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Editorial: Time for a change
Mon, 01/12/2009 3:59 PM | Opinion
Readers may wonder why The Jakarta Post has changed its appearance beginning with today*s edition. The simple answer is, the time has come.
If the old saying is true that everything is in a state of flux, then it is natural that we too must adapt to the constantly changing environment. Some changes are more consequential than others, and this is probably one of those moments for the Post.
The newspaper business has changed dramatically in the past few years, and, most importantly, readers have adjusted their habits, especially in how they get their daily staple diet of news and information.
Our new format is slimmer -- effectively one column less per page -- following the global trend in the newspaper industry. We have adopted a new font type which we selected to make the page more pleasing to the eye. We have added more pages, now in three rather than the former two sections, more than compensating for the compact format.
Inevitably, we have also adapted a new design. We thank our friends at the daily newspaper Kompas for assisting us in developing the new layout. The front page is designed to be easy to read and easy to navigate, the latter all the more important now that the Post comes with more pages and sections. The additional pages allow us to present the stories, photos and graphics in an uncluttered fashion.
The new format and design are the most visible changes readers will notice. We are in fact making a host of other, less obvious changes. We have reorganized, invested heavily in a new system and changed the way we work in the newsroom, all with the objective to make our work more effective and efficient.
We have revamped our paradigm of what constitutes stories fit to publish. This is essential in the face of growing competition from other media that provide news in real time such as the Internet and 24-hour TV news channels. With news happening at a faster pace, unless we change our paradigm, what we get in before the nightly deadline will no longer be news by the time we reach our readers.
These changes are also designed to integrate better with our ever-growing online edition, thejakartapost.com, which we are developing into a news portal to reach a global audience. We are fully aware that the world is moving fast on all things digital, and The Jakarta Post intends to be there as the primary source of information on Indonesia for the global audience.
The ultimate goal of all these changes is to serve our readers and all other stakeholders better. We owe our very existence -- we just celebrated our 25th anniversary last year -- to our community of loyal readers and advertisers.
We also remain true to the age-old paradigm that says that "the job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."
We thank you for your support for all this time. Rest assured, everything else may change, but our commitment to our mission as a newspaper and to serve you and your needs remain constant.
What's On
- Festival of India
10/29/2009 12/15/2009 Balai Kartini & Umar Ismail Hall, Jakarta
- Imagemakers of the Future: Photography exhibition
10/10/2009 11/30/2009 Alila Ubud Desa Melinggih Kelod Payangan, Gianyar 80572, Bali - Timeless Change
11/05/2009 12/07/2009 Ganesha Gallery, Four Seasons Hotel Jimbaran, Bali. - Choreography of Colours; Sardono W. Kusumo's first solo painting exhibition
11/12/2009 12/12/2009 vivi yip art room Annexe Ciputra World Marketing Gallery Jalan Prof Satrio Kav 11, Casablanca
Antonius (not verified) — Sat, 01/17/2009 - 1:12pm
How about reporting more on the state of affairs in our neighboring countries as what happened there sometimes have an effect on us too since they are our neighbors. Furthermore, there are many Indonesians who work in Malaysia or Singapore either as skilled or unskilled workers. Also I don't see too many coverage on Singapore. I understand it's tiny but it has huge trade relations with us and millions of indonesians visit there every year.
Duk (not verified) — Tue, 01/13/2009 - 7:18am
I agree that it is high time for some truly courageous investigative journalism in Indonesia. Although I can hardly see this coming about until journalists here are paid the real value of a great story and editors develop guts.
There are just so many issues here in Indonesia, it is a journalistic gold mine.
Dude (not verified) — Tue, 01/13/2009 - 3:31am
Sir Briend, your idea this time is brilliant!
Mike Hunter (not verified) — Mon, 01/12/2009 - 8:31pm
'bout time the "Post" jazzed up the presentation. Suggest you have a good peruse of your "counterpart" in Thailand, "The Bangkok Post"......full of advertisements, tabloid size, lots and lots of paid advertisements including classifieds.....Editorially the Jakarta Post needs a "consumer complaints" page....you publish many letters from disgruntled readers about poor service in government and commercial entities, tourist complaints, etc....more than enough to fill a consumer column every week. And...hows about a TV guide with a suggested choice of local programmes and those on pay TV?
Now that the Jakarta Globe is out there too, why not be one stepp ahead and..... just "do it"!
Mike H Bandung
Briend (not verified) — Mon, 01/12/2009 - 6:12pm
"Afflict the comfortable" - now that would be commendable; it's also called investigative reporting. Years ago, around 1998, Jakarta was packed with dozens of foreigner reporters who called themselves journalists. Indonesia was the place to be.
Many a time they acted all offended when I would accuse them of being base reporters as all they did was give basic facts of only what they saw and nothing more. They were quite aware and well informed of the true issues behind the scenes but never had the courage to publically pursue the facts or the usual suspects. They selfishly feared exposing, or offending, the guilty. (One photo journalalist actually was banned for a period of time for his bravery, but he was in the minority). Remember, this country was rampant with 'purpose generated emergencies' with dozens of 'masterminds'.
I would encourage on the front page a "List of Shame", the "ten most wanted" (maybe a hundred)- those escaping justice, for whatever reason, until punished. Don't forget to include judges.
I will never understand how any government official, including judges, can own a couple of houses, in Bandung and Perth, Mercedes and kids in foreign schools on salaries of 5 juta a month.