THELEAGUEOFTHIRTEEN

MEDIACONCENTRATIONININDONESIA

author:
MERLYNALIM

publishedjointlyby:

PARTICIPATORYMEDIALAB

ATARIZONASTATEUNIVERSITY

&

2012

Theleagueofthirteen:MediaconcentrationinIndonesia

Publishedjointlyin2012by
ParticipatoryMediaLab
ArizonaStateUniversity
Tempe,Arizona
UnitedStates
&
TheFordFoundation

ThisreportisbasedontheresearchfundedbytheFordFoundationIndonesiaOffice.

Thisworkislicensedundera
CreativeCommonsAttributionNonCommercialNoDerivs3.0UnportedLicense

Howtocitethisreport:
Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.Researchreport.Tempe,AZ:
ParticipatoryMediaLabatArizonaStateUniversity.Availableonlineat:
http://www.public.asu.edu/~mlim4/files/Lim_IndoMediaOwnership_2012.pdf.

THELEAGUEOFTHIRTEEN:
MEDIACONCENTRATIONININDONESIA
ByMerlynaLim1

ThedemiseoftheSuhartoerain 1998produced several positivedevelopmentsformediademocratizationin

Indonesia. The Department of Information, once led by the infamous Minister Harmoko was abandoned,
followed by several major deregulations that changed the media landscape dramatically. From 1998 to 2002,
over1200newprintmedia,morethan900newcommercialradioandfivenewcommercialtelevisionlicenses
were issued. Over the years, however, Indonesian media went back to business again. Corporate interests
tookoverandcontinuestodominatethecurrentIndonesianmedialandscape.

M EDIAOWNERSHIP
FromFigure1wecanseethatthemedialandscapeinIndonesiaisdominatedbyonly13groups:thestate(with
publicstatus)and12othercommercialentities.Thereare12mediagroups(seeTable1)havecontrolover100%
of national commercial television shares (10 out of 10 stations). These groups also own five out of six
newspapers with the highest circulation, four out of the four most popular online news media, a majority of
Jakartaflagshipentertainmentradionetworks,andasignificantportionofthemajorlocaltelevisionnetworks.
Inaddition,someofthesegroupsalsotakecontroloverdigitalpayTVservicesandmediarelatedbusinesses,
such as telecommunications, information technology, and content production and distribution. Media
corporations, too, have expanded their businesses into nonmedia sectors and, thus, given their owners
strongereconomicandpoliticalcontrol.
Amongthesegroups,thereareveteranplayerssuchasKompasGramediaGroupandJawaPosGroupthat,in
Sen and Hills words, given their relative political autonomy, were least vulnerable to the political and
1
economiccrisisofthelastdaysoftheNewOrder,andbestplacedtomoveintothepostSuhartoera. Then
there are groups that have obvious political ties.Media Group is owned by Surya Paloh, the Chairman of the
2
AdvisoryBoardoftheformerrulingpartyGolkar. AnotherGolkarrelatedcompanyisBakrie&Brothers(antv
3
andTVOne,amongothers).ItsownerAburizalBakrieistheChairmanofGolkar. Whilenotdirectlyinvolvedin
politics, Lippo Groups owner James Riyadi has made his political connections apparent by appointing Theo
Sambuaga,aprominentleaderofGolkar,asthepresidentofthegroup.Anotherplayer,TransCorpora(Trans
TVandTrans7),isownedbyChairulTanjungwhoisacloseallyofPresidentSusiloBambangYudhoyono.While
not affiliated with any political party,Hary Tanoesoedibjo of the MNC Group is known for his close relations
4
withmajorpoliticalplayers.
Interesting to note here is the prominence Tempo Inti Media Harian (of Tempo magazine and newspaper),
founded by writer Goenawan Muhammad. Tempo is the only nonmedia conglomerate that survives in the
mainstream media industry while maintaining its political independence. As the media environment is
dominatedbyjustasmallnumberoflargecorporationssomeofwhichhaveobviouspoliticalconnections
the Indonesian public does not receive an adequate quality or quantity of news and is only exposed to the
viewpoints and opinions of a few. This concentration of ownership also leads to a disproportional political
5
controlbythemedia, thepublicsdecreasingaccesstoimportantinformation,andtheunderrepresentation
6
ofcertaingroupsinthemedia.

Director, Participatory Media Lab, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ.

