For years, 50-year-old Suratman, a resident of Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, has been reading about Jakarta’s murders and robberies in local papers.
Making money from running his one and only microbus to provide transport for students near his house, the father of two said that he always bought at least one metro newspaper, either Warta Kota, Non Stop or Pos Kota, from the street.
“Those newspapers always have crimes, murders or traffic accidents in the headlines, which reminds me to always be alert and careful,” he said.
When he was asked whether he also read national newspapers such as Kompas, Republika, or Koran Tempo, Suratman, a high school graduate, said no, explaining that he found their content “too hard”.
“It’s definitely not about the price, but I often take a very long time to understand articles in the [national] newspapers,” he said, laughing.
In contrast, Rinaldi Ridwan, 22, a resident of Tanjung Barat, South Jakarta, said he had never read metro newspapers.
“I love to follow what is going on around,” said Rinaldi, an NGO staffer. “But, it doesn’t mean I’m happy to only read about crimes, murders or gossip every day.”
In a city where 8.5 million residents live, the newspaper business has definitely found a fertile place to grow.
Dozens of newspapers — ranging from national, metro, sport and business newspapers — are published to fulfill the public’s thirst for information.
The circulation of newspapers also represents Jakarta’s social structure.
Metro newspapers, which are famous for their sensational coverage, gossip and crime reportage, have a relatively higher circulation compared to national newspapers published in the capital as their grass-roots market share is higher.
Despite criticism, particularly for low-quality journalism, metro newspapers have also undoubtedly created a strong and unique trademark with big-sized headlines, slang words, and extensive space dedicated to advertisements.
Pos Kota, one of the oldest metro newspapers, for example, currently has a circulation of more than 600,000, leading over the highly-respected Kompas daily, which has a circulation of 500,000.
Other metro newspapers, such as Warta Kota, Non Stop and Lampu Hijau, also have a relatively higher circulation, with around 100,000 newspapers sold everyday.
But, not all metro newspaper sales are so strong.
Local newspaper Berita Kota recently laid off 144 workers as a result of the acquisition of PT Penamas Pewarta — a company that published Berita Kota — by PT Metrogema Media Nusantara, a subsidiary of the Kompas Gramedia Group.
The company has suffered more than Rp 2 billion (US$212,000) in losses over the past two years.
Awang Ruswandi, a journalism lecturer from the University of Indonesia, estimated the future of metro newspapers would be stable as most people preferred to read “teary and bloody” news.
“Moreover, there is a large number of low-educated and low-income residents out there who need a media that can tell them what’s happening in simple terms,” he said.
Awang also reminded the publishers of metro newspapers about the importance of improving the quality of their journalism, especially by tightening fact-checking and eliminating the use of offensive words.
“People in metro newspapers should believe that their readers are smart enough to understand the proper Indonesian language,” he said.
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