‘On the Air’ in Indonesia

by Mary T. Rogus

It is hard to believe that in just 36 hours our adventure to Southeast Asia will be over and Tim, Lindsey and I will begin the long journey back to Ohio. We bring home with us plenty of pictures, more than a few souvenirs (get ready for some great gifts, family and friends!), and many wonderful and interesting memories of the new friends we’ve made. We also come back to America with an important understanding of the television media in Indonesia.

We’ve visited seven national stations in Jakarta and one regional station in Yogyakarta. The facilities ranged widely from the brand new SCTV newsroom and studios built into an upscale mall where most Indonesians can do little more than window shop, to the oldest station TVRI, the former government, now public television station in several buildings which look as if they haven’t been touched with a paintbrush since the station went on the air in 1962. And then there is Metro TV, Indonesia’s CNN, in a building more opulent than most 5 star hotels, with highly polished mahogany trim, plush carpeting and beautiful Indonesian art work everywhere. With the exception of the public television, most of the technology is very similar to what one would find in an American station, or at the network level. Most of the news operations are using digital editing software and produce their newscasts with the same electronic newsroom management programs used in newsrooms here.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, these ‘superstations’ produce 70-90% of their own original programming, in addition to news. So they have multiple studios, many of which look much like a Hollywood production facility. We often found a dozen people busily creating or re-creating the next set for the upcoming live show, sometimes just hours before that show would air. Some of the shows have live audiences of 100-350 people, which adds to the chaotic traffic as show time approaches. The stations which are similar to our networks, producing a variety of entertainment and news programming, told us the most popular programs are the variety/music programs.

One of the very interesting things we found was how the stations respond to Ramadan, which is the fasting month for Muslims. For the entire month of September, most Muslims don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset. That means that they get up in the middle of the night to eat a meal between 4:00 and 4:30am and then break their fast at 6:00pm. The stations have recognized this as an opportunity, so many of the national stations produce special live programming from 2:30-4:00am which apparently gets quite high ratings. They also typically move their evening news programs to an hour earlier, often starting at 4:00 or 4:30pm instead of after 5:00pm.

At every station we have had extensive time for discussion with news managers and producers and reporters, including the journalists who were part of the exchange program and visited Ohio last summer. These discussions were fascinating as we learned about the similarities and differences among U.S. and Indonesian television news. In just about every newsroom it was easy to identify the assignment desk, usually a hub of activity. We learned many things about the type of coverage stations do and what the ‘big’ stories were. Corruption is the clearly the number one story across Indonesia. As many of the journalists told us, bribery or ‘the envelope’ is a custom in Indonesia, even for journalists. Many of the major news organizations have policies forbidding their journalists from accepting any money, but for some of the smaller, regional stations, reporters told us, management expects that they are getting and accepting these gifts of cash, and therefore pay them as if these ‘tips’ are part of their salary. For the government bureaucrats, these cash payments are part of their budgets and giving the cash is simply part of Indonesia’s culture of hospitality. Their hope in giving the money is that they will make friends with the journalists, and then perhaps the journalists would not be so critical of their ‘friends’.

Another fascinating story we heard about is devil possession and exorcism. And no, this was not a topic on the Indonesian version of The Jerry Springer Show, this is a real story that news departments struggle with how and when to cover. Apparently it’s happened more than once that all the students in a school, typically middle or high school, will start screaming for no obvious reason. They believe the school is haunted by evil spirits and the principal might bring in an exorcist to rid the school of the evil. There was some skepticism among the journalists about what really causes the mass hysteria, but others admitted that they weren’t sure what might be happening, and perhaps one shouldn’t dismiss what can’t be proven one way or another.

[note: And we weren't ready to dismiss it either. Especially after seeing the sign below in front of the gorilla cage at a local restaurant. Yes, at a local restaurant.]