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Figure1MediaownershipinIndonesia

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.
Table1IndonesianMediaConglomerates7
TVstations
National
Other

MediaGroup

GroupLeader

MediaNusantara
Citra(MNC)Group

HaryTanoesoedibjo

RCTI,Global
TV,MNCTV
(exTPI)

Indovision,Sky
Vision,SINDOtv
network

MahakaMediaGroup

ErickTohir

JakTV,AlifTV

KompasGramedia
Group

JakobOetama,
AgungAdiprasetyo

KompasTV
network

JawaPosGroup

DahlanIskan

JPMCnetwork

Radiostations

Newspapers

SindoRadio(Trijaya
FM),RadioDangdut,
ARHGlobalRadio

Print
Magazines/Tabloids

Onlinemedia
Okezone.com
SeputarIndonesia.
Com,
Sindonews.com
RepublikaOnline,
rileks.com,
Rajakarcis.com

Otherbusinesses
IT,contentproduction
anddistributions,talent
management,automobile

SeputarIndonesia(Koran
Sindo)

HighEndmagz,Genie,
Mom&Kiddietabloids

Republika,
HarianIndonesia
(inMandarin)

ParentsIndonesia,A+,Golf
Digest,Area,magazines

Kompas,JakartaPost,
WartaKota,+other11
localpapers

Intisari+43magazines&
tabloids,5book
publishers

KompasCyber
Media

Hotels,publicrelation
agencies,university&
telecommunicationtower
(inplan)

FajarFM(Makassar)

JawaPos,IndoPos
RakyatMerdeka,Radar+
others(total:151)

Mentari,Liberty
magazines+11tabloids

JawaPosDigital
Edition

Travelbureau,power
plant

GlobalKiniJani,Genta
FM.GlobalFM,
LombokFM,FajarFM,
SuaraBesakih,
SingarajaFM,Nagara
FM

BaliPost,BisnisBali,
SuluhIndonesia,Harian
Denpost,&SuaraNTB

Tokoh,Lintang,&Wiyata
Mandalatabloids

BaliPost,BisnisBali

JakFM,PramborsFM,
DeltaFM,Female,
GenFM
SonoraRadio
network,Otomotion
Radio,MotionFM,
EltiraFM

MediaBaliPost
Group(KMB)

SatriaNarada

BaliTVnetwork,
JogjaTV,
SemarangTV,
SriwijayaTV,+
others(total:9)

ElangMahkota
Teknologi(EMTEK)
Group

EddyKusnadi
Sariaatmadja

SCTV,
Indosiar

OChannel,
ElShintaTV

ElshintaFM

Elshinta,Gaul,Story,Kort,
Mamamia

LippoGroup

JamesRiady

FirstMedia,Berita
SatuTV

JakartaGlobe,Investor
Daily,SuaraPembaruan

Investor,GlobeAsia,&
CampusAsiamagazines

Jakarta
GlobeOnline

Bakrie&Brothers
(VisiMediaAsia)

AnindyaBakrie

antv,TVOne

Channel[V]

VIVAnews

FeminaGroup

PiaAlisyahbana,
Mirta
Kartohadiprodjo

UFMJakarta&
Bandung

Femina,Gadis,Dewi,
Ayahbunda+others(total:
15)

Femina,GitaCinta,
Ayahbunda,Gadis,
ParentingOnline

MediaGroup

SuryaPaloh

MetroTV

MediaIndonesia,
LampungPost,
BorneoNews

MediaIndonesia
Online

MugiRekaAbadi
(MRA)Group

DianMuljani
Soedarjo

OChannel

CosmopolitanFM,
HardRockFM,I
Radio,TraxFM

Cosmopolitan,Cosmogirl,
Fitness+others(total:16)

TransCorpora
(ParaGroup)

ChairulTanjung

TransTV,
Trans7

DetikOnline

Entertainment,outdoor
advertisement

Wirelessbroadband,pay
TV,telecommunications,
banking,ITsolutions,
productionhouse
Property,hospital,
education,insurance
Telecommunications,
property,metal,oil&gas,
agribusiness,coal,
physicalinfrastructure
Productionhouse,event
management,boutique,
education,printing

Holderofseveral
internationalboutique
brands
Banking,venturecapital,
insurance,themeparks,
resort,retail,cinema

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Television:ConcentrationofOwnership
Currently there are 10 private national television networks in IndonesiaRCTI, Global TV, MNCTV,
SCTV,Indosiar,TVOne,antv,MetroTV,TransTV,Trans7thatoperateincompetitionwiththestate
ownedTelevisiRepublikIndonesia(TVRI).Inaddition,therearemorethan100localtelevisionstations
alloverthecountryandsomelocallyproducedprogrammingandcabletelevisionchannels.
Sixgroupsownalltenprivatenationaltelevisionnetworks.Amongthesegroups,MNCGrouphasthe

