Maverick Indonesia

KoranInternet, new on-line news portal

The battle for Indonesian news in cyberspace has hotted up with news portal KoranInternet joining into the fray to compete with others such as detik.com, KCM and others. KoranInternet fired its first salvo last Thursday, on 15 November, by placing colored advertisements about a quarter of page in Kompas announcing their launch.

KoranInternet appear to target mainly businessmen, young executives and government officials. The content covers mainly Financial & Business news and political issues locally as well as globally. There is also a special .com on the right hand side of the webpage reserved for Kwik Kian Gie the former Coordinating Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry under the Megawati administration.

Kwik, who used to be a newspaper columnist before becoming a minister, returns to his role of critic with his opinion and analysis on current issues on policies or politics that affect the economy of the country.Presented in an open discussion style, Kwik’s critical opinions in this column has already attracted many comments from readers.

The main page of KoranInternet has a simple-clean layout, making it easier for readers to read without the distraction of pop usp or moving feature which we usually find on other news web page, detik.com being the main culprit. Even the two advertising banners that appear when you first enter to the site did not overlap with the news page. I guess koraninternet has thought better than to irritate readers who are looking for news rather than advertisements.

We welcome KoranInternet and wish them all the best in the road ahead. If all goes well with this news portal we should probably be seeing them add more coverage. Personally, I’d like to see them cover more culture topic as Indonesia is so culturally rich.

By : Dian Kartikasari

MDGs award for journalists

UN Ambassador for the Asia Pacific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Erna Witoelar on Wednesday (19/9) presented an award to several Indonesian journalists from the print and electronic media for their contribution to the promotion of the MDGs programs in Indonesia.

Erna said that all these media had received international recognition as the best advocates of the MDGs program on top of Italy, which ranked second. The following is the list of the media:

1. Suara Pembaruan
2. Kompas
3. Koran Tempo
4. Media Indonesia
5. Seputar Indonesia
6. Metro TV
7. TPI
8. RCTI
9. ANTV
10. SCTV
11. TransTV
12. JakTV
13. Radio Trijaya
14. KBR 68H
15. detik.com

We are truly proud of their achievements and would like to extend our congratulations to them. Let’s support the Indonesian press!

98.7 Gen FM

Another new radio station in Jakarta, 98.7 Gen FM, was launched at Planet Hollywood on Monday (10/9). The radio plays 70% of easy listening and upbeat Indonesian hit songs. I’ve already tuned in to 98.7 Gen FM and discovered that it plays Indonesian latest songs, with very little interruption from the announcer so that listeners could enjoy the music.

Well, I think 98.7 Gen FM could be considered as a competitors for the top radios like Prambors and I Radio. It seems that 98.7 Gen FM is trying to help Indonesian songs become master in their own castle.

A New Life in Bisnis Indonesia

This Monday marks a new chapter in Zaki’s life as a photojournalist. After spending several years in the famous teenage magazine Aneka Yess!, he decided to pursue his career in a totally different kind of publication.

Yes, starting today, Zaki has become a photojournalist in Bisnis Indonesia–a respected business daily in the country.

“I’ve taken so many pictures of Aneka’s top models! I think I’ve had enough,” said Zaki playfully, when I asked him the reason why he decided to join Bisnis Indonesia. “Now it’s time for me to meet successful figures–and hopefully, by meeting these people, I can be as successful as they are!”

Good luck, Zaki, and success for your new career in Bisnis Indonesia! I think we’ll meet again soon in several business events

Goodbye Simon Jones…

Our deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of Simon Jones, one of Metro TV’s English editors. As a colleague, Simon was well known to be extremely helpful. As a friend, he was always very funny and a nice person to talk to.

May you rest in peace, Simon Jones. You’ll be greatly missed.

Jelita and Clara

Once again, another print media bites the dust. This time it is Jelita, a tabloid-sized women’s magazine. Since 9 August 2007 Tabloid Jelita was officially closed down. Jelita is the latest casualty in Indonesia’s Press Wars. In June the magazine Lisa were also closed down.

Our news vendor says Jelita was closed down temporary to prepare for some major changes on its appearance but when contacted, the receptionist at Jelita said it would be closed down permanently because of some “personal matters.”

I’ve tried to contact one of my friends in Jelita, but apparently she has already moved to another company. She just mentioned that it was apparent that Jelita would be closing down as long as four months ago but she declined to elaborate.

The demise of publications like Jelita, however, seems not to have deterred newcomers. Clara, another monthly women’s magazine targeting women above 27 years old began publishing last month.  Indonesia’s media scene is, if not anything else, exciting.

Newspapers in Indonesia: The ‘late’ tendency

Everywhere you hear stories of the printed media being challenged by the so-called new media. They have to contend with falling readership, competition for immediacy from the internet. Newspapers are all trying to cope with these new trends.

Not in Indonesia though, it seems. The have more immediate problems to cope with - like getting the paper out on time.

Over the past few months, newspaper deliveries have been unreliable. Rarely a week goes by without one or two newspapers being delivered late. On June 29th, for instance, Media Indonesia was late. A few days before that it was Investor Daily. Other habitual tardy newspapers are Indo Pos and Bisnis Indonesia.

Media Indonesia being late is an interesting case since it has its own printing plant to better control its distribution. But someone somewhere, in a feat of short-sighted planning, decided to locate its printing plant in Kedoya, North Jakarta. Each time there is heavy rain the area floods and the printing is stopped until the floodwaters recede. Business Indonesia is another tardy newspaper even though it has its own printing plant. Insiders say that the paper’s printing machines, for some reason or other, keep breaking down, resulting in delays.

So even with newspapers that have their own printing plants, we have newspapers that cannot meet deadlines. What hope will these paper have to compete, since younger Indonesians are now slowly, but surely embracing the internet and all its promise of immediate delivery?

Soccer Tabloid & RCTI: ‘The Marriage’

No, it’s not about RCTI acquired Soccer tabloid (though that will become something newsworthy!).

The marriage is between Soccer tabloid’s reporter Asep Ginanjar, and RCTI’s off-air promotion, Riska. Last Saturday (16/6), Asep and Riska held their wedding ceremony in Dr. Ismoenadji Auditorium, Bogor–with beautiful Sundanese wedding rituals. Asep’s friends from Soccer came first, and then Riska’s friends from RCTI showed up with an Indonesian Idol bus.

It was such a pleasant party for everyone … ! Congratulations for Asep and Riska!