Reporting Indonesia: The Jakarta Post Story 1983-2008

The Jakarta Post was born in 1983 when Suharto’s repressive New Order regime was at its height and the media was muzzled. Five rival media companies came together to start an English-language daily that some saw as an experiment doomed to fail. But the newspaper’s punchy editorials, clean presentation of the news, and quirky columns and features quickly made a mark with the growing expatriate community. Over the years, the Post developed a unique editorial culture of expatriates and multicultural Indonesians. And by the time Suharto was ousted, the newspaper had earned a reputation for testing the limits of censorship and for breaking stories.

Reporting Indonesia: The Jakarta Post Story traces the birth and growth of a newspaper in a developing country against the backdrop of the tumultuous events of the past 25 years in the world’s fourth-largest nation. The story of The Jakarta Post illuminates conflicting themes about journalism in Indonesia while taking the reader behind the scenes to reveal the boardroom conflicts and stresses in the newsroom. It is required reading for all students of journalism and media studies, as well as anyone interested in the struggles of independent media in the developing world.

About the Author

Bill Tarrant has been a correspondent, bureau chief and editor for Reuters in Asia for the past 22 years. He was among a group of editors that helped start The Jakarta Post in 1983. He is currently Deputy Editor, Politics and General News, for Thomson Reuters in Asia based in Singapore. He is married with two daughters.