Figure2TelevisionOwnership
highestshare(36.7%)withtheownershipofRCTI,GlobalTV,andMNCTV,makingitthemostpowerful
player in broadcast television. The newcomer EMTEK, which just controversially acquired Indosiar in
May2011,comessecondwith31.5%,followedbyTransCorp(18.5%)andthepartnershipofBakrieand
MM Group (8.7%). Meanwhile, TVRI, which was the only television broadcaster in the country from
1962to1989,currently hasthe smallestsharewithonly 1.4%ofthetotaltelevisionmarketshare.The
concentration of ownership of television in Indonesia results from the practice of mergers. While
mergersandtheconsolidationofmediabusinessisalogicalconsequenceofmedialiberalization,itis
notfavorableintermsofmediademocratization. Whenthereislackofcompetition andonly asmall
number of media companies remain, power and dominance is inevitable. The companies remaining
dominatethemediaindustryandcreateamediaoligopolyandwillcontributetobiasedpoliticalviews.

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Table2Televisionlandscape:MainNationalPlayers8
TVchannels
TVRI
RCTI
GlobalTV
MNCTV(formerlyTPI)+
SCTV
Indosiar
TransTV
Trans7
TVOne(formerlyLativi)
antv
MetroTV

Firstonair
1962
1987
2001
1990
1989
1995
2001
2001,relaunchin2006
2001
1993
2000

Currentstatus
State/Independent
Merged(MNC)
Merged(MNC)
Merged(MNC)
Merged(EMTEK)+
Merged(EMTEK)+
Merged(TransCorp)
Merged(TransCorp)
Merged(Bakrie/MMGroup)+
Merged(Bakrie/MMGroup)+
MediaGroup/Independent

Marketshare%
1.4
1.4
19
36.7
5.1
12.6
17.3
31.5
14.2
12.1
18.5
6.4
4.5
8.7
4.2
1.9
1.9

On a regional/local level, ownership is less concentrated. With the growth of local TV stations in the
lastfiveyears,localTVeventuallymanagedtostealashareofthenationalTVaudience.However,the
audience share of local TV is very modest if compared to national TV. Local TV audience share
increased from an average of 2.1% in 2005 to 3.2% of the total audience share in 2008. The trend,
9
however,wentdownto2.5%in2010. Amongmorethan100localTVstations,TVRIstillhas27stations
spreadin27differentprovinceswhiletherestareownedbyatleast10otherlocaltelevisionnetworks.
However,asthereisnolongeranyspaceforprivatenationaltelevisionexpansion,somebigbusiness
entitiesstartlookingatthismarket.Forexample,oneoftherichestIndonesians,PeterSondakh,with
hisgroup,RajawaliCorp,whoformerlyownedRCTI,wentbacktothemediabusinessbyestablishing
the networkof TVNusantara(22 stations).Asimilar stepwastakenby giantnewspaper player Jawa
Post Group and Bali Post Group.MNC Grouphas also expandedtothelocallevelbycreatingSunTV
Network.Thelargestprintmediacompany,KompasMediaGroup,ownsitsownKompasTVnetwork,
10
too. The current map shows a drift that in the near future local television networks, too, might be
dominated by a small number of media moguls. Within the milieu, TempoTV emerges as alternative
providerbyestablishingtheonlyjournalismbasedtelevisionstation.

Radio:GrowingIndependent&CommunityRadios
Whilenotfreefromthesightsofmediaconglomerates,theownershipofradioismuchmorediverse
comparedtotelevision. Oftheestimated2,800radio stationsinthecountry(upfrom around 700in
Suharto era), around 700 are community radio stations. Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI), the state
radionetworkofIndonesiathatpreviouslyfunctionedasamouthpieceoftheNewOrdergovernment,
11
has64stations. Whileno longer monopolizingtheradio landscapein Indonesia, RRIstilladoptsits
roleindistributing,spreadinginformation,andeducating,entertainingsocietytomaintainIndonesian
identityandiscommittedtoprotecttheunityandtogethernessoftheUnitedNationoftheRepublic
12
ofIndonesia. Since2006,theexpansion ofRRIhastakenplacemainlyinborderareasfocusing on
developingthesafetybeltinformationprograminpartnershipwithTVRI.
The most promising data on media ownership is the fact that the countrys largest radio networkis
KBR68H,aqualitycitizenjournalismradio. Foundedasa news agencyon29 April 1999,KBR68H was
createdaspartofcivilsocietyresponsetothe transitiontodemocracy.In2000,KBR68Hstartedto
use a satellite to distribute its radio programming, enabling the radio station partners to relay the
agencysprogramsusingjustaparabolicantennaandadigitalreceiver.Inonedecade,theradionews
13
agency hasexpandedrapidly,becoming a networkthat reaches625 stations with an estimated 18
millionlisteners,andisavailablein10countriesinAsiaandAustralia.
Commercialradionetworksarealsoontherise.ThemajoronesincludeRamakoGroup,SmartFM,and
MasimaGroup,allofwhichhaveflagshipstationsinJakartaandbranchesinothercities.Someoutof
Jakarta regional networks are also emerging, such as Arbes Network in Padang, Suzana RadioNet in

