World News Coverage
Oct 30th, 2008, in News, by Patung
How much coverage Indonesia gets in the major newspapers of the world, like the New York Times.
Quality & Quantity
The New York Times, on average about a few times a month it seems, publishes fairly in depth and well-researched news stories about Indonesia on social and political topics likely to be familiar to readers of this site (RSS feed), and maintains a useful portal page on the country here.
From 2000 to the present the New York Times has published 500 odd articles about Indonesia, and below is an interactive, comparative look at the number of articles about each of the 192 member states of the United Nations that have appeared in the New York Times in the same time frame.
Static version of above (if your browser doesn’t have Java installed):
A French website, L’Observatoire des médias, looks at the coverage of countries in the world (in 2007) in some major French and British newspapers, as well as the New York Times, in a less user friendly way, with a heat map, with Indonesia not seeming to figure to any great extent in most of them.
Click the red dots next to newspaper names to activate.
66 Comments on “World News Coverage”
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timdog says:
Andy – we all know about your relentless anti-Indonesia campaign, but the idea that the country – the largest, most culturally, ethnically, environmentally, geographically diverse in the region by a long, long, long way – has “less to offer” than the other SE Asian countries is just plain ridiculous…
Indonesia has a dozen lifetime’s worth of stuff for an interested tourist, from Danau Toba to Borobudur (where’s Malasia equivalent of Borobudur, by the way?), From Kuta Beach to Tana Toraja, from the coral gardens of Bunaken to the jungles of Papua, from Komodo dragons to Banda beaches, From Gunung Rinjani to G-Land…
None of that may be as exploited as it could be; general global news perceptions of Indonesia may keep many away, but it would be churlish – nay hilariously stupid – to say “It doesn’t have much for tourists”…There’s a widespread perception amongst tourists – especially of the “lonely planet” type, that Malaysia is the most “boring” country in the region (except Singapore), a place to hurry through between Indonesia and Thailand. They’re wrong as far as I’m concerned; Malaysia is refreshingly different from other countries in the region and I always enjoy going there – not least for a bit of good Indian food. But in terms of sheer diversity, no one, not even you, could legitimately argue that it has a patch on what Indonesia potentially has to offer a tourist…
Thailand’s all well and good, and Laos and Cambodia too, though the endless, humourless, sour, blank-faced milking of tourists for everything they’ve got that you encounter in Vietnam makes you think of Kuta street hustlers and beach hawkers with misty-eyed fondness…
If we’re talking capital cities, that’s a different matter. I don’t think many would suggest Jakarta as a great place for a weekend break when compared to Singapore, KL, even Bangkok or Phnom Penn (or Vietianne, which is hardly a city anyway), but that’s not the same thing as the country having “nothing to offer”. Don’t be so silly.
For the record, I like Penang a lot. Nothing like a bit of faded colonial atmosphere and domestic Chinese architecture…
BB – I do agree with you again about the business of Bali/Sumatra and “exoticising” of Indonesia in “human interest” and “minority issue” stories, but that’s simply one facet of the wider picture of the way foreign media approach the place…
I’m still really keen to know about the level of coverage in Holland…
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Achmad Sudarsono says:
Pak Timdog,
True wisdom from the waves. I think Penang is a great city and Malaysia is full of good food and fun little sites for those who can peel their eyes open and take a look.
But as for Jakarta as a weekend break, well, this city has its charms. 🙂
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Berlian Biru says:
“I’m still really keen to know about the level of coverage in Holland…”
I’ve no idea but I’d imagine it would be something similar to the treatment of Pakistan (and Ireland in the old days) in the UK press. A mix of colonial guilt, dull dutiful reporting for the benefit of the immigrant population at home, bewilderment (and a modicum of “I told you so”) at the mess they’re making out there and a hankering after the good old days when sound chaps were in charge, a young man could show his mettle and the locals knew their place.
But then like I say, I’ve really no idea.
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Lairedion says:
Andy said:
Bali is not the only place with good beaches but the only place which got it’s act together to provide great bars, restos and entertainment in one place.went to Anyer and Carita a few years ago and they didn’t even know that beer was a beverage served cold. And the sand was covered in seaweed and rubbish.
