and educated, with good analysis. The following year three reporters received the Adiwarta Award from Sampoerna for excellent photography in the fields of culture, law, and politics.
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The paper is owned by PT Bina Media Tenggara, and the head office is in the nation's capital, Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
.
The Jakarta Post was started as a collaboration between four Indonesian media under the urging of Information Minister Ali Murtopo
Ali Murtopo
Ali Murtopo was a prominent Indonesian general and political figure during the first half of General Suharto's New Order regime.-Early life:...
and politician Jusuf Wanandi
Jusuf Wanandi
Jusuf Wanandi is a Chinese-Indonesian politician and educator.He was born in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, on November 15, 1937. He is the brother of Sofjan Wanandi.- Education :...
. After the first issue was printed on 25 April 1983, it spent several years with minimal advertisements and increasing circulation. After a change in chief editors in 1991, it began to take a more vocal pro-democracy point of view. The paper was one of the few Indonesian English-language dailies to survive the 1997 Asian financial crisis and currently has a circulation of about 40,000.
The Jakarta Post also features a Sunday and Online edition, which go into detail not possible in the daily print edition. It is targeted at foreigners and educated Indonesians, although the middle-class Indonesian readership has increased. Noted for being a training ground for local and international reporters, The Jakarta Post has won several awards and been described as being "Indonesia's leading English-language daily".
Founding and development
The Jakarta Post was the brainchild of Information Minister Ali MurtopoAli Murtopo
Ali Murtopo was a prominent Indonesian general and political figure during the first half of General Suharto's New Order regime.-Early life:...
and politician Jusuf Wanandi
Jusuf Wanandi
Jusuf Wanandi is a Chinese-Indonesian politician and educator.He was born in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, on November 15, 1937. He is the brother of Sofjan Wanandi.- Education :...
. Murtopo and Wanandi were disappointed at the perceived bias against Indonesia in foreign news sources. At the time, there were two English-language dailies, the Indonesia Times and Indonesian Observer. However, due to negative public perception regarding the existing papers they decided to create a new one. In order to ensure credibility, the two agreed to convince a group of competing newspapers (the Golkar
Golkar
The Party of the Functional Groups is a political party in Indonesia. It is also known as Sekber Golkar . It was the ruling party during Suharto's regime...
-backed Suara Karya
Suara Karya
Suara Karya is a daily newspaper published in Indonesia. Established in 1971 to assist Golkar in winning that year's legislative election, it became required reading for all civil servants and the voice of Golkar. After its circulation increased from 55,700 in 1971 to 300,000 in 1998, the fall of...
, the Catholic-owned Kompas
Kompas
Kompas is the most widely read newspaper in Indonesia. Published by Kompas-Gramedia Group Publishing since June 28, 1965, it has a reputation in Indonesia for high-quality writing and investigative journalism...
, the Protestant-owned Sinar Harapan, and the weekly Tempo) to back the nascent paper. It was hoped to become a quality English-language paper, similar to The Straits Times
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, the Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
The Bangkok Post is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. The first issue was sold on August 1, 1946. It had four pages and cost 1 baht, a considerable amount at the time....
in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and the New Straits Times
New Straits Times
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
in Malaysia.
After founding PT Bina Media Tenggara to back the paper, Wanandi spent several months contacting influential figures at the targeted newspapers. To receive their cooperation, Kompas requested a 25 percent share in the new newspaper, for which it would handle the daily business operations, such as printing, circulation, and advertising. Tempo offered to assist with management in return for a 15 percent share, while Sabam Siagian of Sinar Harapan was hired as chief editor, for which Sinar Harapan received stock. The establishment of the paper was further aided by incoming Information Minister Harmoko
Harmoko
Harmoko is an Indonesian politician. He served as information minister in the New Order regime of President Suharto from 1983 until 1997 and chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly and People's Representative Council from 1997 until 1999.-References:* "The Editors" , The Sixth Development...
, who received 5 percent interest for his role in acquiring a license. In total, the start-up cost Rp
Indonesian rupiah
The rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR. Informally, Indonesians also use the word "perak" in referring to rupiah...
. 500 million (US$ 700,000 at the time).
After further details, including the matter of Sinar Harapan share of stock and the publisher, were decided at a meeting at Wanandi's office in March 1983, the first edition — totaling eight pages — was published on 25 April 1983. The first newsroom of the new paper were located in Kompas former laundry room, a one story warehouse; the first employees had to do the layout by hand, using pica poles as straight edges. During the first few months, the writers translated and recycled previously published stories from Indonesian media, which were later picked up by foreign wire services. Original reporting was rare as the editors at first did not want to deal with the censorship of Suharto's New Order
New Order (Indonesia)
The New Order is the term coined by former Indonesian President Suharto to characterize his regime as he came to power in 1966. Suharto used this term to contrast his rule with that of his predecessor, Sukarno...
government.
