Blogs have newspapers in Indonesia on the run

I share with you my opinion story published in the Jakarta Post, Nov. 7.

Blogs have newspapers in Indonesia on the run

Opinion and Editorial – November 07, 2007

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta

More than 500 bloggers in Indonesia turned up late last month in Jakarta for Pesta Blogger, the first-ever large gathering of bloggers in Indonesia.

There are about 150,000 bloggers listed in the country, and that number is expected to double every six months.

With the country’s Internet users estimated to reach 25 million this year, up from 16 million in 2005, blogging will continue to bloom.

By comparison, newspapers in nine big cities are read by 11 million people, and a survey institute has reported that newspaper readership is on the decline, thanks in part to the increasing number of news portals. It has become common for the print media to provide online services to keep old readers and find new ones.

Do these facts imply something?

Throughout the world, blogs are on the rise, while newspapers are on the decline. Indonesia is no exception.

It is simple enough to explain the rise of blogging, because blogs, generally defined as a website where entries are written in chronological order and commonly displayed in reverse chronological order, offer ease in starting up and interactivity.

Unlike newspapers which require a significant amount of start-up investment and human resources, a blog can be started by a single person with almost no investment. A blog also feeds readers with text, audio services, photos and videos, which newspapers cannot afford to provide.

Unlike print media, a blog enables readers to become active participants, react to articles, photos and videos. Simply put, a blog is a medium for global conversation. By nature the print media adopts a one-way traffic of communication, although many are beginning to offer interactive forums for readers.

Blogs view newspapers and the print media as bureaucratic organizations, analogous to the way private companies look at government institutions.

Sure, blogs have problems with content credibility and accuracy, but it will be only a matter of time before bloggers will pay more respect to those codes of ethics. Besides, the concept of interactivity is thought to improve credibility because it allows readers to make prompt corrections.

To keep their readers, newspapers here have seized the concept behind the blog, interactivity. Kompas, the country’s largest circulated daily, for instance, via its website (www.kompas.co.id) has built a readers community called citizen journalism.

The Jakarta Post allows readers to comment on stories through its website (www.thejakartapost.com) and invites readers to debate issues via SMS in a readers’ forum, both in its print edition and website.

Overall, newspapers have not abandoned the news culture, which is outpaced by those who concentrate on websites. But thanks to the strong presence of advertisements, newspapers have been able to survive.

Consequently, newspapers lack both ideas and implementation when it comes to websites. Budiputra, a former journalist turned blogger and freelance writer, says it took a very long time to set up a blog at his former news organization.

Also, the trauma of the newsportal bubble that burst in early 2000 still haunts, although it should be taken into account that back then Internet users in the country numbered around only 1.9 million, not to mention the poor Internet infrastructure. There were simply not enough readers to generate income.

The situation has improved a lot since then. The number of Internet users and enthusiasm for blogging are growing rapidly. Anytime soon bloggers will find a formula to lure big advertisers and go commercial.

In the U.S., TechCrunch, a popular blog on Internet startups which began in 2005 as a hobby, now attracts 1.5 million visitors a month with revenue from advertisements reaching US$240,000 a month with only eight full-time employees.

When blogs in Indonesia capture big advertisers, then blogs, which have already grabbed a certain level of readership, will emerge as more serious news and information providers.

Should this happen, newspapers will be in big trouble. Newspaper content will look obsolete as they cannot provide real-time information.

Another challenge for blogs is the lack of high-speed Internet access in the country. Such a barrier has impeded blogs from growing faster. High-speed Internet access is available but still limited even in big cities. For example, an Internet service provider offers unlimited Internet access at only Rp 99,000 ($11) a month at a speed of 384 kilobits per second (kbps), but the service is only available in Jakarta, Tangerang, Bogor, Bekasi and Surabaya. Another provider charges Rp 200,000 a month for high-speed Internet access through the telephone line in more cities across the country.

Once all cities in the country have high-speed Internet access for less than Rp 100,000 a month, which is just slightly above the subscription fee for a newspaper at Rp 60,000-Rp 90,000, people will think twice about buying a newspaper. Blogs will likely benefit from the situation as they are more prepared than newspapers to offer online content.

At present, newspapers are still leading, but blogs are catching up fast. Newspapers in Indonesia had better respond to this phenomenon now, or else.