International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 34

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
Interestingly, the editor of Pos Kota said that the paper was not concerned with such
criticisms. He stated that ‘time has revealed that Pos Kota has a distinctive style that people
cannot resist. After all, many media, including television, have followed the style of Pos
Kota’. Indeed, Pos Kota has become a trendsetter for the tabloid genre in Indonesian
journalism. One journalist claimed that for crime news, Pos Kota is the ‘guru’ for all media:
‘We are the trendsetters for crime news. Many media follow our style’ (Interview with
journalist 2 of Pos Kota, 25 December 2011).
In addition to that, the editor-in-chief of Lampu Hijau described the demographic
profile of the target readers as follows: ‘The target readers of Lampu Hijau are the urban
workers who are still in the productive age, around 19 to 45 years old, with little to medium
financial capacity’ (Interview with the editor-in-chief of Lampu Hijau, 25 December 2011).
He emphasised: ‘Lampu Hijau wants to be the main newspaper for the urban workers to get
any information related to crimes, entertainment, sex education and so on’ (Interview with
the editor-in-chief of Lampu Hijau, 25 December 2011).
Similar to Pos Kota, Lampu Hijau also has two ‘paradoxical’ aims: to serve its target
readers and to advance its market position. The decision to be a local newspaper is also
based on profit consideration because, at the time of its founding, not many newspapers
addressed this reader segment and these topics. As a journalist stated: ‘Lampu Hijau focuses
on crimes, local politics or local issues and sexual issues since they are still rarely reported’
(Interview with the journalist 2 of Lampu Hijau, 13 August 2012). For the same reasons,
Lampu Hijau also focuses on funny and weird stories: ‘Distinctive stories also become our
interest since they are actually marketable though often ignored by other media’ (Interview
with journalist 3 of Lampu Hijau, 13 August 2012). The effort to win further market
segments is the underlying reason for an attempt to accommodate all circles of urban
workers. As one Lampu Hijau journalist said: ‘We target all workers in Jakarta, not only
unskilled workers but also public servants. We have the sections to accommodate all of
them; however, the portion for unskilled workers is higher’ (Interview with journalist 1 of
Lampu Hijau, 17 December 2011). By attempting to accommodate all strata of urban
workers, the paper can make itself ever more profitable.
In an attempt to carve out its own readership and distinguish itself, Lampu Hijau has
chosen to focus on crime. By selecting this narrow scope, it minimises competition with
other newspapers, including Pos Kota. The editor-in-chief stated:
The birth of Lampu Merah [the previous name of Lampu Hijau] was started with the
commitment to create a very segmented newspaper. Many segments were being
considered at that time, but finally we decided to focus on crime since there is no
newspaper that fully covers this issue. Indonesian readers, especially urban workers,
were mostly ignorant about the crime information, even though crime is an
inevitable part of the daily urban lives … By providing comprehensive information

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