Tiger papers: press mauled by soaring newsprint costs

New Internationalist, June, 1998 by Margot Cohen

The price of newsprint in Indonesia has quadrupled, threatening the viability of many newspapers. PT Aspex Paper, which supplies 70 per cent of Indonesian newsprint, says the price change is necessary because of the drop in the value of the rupiah. This may be the final blow to newspapers already bleeding from shortfalls in advertising revenue.

`There's no need for banning. At these prices, the press will die on its own,' grumbles Atal S Depari, Managing Editor of the Jakarta daily Sinar Pagi. S Leo Batubara, Secretary of the National Newspaper Association, says only a third of Indonesia's 286 newspapers are actually making money.

Media analysts warn of major staff layoffs in the near future. Many of Indonesia's 5,600 journalists, 11,000 other media workers and 100,000 street sellers could lose their livelihoods.

The public has never been hungrier for news, at a time when President Suharto is under fire for his handling of the economy, and formerly forbidden subjects such as the Presidential succession, are openly discussed. Suharto has no sympathy for the press, which he says worsened the crisis of confidence in the rupiah by publishing critical reports.

Despite its alleged clout, the press has been unable to persuade Aspex Paper to reduce prices. `How can you be so powerful, and at the same time so powerless?' muses Bambang Harymurti, Executive Editor of the daily Media Indonesia, where 38 out of 120 editorial employees were recently laid off, along with 69 other workers. Journalists say the Government is not doing anything to bring the price down because it wants less coverage of the crisis.

Margot Cohen/Far Eastern Economic Review Vol 161 No 11