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Surabaya, and Volare Group in Pontianak. The largest commercial radio network is owned by Citra
Prima Pariwara (CPP) with its CPP RadioNet. There are also an increasing number of commercial
networks owned by conglomerates. These include: Hard Rock FM, Cosmopolitan, IRadio, and Trax
owned by MRA Group; Trijaya FM, ARH, and Radio Dangdut by MNC Group; Elshinta by EMTEK, and
Sonora FM by Kompas Gramedia Group. Yet, the investment of big media players tends to be
concentratedinbigcities suchasJakarta, Bandung,and Surabaya, leavingtherestofthecountryto
smaller,independent, groups,includinghundredscommunityradiosthat proliferate smalltownsand
ruralareas.

Figure3RadioOwnership

Printmedia:DominationofTwoPlayers
The postSuharto euphoria and an easing of press restrictions had catapulted the number of print
14
media from 289 in early 1999 to 1,881 in 2001. The euphoria, however, did not last long. Market
realitiespushed sometogoout ofbusinesssoonafterthey wereestablished. Asoftheendof 2010,
15
there are just 1076 print media in operation. Kompas leads with 600,000 copies daily, followed by
JawaPos (450,000),SuaraPembaruan (350,000),Republika(325,000),MediaIndonesia (250,000),and
16
KoranTempo(240,000).
Currently, there are two dominant players in the print media sector. The first is the largest media
conglomerateinIndonesia,KompasGramediaGroup.Itschiefoutlet,themorningnewspaperKompas
(600,000 copies/day), is Indonesias most prestigious daily and the largest quality newspaper in
17
SoutheastAsia.WhileBenedictAndersononcedescribedKompasastheNewOrderparexcellence,
one should admit that this newspaper is of possible highest quality in the country. This newspaper
consistently earns more than 25% of the nations newspaper advertising revenue. The group also is
associated with the Jakarta Post (90,000) which was the only English newspaper in Indonesia until
LippoGroupfoundedJakartaGlobe(60,000)enteredthescenein2008.TheJakartaPost,however,is
runindependently,separatedfromKompasandotherprints.Historically,thePostwasoneofthefew
18
publicationswhichtriedtotelltheNewOrderstoryasaccuratelyastheycould.
Besides Kompasdaily, Kompas Gramedia Group alsoownsWartaKota daily,Intisari magazine, and 11
otherlocalnewspapers,43magazinesandtabloids,and5bookpublishers.Throughthesebusinesses,

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

KompasGramediagroupdominatesthepublishingindustry.Thecountryssecondlargestprintmedia
companyisJawaPosGroup,wellknownforitsJawaPosdaily.With450,000copiesaday,JawaPosis
thenationssecondmostreaddaily.TakingadifferentroutethanKompasGramedia,JawaPosGroup
concentratesalmostexclusivelyonprovincialmarkets.With151newspapersdistributedinmorethan
20provinces, 11tabloids,and2magazines,this group situatesitself asaclosecompetitorof Kompas
Gramedia.

Therestofthenewspapermarketisdividedbetweenothermediaconglomerates,suchasMNCGroup
Figure4Printownership
(SeputarIndonesia),MahakaMediaGroup(Republika),BaliPostGroup(BaliPost),LippoGroup(Suara
Pembaruan), and Media Group (Media Indonesia), many other small companies, and Koran Tempo.
With a daily circulation of 240,000 copies, Koran Tempo is the only nonconglomerateowned
newspaper surviving the competition against big players. Tempo Inti Media Harian, the publisher of
Koran Tempo daily, is a major player in print media sector. Its magazine, Majalah Tempo (180,000
copies/week), holds 68% of the share of weekly magazine market. Like newspapers, the
magazine/tabloid segment, too, is not free from media conglomerates undertakings. In this area,
there are MRA Group (Cosmopolitan, Cosmogirl, Mens Fitness), an experienced player Femina Group
(Femina,Gadis,Dewi),EMTEK(Elshinta,Gaul,Story),andBaliPost(Tokoh,Lintang).However,theseare
mostly focused on lifestyle and entertainment. By focusing on investigative journalism, Tempo has
developeditsownniche andisstillfarsuperiortoForumKeadilanandnewcomerTokohtabloidwho
alsotrytoventureinthesamegenre.

