International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 27

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
Some sections in Pos Kota specifically provide space for the police department, such
as the Question and Answer and Polmas sections. This demonstrates that criminal activity
has significant news value for Pos Kota. In terms of page allocation, crime news is ranked
first, followed by local news, national news, celebrity news and advertisements. Crime news
is always located on the most accessible pages: pages one, two and three.
When analysed quantitatively based on section allocation, local news ranks in first
position, with 36%, which means that 11 of 31 sections in Pos Kota are allocated to local
news. Sections about crimes and human interest share the same allocation, with 13% each.
This shows that news about crime does not actually dominate the paper’s space. The
analysis of the front pages of Pos Kota shows that 42% of the copy is devoted to local issues.
The importance the paper places on local news is much higher than other categories, such
as crime, sport, national politics or celebrity news; this is further evidenced by Pos Kota’s
stated commitment to be a local newspaper for Jakarta and its surrounds.
Space allocation for advertisements
Since its establishment, Pos Kota has been committed to serving the local people in Jakarta
and its surrounds (Ghazali & Nasution, 2000, p. 2). According to data from Litbang Grup Pos
Kota (2011), one of the attempts to serve local people is by providing more space for
advertisements over editorial copy space. In 2011-2012, the space allocated to
advertisements in Pos Kota was higher than that allocated to editorial content—59% of Pos
Kota’s space on Saturdays was devoted to advertisements and 41% to editorial copy.
The advertisements in Pos Kota can be divided into two categories: public service
and private. The public service advertisements mostly focus on announcements to avoid
crime—similar to Crime Stoppers in Australia—while the private advertisements include
regular classified and display classified. The advertisements can also be differentiated into
goods and service advertisements and job vacancies. Most of the goods and service
advertisements contain advertisements about properties, cars, motorcycles, and medicines
to overcome sexual problems, while the job vacancy section contains vacancies for unskilled
workers, such as drivers, bricklayers and cleaners.
Providing space for the public and communities
Realizing that people use newspapers for many reasons and with different motives, Pos Kota
gives space for ordinary people to be in the paper. Anyone can invite a journalist from Pos
Kota to write a story about local social activities. Indeed, the main formula of Pos Kota is
‘local news’, ‘local people’ and ‘local events’ (Wibisono, 2000, p. 161).
The sections of Kavling Warga (‘Family Tales’), Komunitas (‘Community’) and Koran
RT/RW (‘Local District/Council Paper’) are specifically allocated for Pos Kota readers who
want to be included in the paper. Social activities, such as charities or community services,
can be reported in Pos Kota. This is one reason that readers have a strong engagement with
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