If this is what you’re searching after (bars, restaurants, cold beers and entertainment) then indeed Indonesia has not much to offer. Bali, in some ways, has become Indonesia’s equivalent to many of the Mediterranean hot spots, perfect for shallow bules to get drunk and get laid every single night.
I did trips to Siberut, Kepulauan Mentawai (including a 12 hrs. boat crossing from Padang to Muara Siberut and back) and a Kapuas river boat trip to Sintang, Kalbar, part of getting to know more on traditional tattoo art and at the end getting a fitting souvenir. Coincidentally, my parents-in-law live in Sintang. Challenging, uncomfortable and demanding? Yes, yes and yes. Satisfying, enriching and unforgettable? Yes, yes and yes. Quite different from tourist-waiting long-necks in Northern Thailand. North Sulawesi (my ancestral homeland in front of Tangkoko Batuangas Dua Saudara) and Flores are also recommended and I’m sure timdog can mention many other interesting places.
But to each their own, Andy. Indonesia is one of those places where you can still be amazed. That is, if you look beyond Jakarta, Java and Bali, money-thirsty ayam, FPI thugs etc.
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As for the Dutch news coverage on Indonesia it’s above average. Indo-Europeans (Indo’s, Indisch, part of the Indo diaspora) and their descendants are in fact the largest ethnic minority in Holland (approx. 800,000 people). The 3rd generation is becoming increasingly aware of their Indonesian roots and are using all infrastructure to keep each other posted on Indonesian news. Then we have plenty of Indonesians with non-colonial ties (WNI or WNB like myself, students etc.) residing here. And many more Dutch are interested due to the colonial history.
Given this relatively large readership, if you look at mainstream media, for instance the AD, the second-largest daily here, has almost daily topics and/or news articles on Indonesia and a permanent blogger reporting background news from Jakarta. From the last couple of days:
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2725702/Onderzoek_huwelijk_met_12jarige.html
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2732015/Parlement_Indonesi_keurt_antipornowet_goed.html
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2733870/Moslimleider_gevangenis_in.html
http://www.ad.nl/buitenland/2735611/Bali_weigert_antipornowet_in_te_voeren.htmlAnd of course there are many more blogs, magazines, e-zines focused on Indonesia. I can write pages about this but Indonesia has always been very much in the spotlight and always will be.
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Janma says:
Challenging, uncomfortable and demanding? Yes, yes and yes. Satisfying, enriching and unforgettable? Yes, yes and yes.
When I read the above, I thought back over some of my travels, and I have to say that the most enriching and unforgettable experiences were also some of the most uncomfortable and demanding…. I love that about Indonesia, even while I hate it….
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Thanks for that Lairedion. That was kind of what I suspected, and it’s good to know. It’s a shame, of course, that that level of coverage coming out of Holland is trapped within the boundaries of the Dutch language, so unlikely to spill over in the wider world awareness of Indonesia…
Wish I could speak Dutch…I did notice though, that in the 4 stories you linked, 3 were still agency copy… At least it came from Holland’s own ANP agency, which at least makes it rather more specialised and insightful than the generic blandness of the mega-agencies AP/Reuters/AFP who provide so much of our “world news” – including, as I mentioned earlier, most of the international news in the Indonesian language press…
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… although, unhappily, having looked at ANP’s website I discover that:
News stories are written by experienced ANP journalists, an extensive network of correspondents and journalists from international press agencies, such as Reuters, DPA and AFP.
DPA is the main German news agency…
Still, I’m sure that given the connection and interest in Indonesia that Lairedion mentions, ANP’s stuff coming out of Indonesia at least is original; Sadly though, much of the rest of “international news” in Holland is probably the same, generic product that the rest of us get…
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and Janma, on Lairedion’s comment:
When I read the above, I thought back over some of my travels, and I have to say that the most enriching and unforgettable experiences were also some of the most uncomfortable and demanding…
Yep, me too 😉
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Andy says:
Lairedian-But to each their own, Andy. Indonesia is one of those places where you can still be amazed. That is, if you look beyond Jakarta, Java and Bali, money-thirsty ayam, FPI thugs etc.
