The Jakarta Post marks its 24th anniversary today. Instead of looking back at what we have accomplished, we would rather use this moment to ponder what the future holds. And frankly speaking, looking at newspaper industry trends globally, the picture does not look very bright.
Doomsayers are predicting the demise of the newspaper within 10 years. Trends are certainly pointing in that direction. Newspaper readership is declining in mature markets. Revenue and profit for most newspaper companies are dropping at dramatic rates, forcing the closure of many publications.
If readership figures in Indonesia are still rising (and the Post readership too is still growing), it is because we have yet to saturate the market. But sooner or later, Indonesia (and this newspaper) will have to deal with the challenges facing the newspaper industry globally: stiff competition from media that offer real-time news and information, and in far more attractive formats that include audio-visual capabilities.
We have to face the reality that people, particularly the younger generation, are increasingly getting their news from other media besides the newspaper.
We at The Jakarta Post continue to strive to improve the content, packaging and delivery of the newspaper, because we believe there is still ample room to do so.
Over the past year we have added four additional pages, and introduced new columns. We began printing in Bali, which significantly improves our delivery time on the island. And we launched The Weekender magazine at the start of the year to give more value to subscribers and more space for advertisers.
Watch out for more improvements in the coming year. Still, as we do this, we should not lose sight of the long-term perspective of the newspaper.
The Jakarta Post, in its vision statement, does not restrict itself as merely a newspaper written in English, but we have taken on ourselves the role of an ""information engine"" that provides news and views on Indonesia in English.
The Post has been built on the basis of good, strong and solid journalism that strives for excellence. We owe our position today to the loyal and untiring support, patronage and direction of our readers, advertisers and other stakeholders. But The Jakarta Post must now look beyond newspapers for its future. And we will be counting on your support again, just as we have for much of the last 24 years.
Building on our current strengths, and on time-tested formula of good, strong, solid journalism, we are entering the digital world to explore ways of bringing you news and information in a much more efficient and expedient manner. We are already running a modest online version of the newspaper, www.thejakartapost.com, and we hope to build on this as we expand into the digital world.
The media may be changing, and newspapers may have seen their best days, but there is a continuing need for the kind of services that journalism provides: sorting through and selecting from the reams of information on behalf of our audience, and then packaging that information so it is easy and convenient to use. The medium is just the method of delivery. Today, and for the next few years, it's still the good old-fashioned newspaper for many of us. But in the future, we will all have to migrate into the digital world.
In this age of the Internet, it is very easy for anyone to be overcome by information overload. The virtual world is flooded with literally millions of websites and online news sites, and now bloggers. It's a jungle out there.
But the sites and blogs that strive and survive will be those that have built a strong reputation and credibility. And that, we believe, can only come from good journalism.
We at The Jakarta Post embrace the digital world fully and wholeheartedly. The Internet offers limitless possibilities on how we can connect better with our ever-expanding community of readers, nationally and globally.
We will use our 24 years of experience in successfully running a newspaper through good, strong and solid journalism, as we strive to be among the best in this exciting and promising digital world.
The Jakarta Post has had the privilege of your support and patronage all this time. We heartily and sincerely thank all of you for the trust you have given us.
We take nothing for granted. We will continue to nurture this trust by striving to serve you better and better. Only in this way, we believe, will we flourish, expand and prosper as a public trust institution, as we prepare to migrate in the coming years into the digital world. Once again, thank you.
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