Onlinemedia:DiverseYetTheTopRules
ThewebhasbecomeacriticalpartofIndonesiasmediaenvironment.Itisnowthelargestinformation
source andmostofthecontentisprovidedbymillionsofIndonesian individuals.Thus, weexpectto
seethatonlinemediawouldhavelessconcentrationofownership.But,inreality,thevastplethoraof
web content has not yet translated into diversity for what users see and access. On the contrary,
despite the vast amount of content, the structure of the web leads to a staggering and unexpected

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

degree of concentration. This explains why global companies such as Facebook, Google and the like
havemostIndonesianusersanddominatethetop10ofmostvisitedwebsites.TheoutlierisKaskus.us,
Indonesiasveryowncommunityforum,whomakesitintothetop6.
In spite of that, in acquiring content Indonesians typically go to local content providers such as
Detik.com. The language preference might be one explanation behind this occurrence. In addition,
Detik.com,onlinesince1998,isoneoftheoldestnewsprovidersinIndonesiaandthushascreateda
pathdependencyintheonlinemediamarket.
As seen in Figure 5, Detik.com is disproportionably superior against the rest of content providers.
AlongwithitssubsidiariesDetiknews.com,Detikhot.com,Detiksport.comDetik.comwithotherbig
newmediaplayerssuchas Kompas.com,Vivanews.com, andOkezones.comdominatesthemarket
topcorporateonlinemediaoccupiesthehead,animmensevolumeoftheshare.Blogdetik.comand
kompasiana.com can be classified as citizen journalism, yet they take place in the space owned by
DetikandKompas.
Although no one disputes the lengthening of the tailclearly more blogs and more blogposts are
beingmadeonlineeverydaythetailisextremelyflatandpopulatedbycontentthatoriginatesfrom,
is driven by, or communicates with those in the head. Even the number one blogger site
IndonesiaMatters.comsharesonlylessthan1.5%ofDetik.comsdailyandmonthlyvisitors.

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Figure5DistributionofIndonesianonlinemediaaudiences(visitors)19

I MPLICATIONSON C ONTENT D IVERSITY

Themostpersistentissueintheproductionandcontent,especiallyinmainstreammedia,isthelackof
diversity.Since1998,themediacontenttendstopredominantlyrepresentthepoliticalelitesinJakarta
and business interests. The concentration of media ownership and the networked media business

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

model (e.g. a small number of production houses supply most of the programs) lead to the
homogeneity of available content. Various alternative media have emergedcommunity radios and
televisions,independentonlinecontentproviders,individualblogs, howeverthey arestilla longway
fromfarreaching.

Television:DominationofUrbanEntertainment
Themajorityofthecontentonnationalcommercialtelevisionsstationsisentertainment,rangingfrom
60%to80%,intheformsofsoapoperas,movies,infotainmentandrealityshows.Commercialstations
goal is generally to set the benchmarks for the industry and thus frame their programs for the
entertainmentseeking urban lowerupper and uppermiddle classes, providing access to the lower
classandruralpopulationtoconsumecitybasedcultureandlifestylesthathaveverylittleconnection
withtheirdailyrealities.Popularthemesmostlyrevolvearoundurbanupperclass lifestyles, sex,and
violence. In January 2011, three out of 10 most watched programs were all soap operas. These
programs counted for only 10% (602 hours) of the total broadcast time (6,072 hours). However,
20
viewersspentmostoftheirwatchingtime(29%ofthe73hours)towatchthem.
Somemightassumethatthechoicetoairentertainmentinadominantfractionisaudiencedriven.The
historical record of ratings, however, does not reflect that assumption. There are several better
quality talk shows that received very positive responses. For instance, a satirical talk show Republik
BBM (BenarBenarMabok),airedbyIndosiar,received goodratingsforitsabilitytoprovidepolitical
critiquethroughjokesandsatire.Despiteitsenormouspopularity,theshowfeaturinghumorousskits
withpoliticians lookalikeandsoundalikeactorswascancelledinMay2008bythestationunderthe
adviceofthethenVicePresidentYusufKalla.
Several national TV stations devoted to news deliver wellpackaged and uptodate news programs.
However, news programs are, by and large, tailored with an inclination to sensationalize the events
rather than to provide accurate information. Frequently, disaster events are hijacked by prominent
figuresthe socalled celebritieswho reap individual benefits by their media exposure. For
example, in the case of 2004 Aceh tsunami disaster, media were more preoccupied in covering
charitable trips of movie stars and singers to the area rather than the living stories of the victims.
Narrativesofthepoor,themarginalized,andthelowerclassareoftenignored.Whentheyappearon
thescreen,theyaretreatedmerelyasobjects.