True, that may be my problem. I didn’t venture far beyond these places. I did go to Lombok and though it was nicer than Bali I preferred the Balinese people as they were to me, believe it or not, less likely to harass people incessantly. Some may laugh but they usually drop off if you don’t buy watches, belts etc but the Lombok folks just don’t get the hint. Maybe that their economy has suffered far more. I am maybe one of the few on this thread who thought Batam was nice. I ddin’t spend long there but did the ferry trip to Singapore. It was to me refreshing and clean (and green) after spending many long days in Jakarta.
Timdog, I don’t disagree that there many places to see but the problem is the people simply don’t know how to market them properly. This is where Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have the edge. They organised things long ago. Malaysia has 21 million tourists a year compared to 5 million in Indo. Why do you think that is? Go back to what I said about Anyer and Carita. They could be as good as Bali but they don’t have a clue. Imagine a 2 hour drive to a beach paradise rather than a 2 hour flight. If only the locals knew beer was a drink served cold and accomodation was closer to Bali prices.
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Andy, you said:
I’ve been all over SE Asia and the other countries simply have more to offer
Now, if you would just state clearly that what you actually meant is that the other countries simply have better tourism promotions campaigns, despite actually having rather less than Indonesia potentially has to offer the tourist, then we’ll all be good.
From your experience of Lombok I am able to surmise that you went to Senggigi, which, as a place overdeveloped during 1990s optimism, now has some rather desperate people and a woefully high watch-hawker to tourist ratio, and a depressingly high ropey old hooker to greasy old bule ratio… I imagine you found the former insulted your concepts of “politeness”; I wouldn’t pass judgement on how you felt about the latter…
I spend quite a bit of time on Lombok. I usually pop straight into Senggigi just long enough to hire a bike and then I’m gone… Beers and bar girls in some tacky resort aren’t my idea of a holiday; the rest of Lombok is…
Indonesia does still have a pretty high status amongst “adventure tourists” and “eco-tourists”, who are a potentially very lucrative market…
For a certain tourist demographic “a 2 hour drive to a beach paradise rather than a 2 hour flight” – hell, even a 2 day drive – is a major positive.There are huge problems with Indonesia’s tourism industry – branding and advertising amongst them; sorting out the visa would bring back the backpacker hordes who used to march through from Toba to Timor (backpacker hordes were the foundation upon which successful tourist ecconmies were built in Thailand, India and elsewhere).
What many officials (by no means only in Indonesia) fail to realise is that tourism develops best, and most healthily, when it is organic, when it is a long-term process.
The idea that “facilities” are all that is lacking is absurd, especially for a place like Indonesia where the “brand” ought to involve the exotic, the adventurous, the “culturtal”, the “unspoilt”. Unfortunately, the idea that “facilities” are all that is required tends to form the basis of cack-handed toursim strategies in many “third-world” countries. If such strategies are actually followed through, all that results is a whole bunch more Senggigis, empty and untenented at the head of some litter-strewn beach with a dozen desperate watch-hawkers and a dozen tragic old hookers frantically pursuing the lone, sweating Australian and he shambles down the deserted mainstreet…Anyway, each to his own…
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timdog-Now, if you would just state clearly that what you actually meant is that the other countries simply have better tourism promotions campaigns, despite actually having rather less than Indonesia potentially has to offer the tourist, then we’ll all be good.
That is one truth, I think another is the ease of travel around other countries. Some of this is no fault of the country, it is just difficult due to the geography. I many times wanted to go to Papua as I love the people (friendliest in Indonesia) and have many friends there. But the hours on aircraft (and changing flights) made me think and say, no easier to go from Jakarta to Singapore, KL etc. Convenience is a major factor. I once went from Phuket to KL in a day by road. That included a few hours in Hat Yai on the way.
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Patrick says:
@ Andy – This one topic that I am going to disagree with you as I find Indonesia to be the most enchanting country that I have ever visited. The people are wonderful for the most part aside from the idiot “hey mister” crap but I usually find that I can turn the joke back on them and get the crowd laughing at the harasser by saying a few words back in Bahassa. Anyway, do you really think the local vendors in Lombok are more aggressive than Bali? My experience is just the opposite and was among the chief reasons that I prefer the Lombok people over the Balinese. The other reasons were the comparatively less crowded roads and beaches and I have never see garbage wash ashore like I have often witnessed in Bali.
