Local media organisations are shirking their role as a governmental control to focus on populist topics, a seminar concluded on Tuesday.

Yopie Hidayat, chief editor of Kontan business tabloid, said media were now focused firmly on satisfying market tastes for profit.

"Take the rampant blood and violence we now see on TV. But print media is no different, either. Take a look at the high number of gossip and lifestyle or sex-themed tabloids," he said in a seminar held by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

It is also obvious, he said, that the media were now being used by various interest groups, including for political causes.

"Like the issue of media takeovers. Business interest comes second as all of them are directed to the 2009 polls. Concerning this, we will also see many new media in the coming years."

Media also are confused about defining the public interests that they should uphold.

"On the issue of rice imports, for instance, and which side the media should be on, they aren't even aware. They don't even understand the technical problems and situation so instead of using the control function, they become the mouthpiece of a certain side."

Business survival is one thing, but the inability to come up with a quality product is another.

Leo Batubara from the Association of Newspaper Publishers said media marketers fell into a trap of uniformity in their products. "Local media go against the marketing principle of making your product different. They have the same source, the same headlines, the same content."

Articles consist of mere "talking news", with comments strung together. "There is no answer to the problem, and the articles are not comprehensive. Journalists are too lazy to go deeper."

It might contribute to the low readership of newspapers, he added, with one newspaper read by 42 people here. Malaysia has a ratio of one to eight and India one to 12.

Organisations like AJI and the Indonesian Journalists Association must address the root of the problem to prevent it becoming entrenched, he added.

"Maybe we can learn from India where the government is committed to improving literacy, including through newspapers. There are also hundreds of journalism schools so journalists are not in short supply."

Journalists' welfare also was a concern at the seminar.

A 2005 AJI survey showed there were journalists earning less than 200,000 rupiahs (about Bt760) monthly. Although their number was few, over 60 per cent of the journalists surveyed earned less than 1.8 million rupiahs a month.

"Does it have direct relationship with professionalism, that we don't know. But a meager salary and poor work facilities cannot push professionalism," said press council head Atmakusumah Astraatmadja.

The Jakarta Post

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