International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 36

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
Consequently, Lampu Hijau often receives negative judgement and criticism
regarding its layout and writing style, which relies on dramatisation and sensationalism. One
of the major accusations is that Lampu Hijau is too sexually explicit: ‘Many people think that
Lampu Hijau is a porn[ographic] newspaper. For me, it is completely a misinterpretation.
Reporting about sexual issues does not equal to porn, does it?’ (Interview with journalist 3
of Lampu Hijau, 13 August 2012). Lampu Hijau is struggling with its image in this respect.
One of the journalists admitted that it is difficult to overcome the image of Lampu Hijau:
‘Lampu Hijau is still considered as a porn newspaper for some people. The paper finds that it
is difficult to get out from that image’ (Interview with journalist 2 of Lampu Hijau, 13 August
2012).
The image as a pornographic newspaper stems from the paper always reports about
rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and so on, and places these stories on the front page.
This, of course, is also part of its marketing strategy. Lampu Hijau uses the global formula
for tabloid headlines, which, according to Wasserman (2010) are ‘brightly coloured …
printed in big capital letters and often underlined, italicised, or with an exclamation mark
adding emphasis, [the headlines] scream out a sensational bit of news across the whole of
the front page’ (p. 43).
Actually, Lampu Hijau has made some efforts to move away from its image as a
pornographic newspaper. When shifting from its old name, Lampu Merah, to the new name,
Lampu Hijau, the newspaper received a makeover and was supposed to become more
elegant and ‘soft’ in terms of style. According to the editor-in-chief, the layout, headlines,
sections, pictures and writing style of Lampu Hijau were supposed to become different from
Lampu Merah, which historically were distinctly vulgar and sensational. However, ultimately,
Lampu Hijau had to keep its sensational style because the paper found this was more
appealing to its target readers. The editor reasoned: ‘We have to be realistic and consider
what is most suitable for our readers who are mostly urban workers. It is a market
requirement we cannot escape’ (Interview with the editor-in-chief of Lampu Hijau, 25
December 2011). On one hand, this confirms the commitment of Lampu Hijau to align with
what is suitable for its target readers. On the other hand, it indicates the vulnerability of the
paper to market forces, as described by Keeble (2001), ‘economic pressure becomes a
justification to sacrifice standards of significance, depth, and diversity, for insider viewpoints,
scandals, violence, sex, the invasion of privacy of individuals and sensationalism’ (p. 61).
Discussion: Tabloid newspap