Back to Indonesia, I really cannot think of a better place on this earth to either live or visit. It certainly has it’s problems as you have pointed out many times here on IM but talk about a time warp when you get outside the main cities and the timeless beauty and historical places to visit as Timdog and Lairedion have written about in previous posts. This is really one of the last places on planet earth that truly allows for the visitor a chance to experience a wonderful exotic culture relatively unspoiled by Western culture in comparison to surrounding countries.
I live in Florida and we have great beaches here and with a less than 4 hour flight in almost any direction I can find great places to holiday and relatively inexpensive pricing, if I want to bargain hunt. But I would rather get on a plane and travel the approximately 24 hours to get to Indonesia and enjoy all this fantastic archipelago and all it has too offer and that includes the good the bad and the ugly, if necessary, than sit on some pristine beach somewhere bored out of my mind. Saya mencintai Indonesia dan semua dari adalah kecantikan!
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“backpacker hordes were the foundation upon which successful tourist ecconmies were built in Thailand, India and elsewhere”
That is very true, frankly I can’t be bothered with the back packers, perhaps I’m just too long in the tooth and I do like my comfortable hotel room and my nice cold beer by the pool, but there is no question that tourism starts with them (well at least in developing nations; in places like Dubai you can do the top down thing if your government is richer than God).
So if Indonesia wants to develop a tourist industry outside of Bali, and frankly there is little evidence that it does, then it shouldn’t be looking to emulate Malaysia with their gazillion dollar media blitz, the tourists that want the sort of thing Malaysia is offering aren’t going to want to rough it in out of the way spots that simply haven’t got the infrastructure to handle them anyway.
The government needs to be realistic and start with the basics, go for the backpackers and the surfies, like I say I can’t abide them myself, but tourism from the Greek Islands to Bali was based on such people, they’re young, they’re adventurous and they’ll put up with stuff that crotchety old gits like me and Andy wouldn’t tolerate, provided they get a friendly reception and a feeling of adventure which is what Indonesia has in spades. Things like the US$ 25 visa on arrival with its page and a half of stupid stamps, corrupt immigration officers and pointless queuing is precisely what will put off such people.
When the Indonesians have got used to handling the backpackers they can then start moving up the scale a bit, in effect reproducing what worked in Bali, but glitzy ad campaigns aren’t the way to achieve success. Go for the old Irish method of “You know what? We’re a wee bit hopeless at this oul’ tourist lark but sure come along anyway, ye’ll be be very welcome and the crack will be brilliant!”, when you’ve mastered that you can look to opening up 5* golf resorts.
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I think the best way foward for tourism in indonesia would be eco tourism… not to make more places like Bali.
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@ Berlian Biru did some beautiful Galway girl jilt you at the alter because what is up with your continuous abusive remarks aimed at the Irish?
How about sticking with your own country when providing such examples? Here’s my truth in advertising campaign for your land.
Come to Britain where the cuisine is well, awful
Come anyway and enjoy this industrialized slice of hell
Come to Britain where you can spot the prince and the queen
Come to a land where women are ladies and the men are somewhere between -
Paddy me boy sure aren’t ye the typical yank that doesn’t do irony? Here’s a wee hint; I wasn’t denigrating the Irish tourism strategy, it was amazingly successful and, until such time as the Irish got rich and their heads went up their arses, it was actually remarkably simple.
In the old days you didn’t go to Ireland for the sun or the sex because there never was either of any in great quantities in the Oul’ Sod. You went to Ireland to have some good old fashioned fun. You’d spend the day wrapped up warm against Atlantic gales as you walked around some of the most stunningly beautiful scenery in Europe and among almost certainly the most friendly people.
The evenings weren’t complicated either; you either went to Micky John’s pub or Paddy Mac’s depending on whether your idea of entertainment was some oul’ geezer scraping out reels on an ancient fiddle or some oul’ doll crooning out the best of the Rebel songs (curiously it was English tourists who loved them the best), either way the night was passed in a drunken but thoroughly enjoyable haze of Guinness and tobacco smoke. Your taxi home for the evening was the barman who’d shut up shop and then have a few pints himself (“I say when’s closing time?” “Oh let’s see now”, glancing at watch “Ah yes, October”) before driving you home.