Of course there was great interest in the U.S. Presidential race given Barack Obama’s ties to Indonesia. In fact the elementary school he attended while living here with his mother was very close to our hotel. We were barely off the plane before we were accosted by a man who asked if we were American and then wanted to know immediately if we were voting for Obama. A couple of the national stations had crews in Denver and Minneapolis to cover the conventions. We were always asked about the election, and frequently put on the spot about who we personally supported. Lindsey was the best at skirting this question!

It was actually quite interesting watching the wide range of coverage from the BBC World, to CNN International, to Aljazeera English to the Australian Network. The speeches received heavy play, especially foreign policy portions, for the Democrats, but Hurricane Gustuv took center stage for the beginning of the GOP Convention. Across the board of international coverage John McCain received high praise for ‘setting politics aside’, and it was regularly noted that he was trying to dispel the memories of what was referred to as “Bush incompetence” from Hurricane Katrina. It is very clear in the coverage that there’s no love lost abroad for President Bush. The Sara Palin revelation that her unmarried, teenage daughter is pregnant was typically reported with no commentary or judgment.

One thing that was very clear from our many visits, was that, although television news is relatively young (typically just 10-15 years), the journalists understand how important it is in a country with low literacy and newspapers with circulations of a few thousand in a population of 240 million. Even in the most impoverished areas, every shack had an antenna on top to receive television signals.

Tonight we have our farewell dinner, and for me it will be especially sad. This time when we part, I don’t know when I might see the journalists whom I’ve gotten to know so well through the first workshop in Jakarta that brought the group together 18 months ago, to their six weeks in Ohio a year ago, and now our visit to bring Ohio journalists to Indonesia. They have become my family across the world, and more importantly they have become an incredible network of journalists committed to developing the professionalism of Indonesian journalism and focusing on a positive role for the media in this country’s many conflict situations. My pride in their work and their dedication grew daily as we saw them in action, and learned of their newest accomplishments, such as being three of the top five finalists, including the winner, of a British Consulate national competition for stories which show how conflict situations have turned to citizenship opportunities. The winning journalist did an incredible story of guerilla fighters in Aceh who now patrol the forests and protect the lands against illegal logging which can strip areas bald and lead to devastating flooding. When we visited this journalist’s station he brought me to his office, and there on the wall was the award certificate he had received only the night before, but next to it was his certificate for participation in our exchange program, and he pointed to each and said to me, “This is my award, but this is my social contract.”

The Heart and Soul of Indonesia

by Mary T. Rogus

Yogyakarta, Indonesia — It took three trips and nearly two years, but now I can finally say I’ve seen Indonesia. Waves of traffic and hazy smog gave way to blue skies and acres of tender green rice paddies. You can see life slow down and faces lined with the stress of urban living are replaced with faces lined with simple wisdom and outdoor life. This is Yogyakarta — called the Heart and Soul of Indonesia. Just an hour’s flight from Jakarta took us to this place of history and culture, farming and craftsmanship.



Jogya, as its known, is not a small community. More than two million people live here, but you don’t get lost in a maze of skyscrapers or suburban housing developments (which you don’t find anywhere in Indonesia). It is streets and alleyways lined with small and large red clay roofed houses painted in rainbows of colors, mixed with open market store fronts selling anything you can imagine. And in between the places where people live and shop are the fields of rice, corn and grasses to feed livestock, all brilliant greens that would make any farmer in America envious. Framing all of it, as everywhere in Indonesia, are the dazzling colors of the tropical flowers.



Tim, Lindsey and I were definitely feeling the effects of jet lag and living on the wrong side of the clock Friday afternoon when we arrived in Yogyakarta, but one look at the open air resort we were staying at helped revive us. It was a lovely place tucked away in the shadow of one of the ancient Hindu temples in Jogya. We each had these little bungalows with no phones, and surprisingly to us, but apparently not to our Indonesian guides, outdoor showers! Being the skeptical journalists we are, Lindsey and I both carefully examined the high brick walls for peep holes or overlooks, before we risked washing off the last remnants of Jakarta.