During the early years of publication, The Jakarta Post had difficulty attracting advertisers, to the point that some editions ran without ads. However, circulation increased dramatically, from 8,657 in 1983 to 17,480 in 1988. Although it was originally hoped that the paper would begin to turn a profit within the first three years, the recession in the early 1980's
Early 1980s recession
The early 1980s recession describes the severe global economic recession affecting much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The United States and Japan exited recession relatively early, but high unemployment would continue to affect other OECD nations through at least 1985...
led to the start-up funds being depleted. Eventually, in 1985 the paper took out an interest-free loan and received Rp. 700 million from its owners. After advertising increased, The Jakarta Post was able to turn a profit by 1988, and was considered "one of the most credible newspapers" in Indonesia.
Activism
Susanto Pudjomartono, former chief editor of Tempo, became The Jakarta Post chief editor on 1 August 1991, after Siagian was chosen to be Indonesia's ambassador to Australia. Under Pudjomartono's leadership, the paper began publishing more original work and doing less translation; reporters were also asked to take a more active role in the day-to-day operations of the paper. The paper also became more vocal regarding politics, taking a pro-democracy stance like Tempo. It soon converted its offices into a new, two-story building built using the Kompas pension fund and expanded to 12 pages.In 1994, The Jakarta Post signed a distribution agreement with the British news service Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
and the American Dialog Information Services, allowing its stories to be more easily promoted overseas. By the mid 1990s, it had established a workshop to assist its new, foreign-born staff in learning the local culture. By December 1998, The Jakarta Post had a circulation of 41,049, and was one of the only English-language dailies in Indonesia after the 1997 Asian financial crisis; six other dailies had failed.
In November 2008, The Jakarta Post began to feel competition, dubbed "a wake up call", from the Jakarta Globe
Jakarta Globe
The Jakarta Globe is a daily English language newspaper in Indonesia, launched on November 12, 2008.The paper averages 48 pages a day, and publishes Monday to Saturday...
, which is backed by billionaire James Riady
James Riady
James Riady is the deputy chairman of the Lippo Group, a major Indonesian conglomerate. He is a Chinese Indonesian, and also the son of Mochtar Riady, founder of the group. The group has recently signed an agreement with Khazanah of Malaysia to relinquish its majority stake in Lippo Bank...
. Several reporters from The Jakarta Post left the paper to join the Jakarta Globe, and the initial print run of the latter was 40,000. , the chief editor is Endy Bayundi.
Sunday edition
The Jakarta Post Sunday edition was launched on 18 September 1994. The Sunday edition includes more in-depth stories, as well as entertainment and fiction that would not be published in the weekday editions.Online edition
The Jakarta Post features an online edition, which includes both print and internet exclusive stories that are free to access. There are also news flashes that are developed as they happen. The paper hopes to digitize the entirety of its printed stories, with at least 50,000 articles dating to June 1994 already digitized.Market
The Jakarta Post is targeted at well-educated Indonesians, businessmen, and foreigners. In 1991, 62 percent of the paper's readers were expatriates. Under Pudjomartono's leadership, it began targeting more Indonesian readers. , approximately half of its 40,000 readers are middle class Indonesians.Layout and style
The Jakarta Post follows a broadsheetBroadsheet
Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...
format. In the beginning, it featured an index on the front page, as well as short offbeat stories under the title "This Odd World". The lifestyle section had eight comic strips, and it used more photographs and graphics than was normal for Indonesian publications at that time. The editorials tended to be shorter than their Indonesian counterparts.
The Jakarta Post uses the inverted pyramid
Inverted pyramid
The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists and other writers to illustrate the placing of the most important information first within a text...
style of reporting, with the most important information at the beginning of the article; during the 1980s, many Indonesian papers put the lede
Lead paragraph
A lead paragraph in literature refers to the opening paragraph of an article, essay, news story or book chapter. Often called just "the lead", it usually occurs together with the headline or title, it precedes the main body of the article, and it gives the reader the main idea of the story.In the...
further down. Bill Tarrant attributes this to the different writing styles in English and Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
, with English favouring the active voice
Active voice
Active voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. It is the unmarked voice for clauses featuring a transitive verb in nominative–accusative languages, including English and most other Indo-European languages....
and direct statements, while respectful Indonesian favours the passive voice
Passive voice
Passive voice is a grammatical voice common in many of the world's languages. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is...
and a circuitous approach. Regarding this topic, Wanandi has said that "You cannot bullshit in English, like the Javanese way."
Public opinion
Peter Gelling, of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, notes that The Jakarta Post has been considered a "training ground" for local reporters, and offers apprenticeship programs. In 2009, six former The Jakarta Post reporters worked for Bloomberg
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
.
Awards and recognition
In 2006, the Reporters Union of Indonesia recognized The Jakarta Post as being one of the Indonesian newspapers that best followed the journalism ethics and standardsJournalism ethics and standards
Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism"...
; other papers so recognized were Kompas and Indo Pos
Jawa Pos
Jawa Pos is one of Indonesia's major newspapers. Jawa Pos was launched by Suseno Tedjo or Tek Chung Sen in Surabaya in 1 July 1949. The "Jawa Pos Group" is owned by Indonesian media tycoon, Dahlan Iskan .-Award:...
. The paper received the Adam Malik Award in January 2009 for their reporting on foreign politics; the coverage was considered accurate and educated, with good analysis. The following year three reporters received the Adiwarta Award from Sampoerna for excellent photography in the fields of culture, law, and politics.