Radio:PromiseofDiversity
Duetoitsrelativelydiverseownership,theradiosectorcarriesmorediversityincontentandtargets
more varied audiences than television. Commercial radio stations populating urban areas are
commonlyfocused on entertainmentprograms,particularlymusic.AsurveybyMARS(2009)reports
thatmusicisthemostlistenedtoprogram(82%),followedbynews,talkshows,expertinterviews,and
21
traffic reports. For nonentertainment content, there are a number of news and public journalism
radio stations in Indonesia, including the network of Radio KBR68H news agency, who take up the
space with an average quality better than those of television. Journalists and nonjournalists of the
Radio KBR68H news agency have received no fewer than 21 awards and prizes, including the King
BaudouinInternationalDevelopmentPrizeforitscontributiontothesustainabledevelopmentbased
22
onthestrengtheningofdemocracy,toleranceandcitizenparticipation.
RadiohasalwaysbeenavitalmediuminprovidingpublicspheresinIndonesia.Historically,Indonesian
independence fighters used the radio in fighting against Dutch colonialism. The very same medium
was also vital in building peoples resistance against the Suharto regime and facilitating the student
prodemocracy movement in 1998. Today, the radio, too, still has the potential to play a role as a
constructive agent of change. Producing and delivering content close to the realities of their
communitiesusingaparticipatorymodel,communityradiosareontheforefrontofthischange.There
are many successful stories on how community radios allow communities to be more involved in
resolvingsocial,economic,andpoliticalissues.Communityradios,too,canbeaspacewherelocaland
alternative cultures emerge, be created and reinvented amidst the homogenous urban metropolis
cultureendorsedbymainstreammedia.

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Print:VariedbutnotPlural
PrintmediaisattheveryheartofIndonesiancontentlandscape,especiallyinnewsproduction.Sen&
Hill(2000)arguethatdespitereachingamuchsmallerreadershipthanelectronicmediasaudience,it
23
isstillthepress whichlargelydetermineswhatis news. Toacertaindegreethisassumptionisstill
valid.Yet,intheageofsocialmedia,printjournalistshaveincreasinglyreliedonprominentbloggers
andtweeps(Twitterusers)asthesourceoftheirstories.
Not only distribute information, print media also provide a forum for the exchange of discourses on
social, cultural, political and economic issues. Being the oldest medium for the literate consumers,
24
printhasanabilitytosetthepoliticalagendamorethananyothertypesofmediainIndonesia. Asa
ruleofthumb,newspaperreadersarefarmorecriticalandmoreactivepoliticallythantheelectronic
counterparts. This combination of readership factors and the domination of the newspaper industry
by veteran publishers such as Kompas, Jawa Pos, and Tempo, make the newspaper content in
Indonesia of much higher quality than other media. While recognizing the downside of their
domination,togetherthesethreepublishersproduceadequateinformationonnationalandprovincial
levels,aswellasininvestigativejournalism.Insomanyways,theseprintmediaarerepresentativeof
theIndonesianpressingeneralinthree ways,including balancedreporting(Kompas),aggressive
reporting(JawaPos)andinvestigativereporting(Tempo).
Postauthoritarian developments in the press has also produced a variety of viewpoints, something
that did not exist prior to 1998. Islamic publishing alone represents a wide spectrum of viewpoints.
While the Jakartabased newspaper Republika is assertively modernist, Media Dakwah (Islamic
preaching media) makes it clear its campaign for an Islamic state. However, viewpoints of
marginalized groups are not represented. These groups only appear when they were involved in
conflicts, scandals, or other sensational eventsoften with inaccurate portrayals. The minority
Islamic group Ahmadiyah, for example, did not get much coverage until its members were violently
attacked by Islamic radicals. Even, then, they still did not get fair coverage. Media also rarely
recognizesthediversityofsexualorientationhomosexualityisoftenportrayednegativelyassexual
abnormalityordeviantbehavior.