On Saturday we made our first visit to a local television station. We had already visited two of the national stations in Jakarta that broadcast to the entire country. But Jogya TV reaches only the region of Yogyakarta. One of the things that had amazed us with the station visits we’d already made was the fact that these stations produce 80-90% of their own programming. Everything from dramas, and comedies to variety shows and soap operas, plus their news, is produced in-house, and much of it is live. One station we visited produces the top rated “primetime” show which is a six hour live variety/talent show with a full audience of enthusiastic (and well paid) fans. They also produce these programs in multiple languages including English, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Javanese (an Indonesian dialect) as well as Indonesian. We watched a five minute news bulletin at Metro-TV, which is the CNN of Indonesia, and saw three anchors at the desk who each read one story, each in a different language!

Quite frankly we did not expect to find the same level of local production at Jogya TV since it was similar to local stations in the U.S. We were definitely surprised! Jogya TV produces 90% of its own programming. While we were there, we watched live production of a talk, variety show with two absolutely adorable women hosting. Meanwhile the station was setting up for its weekly Saturday night concert in the parking lot which will bring dozens of people to watch live, in addition to its television audience. This station has only been on the air since 2004 and in 2006 much of the facility and equipment was destroyed in an earthquake. But the station was back on the air and broadcasting live from the parking lot with earthquake coverage in four hours. The news department provided live continuous coverage from outside the building for weeks while the building was repaired.



Beyond the commitment to local programming, the station truly believes its mission is to help its community grow and prosper, while maintaining its culture and traditions. The station sponsors a mobile library that brings books to children and adults across Jogya, AND a mobile medical clinic that provides access to general health care and medicine to the people. When we asked one of the owners about profitability of the station, he laughed and said, “not yet, but that’s not why we’re here.”

We all left humbled by the involvement of the station and its employees in their community, and the commitment to the thousands of people who watch. We would continue to be humbled by the history, art and culture we experienced throughout the weekend in Jogya. From the awe of the temples, originally constructed in 900AD, to the color and fire of a traditional Indonesian ballet, to the precision of silver filigree work on jewelry pieces no bigger than my thumb, our respect and admiration for the talent and work ethic of the Indonesian people grew.



We also were touched by the open friendliness of the people we met everywhere. Lindsey went jogging every morning and people would come out of their houses to say hello. We were taking pictures at the temple and a family of Indonesian tourists came up to us and asked if they could take their pictures with us—so we had the whole family embracing us and smiling to have their pictures taken with the Americans. When we visited the area where much of the pottery is made, Lindsey stopped to take a picture of a young girl who couldn’t have been more than three and her sweet face was dusted with dried pottery clay. She watched quizzically as Lindsey snapped the picture and then when Lindsey turned the camera around to show her the picture she danced around, squealing with musical laughter, as if it was the first time she saw her own image.



In addition to the beautiful crafts, and awe-inspiring history, we also saw some of the most comical sights on the motorbikes that much of the population uses to get around. It’s not unusual to see three, four, even five people, often including very young children, on one small bike. And the other things people transport on these bikes is truly astounding. We saw one biker with a ten foot pipe on his shoulder, another had a full size love seat sofa balanced over the back of the bike, there were baskets of sheep, and bundles of hay or grasses. But the one which made us laugh the most was the man who was transporting a large truck tire around his waist.



It was hard to leave the many wonderful sights, sounds and smells of Yogyakarta, but we definitely brought back with us, through our memories, pictures and sense of peacefulness a little of the Heart and Soul of Indonesia.

The Contrasts, the Details, and the Big Moment

by Mary T. Rogus, Associate Professor

We had left Columbus, OH nearly 36 hours earlier. After three different flights, we were rumpled, tired and incredibly anxious to get off the plane. We are myself, Mary T. Rogus, Associate Professor of Broadcast Journalism, Tim Sharp, WOUB News Director and Scripps Faculty member, and Lindsey Seavert, WBNS-TV Reporter. For me, despite the exhaustion of travel, there was a special thrill as the plane descended and the red clay roofs, palm trees and tropical flowers that typify Indonesia came into view. A smile of anticipation at seeing the 18 Indonesian journalists I’ve come to know so well, touched my lips. I was back in Jakarta for my third visit.