Home being of course a lumpy bed in a damp ‘bed and breakfast’ but when you woke up in the morning with a shocking hangover you’d be presented by your landlady with the mother of all hangover cures; a plate of greasy bacon, sausages, eggs, potato farls and black and white pudding (a dish known locally as “heart attack on a plate”) accompanied by a 25 gallon pot of tea and a mountain of freshly baked soda bread and all for under five pounds a night. Suitably refreshed, you were ready to go out and do it all over again.
Glamorous? No. Exotic? No. Five star? No. One of the best holidays you ever had? Undoubtedly.
That’s the kind of thing (with rather obvious regional variations to suit the local conditions) that the Indonesian tourist authorities should be looking to create.
Now of course if you go to an Irish pub you’ll be served by a wee girl from Latvia who doesn’t know the difference between Guinness and floor polish, the ‘entertainment’ will be provided by 42 inch plasma tvs piping in English premiership football or MTV rap music with Dolby surround sound, and a New York style smoking ban will see you banished out to the front porch with the other losers if you want to have a decent chat.
You see Patrick me oul’ chum, unlike you I actually know of which I speak, because unlike you I actually am Irish.
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lgun says:
Can’t compare us with whore-sell-pedo-invested Thailand and gambling-paradise-cultural-theft Malaysian, no contest. i agree with Janma for eco-tourism. We should sell View-Sense-Taste of Indonesia Nature. And not doing it excessively, it may corrupt and ruin our nature.
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Janma said:
I think the best way foward for tourism in indonesia would be eco tourism… not to make more places like Bali.
Agree. No more Bali copies please.
Will be leaving IM for a while. I’m moving with my family to Malaga, Spain this winter and the upcoming months I’m busy preparing everything. Thanks to everybody, wishing you all the best and take care.
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@ Berlian Biru – The irony is if one knew where to go in New York City they could find everything you described minus the gale force winds and that includes the black pudding, soda bread and the freshly poured Guinness you neglected to mention. I am afraid sir what you really miss is being a penny pinching drunken Englishmen pretending to reestablish his Irish roots. Sad for you but Ireland has passed you by and you have now no place to go and berate the locals because they no longer have to put up with your rather boorish behavior! They can afford to hire a Polish or Latvian person to do that.
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Mas Lairedion – It’s been a pleasure – seriously… and I apologise for being perhaps a little uneccesarily rude to you in the early days of our blossoming relationship 😉
With you and dewa gone, I sort of feel like I might retire myself (i really do miss dewa – I look back on those halcyon days of having people to argue with who were not trolls, genuinely meant what they said, and were actually worth arguing with with fondness!)Good luck with the move… Lots of fantastic Islamic architecture down in that part of the world 😉
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@ Timdog – I believe Lairedion said he was taking time off to move to Spain and not permanently leaving IM. Anyway, I am surprised to see that your also contemplating moving on and though I will be sorry to see you go but maybe its best for you? I could not help but notice that you have never been the same since Shloka wore you out and took the good fight right out of you. It really was a shame to see you lose to her but I suppose you aged and just couldn’t hack it anymore with the real heavy weights here at IM. I reckon that means we probably won’t being do our club crawl of Jakarta with Achmad playing ukulele. Now I will never get to witness a real cyber-space character coming to life to drink Guinness? Bloody shame huh?
Timdog one final question for you. When you argued with Shloka and friends (Lairedion and Dewarat) didn’t you always claim to be Muslim in faith? The reason I am asking is that lately I think I saw where you claimed to be an atheist? Wow! Shloka real kicked your tail didn’t she? Again, a bloody shame!
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Patrick, what part of “I am Irish” do you not understand?
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@ Berlian Biru – Maybe all of it? : > ) where r u from?
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Pakmantri says:
@ Lairedion,
Kang, have a safe move , well timed moved. 🙂
Wish you all the best in Malaga.Wilujeng angkat, salam pikeun teteh sarta para ponakan.