Onlinemedia:ManyVoicesbutWhoareHeard?
Withtheproliferationofblogging,FacebookandTwitterinIndonesia,someobserverssaythatsocial
25
mediaisfurtheringdemocracyandfreedom ofspeech, andis atriggerfor socialchange, thefifth
26
27
estate in Indonesians democracy, and democratizing content. To a certain degree, these
statements have their currency. However, they are only valid when contextualized in select, rare,
28
stories such as the victorious online movements to support Prita and BibitChandra. Some of the
aboveargumentsalsorelyonthefactthatwiththeavailabilityofnewtechnologiesandthefreedom
toproduce,contentproductionisnolongerthemonopolyofthepowerfulelites.Anybodycantweet,
blog, and post on Facebook. The content of the online Indonesia, indeed, is rich and bountiful. The
questionis,whentherearemanyvoices,whomareheard?
As illustrated in Figure 5, the distribution of audiences in the Indonesian online environment is very
skewed, which makes it appropriate to quote the phrase: Never have so many people written so
29
muchtobereadbysofew todescribethisphenomenon.Corporatewebsitesaside,thedistribution
ofweblinksandtrafficinthe Indonesianblogosphere itselfisheavilyskewed witha small numberof
bloggers getting most of the attention. Even though there are over 5 million Indonesian bloggers,
posting approximately 1.2 million new items daily, the average blogger has almost no political
influence as measured by traffic or hyperlink. Moreover, as described previously in the access
section,socialmediausageinIndonesiaisstillverymuchtheenterpriseofurbanelites.Themajorityof
content,too,thus,resemblesandrepresentsthe usageopinions,expressions, and storiesof urban
middleclassculture, lifestyle andproblems. Among 539 knownIndonesian Facebook groups, 193 are
on brands/products/services/companies, 188 on media/entertainment/celebrities, and only 66 on
campaigns/movements/ activities/public informationreflecting urban middle class preferences and
30
choices.

10

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Figure6TrendingTopicsinIndonesianTwitter(March2011)31

rd

A similar tendency is also found on Twitter. As the 3 largest tweets producer after Brazil and
32
USA, Indonesia produces around 15% of all tweets globally. With 8.29 tweets per account,
Indonesian tweeps produce a humongous amount of content and, yet, little of it devoted into
topics other than those reflecting urban lifestyles and/or driven by mainstream mediaas
reflected in these Twitter trending topics (Figure 6, see the prevalence of English terms here).
Tweets reflecting true social and political concerns are present, however they are usually issue or
event-driven (propelled by mainstream media) and short lived.

PritaMulyasari

Ariel/LunaMaya

SriMulyani/Century

Ahmadiyah

Lapindo

Figure7PopularityofIssuesinTop80IndonesianBlogs33
Byandlarge,thesubjectmatterofIndonesianonlinemediaincludingsmallindependentonlinecontent
providersandonlinecitizenjournalism,verymuchmimicthetasteandthebiasesofmainstreammedia.
Thisisduetothecontentdependency,wheremainstreammediasteersthedirectionofdiscoursesin
othermedia,includinginalternativeonlinemedia.

11

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

Figure 7 illustrates how this bias is reflected in the blogosphere. Among 80 blogs with social and
34
35
political concerns, issues on marginalized communities such as Lapindo and Ahmadiyah receive
minimum coverage, while issues closer to the middleupper class intereststhat were highly
propagated by mainstream mediagot much higher coverage. The pornography scandal of
Indonesian artists Ariel and Luna Maya picked up ongoing discussions from July 2009 to March 2011
whileadeadlyattackonAhmadiyahmemberswashardlydiscussed.
Apartfromtheseoverallproblems,socialmediadoesprovideaspaceforIndonesianstocommunicate
and expressthemselvesin a way unimaginablebefore.Socialmediaalso encourages a participatory
typeofcontentproduction,whichhasthepotentialtocontributetoenrichingthediversityofcontent.
Onasmallscale,thepracticeofproducingalternativecontentisrampant.Inthelastcoupleofyears,
there is an emergence of community blogs focusing around real issues and concerns in Indonesian
society such as politikana.com, obrolanlangsat.com, savejkt.org, and akademiberbagi.org. Despite
their inherent middleclass orientation, the formation of these communities can be seen as a step
towardsbuildingdiversityandpluralismofcontentintheonlinesphereinIndonesia.

12

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

A PPENDICES
MediaOwnershipbyGroup

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Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

14

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

15

Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

1
2
3
4

5
6
7

Sen, K. and Hill, D.T. (2000), Media, Culture and Politics in Indonesia, p. 59.
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Paloh [last accessed 28 July 2011].
http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aburizal_Bakrie [last accessed 28 July 2011].
BusinessWeek Online (15 July 2002), Jakartas New Titans,
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_28/b3791135.htm [last accessed 28 July
2011].
Bagdikian, Ben H., 1997, The Media Monopoly, Boston: Beacon Press, p. 11, 90-99.
Bagdikian, 1997, p. 44-47.
Data is compiled from various sources, including: Lims research (informant based data); Tifa
Foundation (2010), iTifas Notes on Indonesia, p. 4.; Haryanto, I. (2010), Media Ownership
and Its Implication for Journalists and Journalism in Indonesia, in Krishna Sen and David Hill
st
(eds.), Politics and the New Media in 21 Century Indonesia, p. 107; http://id.wikipedia.org,
http://www.mncgroup.com/,
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=22353221
, http://www.bakrie-brothers.com/, http://www.transcorp.co.id/, http://www.feminagroup.com/
[last accessed 28 July 2011].
Modified from an original sourceClarity Research (2007), Indonesia in a view: A CASBAA
market report on the pay-TV industry in the Republic of Indonesiausing data from Lims
research (+ =noted changes).

