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Indonesian broadcasters: Have they given up?
The Indonesian public at large is currently witnessing depressing news concerning NET television — a TV channel known for its great quality and creativity. Rumor has it that it might lay off hundreds of employees because of operational reasons. This is actually only the tip of the iceberg concerning the Indonesian broadcast industry that requires massive reforms.
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A TVRI studio films an afternoon news program. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama )
T
he Indonesian public at large is currently witnessing depressing news concerning NET television — a TV channel known for its great quality and creativity. Rumor has it that it might lay off hundreds of employees because of operational reasons.
This is actually only the tip of the iceberg concerning the Indonesian broadcast industry that requires massive reforms.
For those who are still watching Indonesian TV stations, the declining quality in some of the programs is quite appalling. They offer little or no value to their audience, a stark contrast to the time of our upbringing in the 1990s when broadcasters had a clear comparative advantage. RCTI, for example, had a clear selling point for their popular content in music and sports programs, SCTV in news, TPI in education and TVRI for general programs.
The quality of current programs leaves a lot to be desired. Many have become entirely exclusive, covering a handful of particular celebrities. We easily notice that stars like Raffi Ahmad, Jessica Iskandar, Ayu Ting Ting and Ruben Onsu are somewhat omnipresent as if Indonesia is short of artists to be featured.
Raffi alone might occupy a hefty 120 minutes on one national channel (Trans TV). In a random reality show, we might watch Raffi and Billy Syahputra chit-chatting on nonsense topics. Nia Ramadhani also happens to anchor a talk-show about “how beautiful her life is with her squads” entailing zero possibility of any lesson for the general public to learn from. We cannot blame the aforementioned celebrities, but the broadcasters for their lack of sensibility.
The second problem concerns the type of programs. Many are simply lifted from YouTube. Trans TV group is very keen on producing these types of programs sometimes with only a small text stating “courtesy: YouTube”. They just dub into Indonesian to grab a greater audience. Cheap products indeed.
Last but not least, broadcasters screening a variety of imported programs excessively. ANTV is a good example: They intemperately show Indian programs right from early morning until late evening, starting from cartoon movie Shiva and several soap operas afterward.
