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Crew familiar with audio/video: RRI

Niken Rosalita Widiastuti - AntaraRRI president director Niken Rosalita Widiastuti has dismissed fears that the TVRI-RRI merger may flounder because of the distinctive characteristics of radio and television

The Jakarta Post
Thu, March 5, 2015

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Crew familiar with audio/video: RRI Niken Rosalita Widiastuti - (Antara) (Antara)

Niken Rosalita Widiastuti - Antara

RRI president director Niken Rosalita Widiastuti has dismissed fears that the TVRI-RRI merger may flounder because of the distinctive characteristics of radio and television. Here are excerpts of the Post'€™s recent interview with Niken on the merger plan.

Question: What are the pros and cons of the merger?

Answer: If passed, the RTRI bill mandates that the merger can address the budget and human resources problems currently faced by RRI.

How do you see the merger affecting RRI employees?

RRI currently employs about 8,000 people. However, about 3,000 of them are non-civil servant employees who receive lesser salaries and facilities as compared to civil servants. We recruited them because RRI has not been allowed to recruit civil servants for 16 years, but we constantly need young people to cope with vastly changing technologies. I hope that after RRI and TVRI are merged as RTRI, the organizational format will give them civil-servant status. Today, many of our young, creative workers have been poached by private companies offering them much better facilities. Due to our financial limitations, many of the recruits that we trained with broadcasting skills left.

Are there issues related to sectoral ego that may hold up the merger?

I hope not. Both RRI and TVRI must be committed because this plan is for the sake of better services for the state and the people. I haven'€™t heard about any opposition from RRI.

Due to poor governance in TVRI, there are concerns that RRI will be affected after the merger. What do you think?

Basically, the House of Representatives'€™ idea to merge RRI and TVRI deserves consideration. It is true that lawmakers often criticize TVRI and praise RRI. I think the implementation of RTRI can be a turning point for TVRI. TVRI can learn from RRI on how to implement good corporate governance.

What about the risk of massive layoffs in RRI should the merger materialize?

We always try to be open with all our employees on any policies, including on the planned merger. We are accustomed to using video conferences to talk to our employees all over the nation. We have heard such concerns. After long and continuous discussions, today, I think all RRI employees can accept the plan. Regarding human-resource efficiency, I don'€™t think that necessarily means reduction in manpower. Human-resource efficiency can also mean optimizing job performance. For example, because RRI already has an office in New York, in the future, our reporters could report both to RRI and TVRI. Efficiency can also mean the sharing of equipment. For example, in the future, TVRI towers could also be used to broadcast RRI.

There are concerns that RRI people won'€™t be able to handle television jobs. What do you think about this?

RRI workers are used to doing audio-visual jobs. Our newsmen underwent training at the multimedia training center, which also consists of courses on audio visual. I think both RRI and TVRI should focus on how to optimize potential rather than highlight shortcomings. Many may not know yet that RRI also has four television channels, albeit through Internet streaming. The channels, which we called '€œradio picture'€, can also be accessed on mobile phone via an application called RRI Play. RRI has also been in the process of expanding into digital technology. The RRI station in Batam, Riau Islands Province, for example, has begun to broadcast digitally. We chose Batam because the broadcasts there are listened to by audiences in three countries; Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. In line with the slogan '€œfrom legacy to new wave'€, RRI is always up-to-date on the newest technologies.

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