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Oigal says:
the largest, most culturally, ethnically, environmentally, geographically diverse in the region by a long, long, long way – has “less to offer” than the other SE Asian countries is just plain ridiculous
Perhaps and this is the very issue that gets many Indonesians thinking that the westerners staying in their country for any length of time are way to critical. In fact, it is the sheer frustration and sadness seeing such a diverse Nation squandered by what only could be called brain dead zombie practices..Visit Indonesia 2008 and by the way if you happen to be a Yachtie (who as generally older, self contained couples tend to be the very apex of the “tread lightly” tourist) you must now pay import tax when you enter our waters (we will give it back when you leave…honest..) Culturally and ethnically diverse..yes and see it now before it disappears under a wave of Arab wannabe regulations. Environmentally diverse..perhaps as a shock tour of environmental disasters and government indifference (Watch our forests go , we don’t give a F*ck, why should you). Perhaps the wonderful fishing and marine practices…
All of this and the article above proves the very sad point, that the PN and other wankers can whinge and whine all they like but only the Indonesians can stop this country from completely self destructing because no one else in the world gives a rats arse (fair or no, evil colonials or not, white brown or yellow all the same).
Personally I think its way too late, the fractures are too wide and self evident with the thugs and a low information voting population condemning the whole nation to cadre after cadre of thieves, crooks and self serving demi gods. A population who the sustainable resource management is term that lives beside tolerant religious harmony as a abstract concept with no benefit for me right this second therefore useless.
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Patrick!!!! Hell’s bells! A Muslim?
You got that one waaaay wrong… I have never, never claimed to belong to any religion, though I have on a number of occassions pointed out what I feel is the need for atheists to view their religious position as a belief rather than a disbelief to stop them sliding to a position of religious arrogance and supremacy of their own (“I’m right and you’re wrong – my (non) god is the only god”)…During one of our more heated exchanges Lairedion suggested that I was on the brink of converting to Islam, which may be where you got this idea. I put him right very quickly on that one – you’re unlikely ever to see me converting to anything, least of all a religion as dogmatic as Islam…
Shloka just depressed me mightily. I’ve met – in the flesh – plenty of her kind in India and find them depressing and not a little scary. They’re able to sidle up to Western liberals by way of their apparently urbane and sophisticated outlook, and to dress their hostility to Islam in liberal, human rights terms, while keeping their equal hostility to all other “non-Indian” religions and cultures carefully under wraps…
If you want to take a look at what her lot have been up to recently google Orissa + Christian + BBC…Shloka was formidible and entertaining, but I actually intitially engaged with her without realising what she was; if I’d known she was Indian I would have kept well-away… I know from bitter experience that debating anything with a nationalistic Indian is as futile as arguing with any kind of fundamentalist…
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News is news. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad. What is interesting is that bad news is generally more sensational and perhaps this says something about the way people enjoy other people’s suffering.
Just a thought.
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foreign correspondent says:
This thread got sidetracked by debating pros and cons for tourism. Back to the questions of Western news values. I belong to that endangered species, the foreign correspondent who does his own original stories and my experience is as follows…
Indonesia was a HUGE story post-Suharto and editors did want to know what the hell was going to emerge from the chaos and politicking. Then came 9/11. Terrorism/Islam was in. So we had to chase that storyline. Bali bombings was big. Thereafter… not much (apart from natural disasters). Megawati also hurt interest in politics, I believe. From Gus Dur’s manic energy to a big black hole, yuk. JI was eventually contained, and that’s great news for Indonesia, but so ends the Terrorism/Islam storyline.
By now, readers have forgotten the chaotic, gripping reformasi days (and Timor apocalypse). So we have to start over and try to explain why Indonesia matters and what’s going on. But there are so many other developing countries struggling to find a way forward – balancing economic needs and justice and cohesion – and there’s no compelling reason to write about Indonesia, as there is China (the biggest & baddest newcomer) or dangerous scary spots like Pak/Iran.
Yes, there are far fewer foreign correspondents in Jakarta than in 1998/99 (I left, so did others). This reflects the waning Western interest as well as global contraction in news media.
A final though: does the arrival of bad-news chasers actually herald rising fortunes for a nation? Maybe being off the news agenda signals normality. Do you really want us jumping off a plane and writing dispatches of doom & gloom about terrorism or corruption or separatism?
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Possibly, but in fairness I do recall the highlight of an otherwise dead loss visit being the last evening when the hotel doorman, taking pity on me, took me out to meet his cousin, a beautiful and slightly crazy half Portuguese half Malay karaoke hostess.
I could probably forgive Penang anything after the night that ensued.