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Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

10

11
12

13

14

15
16
17

18
19

20
21
22

23
24
25

26

27

28

29
30
31
32
33

AGB Nielsen (29 April 2011), Nielsen Newsletter, Edition 16,

http://www.agbnielsen.com/Uploads/Indonesia/Nielsen_Newsletter_Apr_2011-eng.pdf [last
accessed 28 July 2011].
Kompas TV Network observably takes a different route in its content. Preliminary assesment
shows that the Network pays much attention of the quality and educational values of its
content.
Marsono, 2009.
Penyampaian, penyebarluasan informasi, juga mendidik, menghibur masyarakat agar bangsa
Indonesia tidak kehilangan jati diri dan tetap komit dalam menjaga persatuan-kesatuan dan
keutuhan NKRI, in Marsono, 2009.
KBR68H (5 May 2011), Jaringan Dalam Negeri, http://www.kbr68h.com/jaringan/297indonesia/5889-jaringan-dalam-negeri [last accessed 28 July 2011].
Piper, T. (November 2009), Dont Shoot the Messenger: Policy Challenges Facing the
Indonesian Media, p.3.
SPS (Serikat Penerbit Suratkabar), 2011.
Compiled from various sources, including: http://kompas.co.id, http://id.wikipedia.org.
Anderson, Benedict, Rewinding back to the future: The left and constitutional democracy in
David Bourchier and John Legge (eds.) (1994), Democracy in Indonesia: 1950s and 1990s,
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, p. 140.
Based on Lims conversation with Jeremy Wagstaff (October 2011).
Source: Lims research (data from 8 July 2011). The figure includes top 10 Indonesian content
websites/portals (excluding subsidiaries of detik.com such as detikhot.com, detiknews.com,
and detiksport.com) and 10 top Indonesian bloggers (excluding those who use blogspot.com
and wordpress.com).
AGB Nielsen (31 January 2011), Nielsen Newsletter.
MARS Indonesia, 2009, Perilaku Belanja Konsumen Indonesia.
Messakh, Matheos Viktor (30 June 2009), KBR 68H centers on radio journalism, The Jakarta
Post, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/30/kbr-68h-centers-radio-journalism.html
[last accessed 28 July 2011].
Sen and Hill (2000), p. 51.
Sen and Hill (2000), p. 51.
Nugroho, Yanuar (2011), Citizens in @ction, Hivos and Manchester Business School,
research report, http://audentis.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/citizens-in-action-mioir-hivosfinal_report-en.pdf [last accessed 28 July 2011].
According to blogger Enda Nasution, cited in Lutfia, Ismira (6 August 2010), Journalist,
Bloggers Weigh In on Role of New Media, Jakarta Globe,
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/journalists-bloggers-weigh-in-on-role-of-newmedia/389727 [last accessed 28 July 2011].
Sutadi, Heru (12 February 2011), Social Media dan Demokrasi 2.0 di Indonesia,
http://politik.kompasiana.com/2011/02/12/social-media-dan-demokrasi-20-di-indonesia/ [last
accessed 28 July 2011].
These two cases are the most prominent casesand, to a certain degree, are overused to
justify the democratization effect of social media in Indonesiain which Facebook and other
social networking platforms were used to mobilize support for the perceived victims. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prita_Mulyasari for the story of Prita and see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Eradication_Commission for the story of Bibit-Chandra.
Hafner, Katie (27 May 2004), For some, the blogging never stops, New York Times.
SalingSilang.com (2011).
Source: SalingSilang.com (2011).
Data of March 2011, cited in SalingSilang.com (2011).
Source: Lims Blogtrackers research, 2011.

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Lim,M.2012.TheLeagueofThirteen:MediaConcentrationinIndonesia.

34

35

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow [last accessed 28 July 2011] for more

description on the Lapindo case.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya_in_Indonesia [last accessed 28 July 2011] for
more explanation on the Ahmadiyah and its persecution in Indonesia.

18