Our trip is the last phase of a State Department grant for a program on Conflict and Diversity Journalism which Ohio University developed. After workshops in Jakarta and at OU, and then six week internships at Ohio television stations, the last part of this journalism exchange is to bring Ohio journalists to Indonesia to see how its news media works. So it is my pleasure to introduce Tim and Lindsey to some of the most wonderful people they will ever meet.



Of course as we drove into the city from the airport, Tim and Lindsey notice what strikes me every time I go out into Jakarta—the incredible contrast between modern development and abject poverty. In center city Jakarta there are skyscrapers and parks and fountains, with almost ostentatious retail/entertainment complexes. Yet just a mile away you drive by shanty towns that it is impossible to imagine are ‘home’ to thousands of people. And they marvel, as I do each time I go out, at the amazing traffic. There are lines on the road, but they seem to have no relevance to where people drive—the road may be marked for two lanes, but there are easily four lanes of traffic with hundreds of motorbikes weaving in and out among the cars and mini-buses. I think even a New York City cab driver would find it tough to survive Jakarta traffic!



Tim, Lindsey and I also had the fun of dealing with the money here—one US dollar is equivalent to 9000 Indonesian rupiah. So we all left the airport millionaires after converting our cash. But then it hits you hard when the deposit at the hotel is 1.4 million! And it didn’t take Lindsey or myself long to blow the power in our rooms as we tried to use our handy dandy converter plugs and then turn on our high power hair blow dryers.

Our second day in Jakarta we made the first of many television station visits, and I was reunited with the first four Indonesian journalists who came to Ohio. It was great to see them in their environments. SCTV is similar to a superstation, like WGN or TBS. It broadcasts entertainment programming and news to the entire country, which is huge. (Indonesia is the fourth largest country with more than 240 million people spread over 17,000 islands.) SCTV just moved into a brand new facility which is part of a large, very upscale, mall. Again one is struck by the contrasts of designer labels versus ragged clothing and bare feet.



While we are walking around SCTV’s new, state-of-the-art newsroom, Nurul Admin, a producer gives me the news that will definitely be a highlight of this trip. One of the things the Indonesian journalists did while in the US was attend a reception at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. They also saw the professionalism of US journalists and the assistance that groups such as the National Press Club can bring. Nurul was so impressed by this idea of an organization to support journalists that he got together with some other journalists here in Jakarta and organized the National Press Club of Indonesia. The organization just launched this week with a debate among the presidential candidates for Indonesia, and they had more than 70 journalists as well as dozens of dignitaries attend. When he showed me the brochure for the organization, Ohio University and this program are mentioned in his bio as an important element in the development of the organization. I can’t begin to tell you the impact of seeing his work and receiving his new business card embossed with National Press Club of Indonesia. That kind of organization is exactly what this exchange program was all about—helping journalists in this country, which hasn’t had a free press that long, develop professionalism and a set of ethical standards to hold their new government accountable. Our greatest hope was that the 18 journalists who participated would come back with strong bonds among themselves, and spread what they’d learned to other journalists across the country. The National Press Club of Indonesia is the pinnacle of reaching that goal. As Nurul talked about the Club and what he hoped to accomplish with it, I was choked up with pride at what he had done and the inspiration that this exchange program provided to accomplish this major task.

Tomorrow we visit another station in the morning and then head off to Jogyakarta, a much smaller city with historical ruins and significance for Indonesia. I am very excited to see some of what people here call the ‘real’ Indonesia. My two previous trips I never got out of Jakarta because of very tight schedules. So Tim, Lindsey and I will explore what is supposed to be some of the more beautiful Indonesian countryside, together for the first time.