Global Communications on Our Sharing Session

As part of Maverick's weekly activities, last Friday the Mavericks welcomed a very nice and humble man from Bisnis Indonesia, M. Sarwani. He has been with the publication since 1994, in charge of different desks until his current task editor of the financial desk.



He went to an international conference/course for journalists in Seoul, South Korea, some time ago, meeting and sharing experience with other journalists from other parts of the world. In his presentation, M. Sarwani spoke about Global Communications with sample of cases from China, India, the Americas and Korea.



Maverick always has an intimate relationship with the media, as Ong himself was a journalist. In the past half year, Maverick has welcomed two more journalists as its associates. And we're expecting one of Mas Sarwani's colleagues from Bisnis Indonesia to join us soon.

Maverick in Sindo

Maverick was featured again in a local newspaper. This time it's in Seputar Indonesia on Saturday, June 10, 2006. Evi Agustin, the Sindo journalist, wrote a clear potrayal of what Maverick is really about as a PR consultancy. I don't think most people understand what we as PR consultants really do for our clients. This article will help to enlighten you.

Evi wrote in her intro, "Unlike most of the other PR consultancies, which only specialize on media relation, Maverick is there as a part of the overall business strategy of a company [their clients]." This statement is true because media relation is only a small part of PR. Most people still under the assumption that PR is merely media relations. Many PR consultancies encourage this misconception by only having capabilities in media relations.

However, in Maverick, we dip our feet deeper beyond the surface and specialize in strategic counsel. We are usually involved from the point of translating a company's business strategy into a communication strategy to obtaining its communication objectives through well planned activities. By this, we provide our client with "Clear thinking, Clean Execution."

Thank you Evi for the very well written article.

Life after journalism: Murray Hiebert

Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert found in 1999 that he was making rather than reporting the news after filing a story about the Malaysian Judiciary for the Far eastern Economic Review. He was convicted and sent to jail for what many observers felt was oversensitivity by the Malaysian Government toward press criticism.

After serving a reduced sentence in Malaysia he was posted to Beijing to write for the Wall Street Journal. With the Wall Street Journal's presence in Asia crumbling, Murray has now left journalism to become Senior Director, Southeast Asia of the US Chamber of Commerce's East Asia Department.

Murray was in Jakarta last week to accompany his boss, Daniel W. Christman, the Senior Vice President, International Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Its a new appointment but we wish Murray well in his life after journalism. We're sure he'll help guide the US Chamber to even greater involvement with their counterparts in Southeast Asia, even as the Bush administration stumbles about with its foreign policy.

PERS: Kebablasan dalam Kebebasan?

I was visiting a business radio station last week to arrange a live talk show. The talk show was to be broadcast live in 9 cities all over Indonesia. The topic of the discussion was PERS: Kebablasan dalam Kebebasan? It was raised to address emerging issues that some Indonesian media are hiding behind "press freedom" to casually publish inaccurate, unbalanced and irresponsible news to the public.

Ignatius Haryanto and Ulin Ni'am Yusron were invited as guest speakers for the talk show.

Ignatius Haryanto (Mas Hary or KumKum--that's how his friends call him) is a Director of Lembaga Studi Pers dan Pembangunan. He used to be a journalist in Tempo before finally pursuing his interest in the development of the Indonesian press, media and democracy, media ownership, and other press issues in general. Mas Hary is well-known for his critical writings in several publications. He is also a friendly person, and he has a thorough knowledge about media and democracy.

Ulin Ni'am Yusron is a journalist in business tabloid KONTAN, and he is also Ketua Divisi Serikat Pekerja AJI (Aliansi Jurnalis Independen). Ulin used to be a very funky journalist with his braided hair, but that day I was surprised to see that his braided hair was gone, replaced with a crew-cut hairstyle. Great to know that he hasn't lost his funkiness, though :)

Some interesting information emerged as the discussion went on.

It is true that after the Indonesian Press secured its freedom in 1998, the quantity of publications in Indonesia has tripled, resulting in a shortage of professional journalists. That's the reason why several media hire almost anyone as journalists, even those who know very little about journalism. This has resulted in many journalists, having no clear idea about how journalism works, mixing fact and fiction in their writing. Their lack of knowledge in journalism also translated into a lack of respect in the code of ethics of the Press. This is where Press starts to get confused between kebablasan dalam kebebasan.

According to Mas Hary, a journalist is allowed to find personal information about public officials. They are allowed to investigate whether a public official had an affair, and find out whether he used national budget to 'fund' his pleasure. Journalists, however, have no right to violate the privacy of private individuals. Celebrities are not public officials. And it is Desy Ratnasari's right to say "no comment" to infotainment journalists.

The most interesting opinion expressed, and one that might be useful for you, was that someone who feels mistreated by a journalist or a publication could complain to Dewan Pers. According to Mas Hary and Ulin, it is more effective to bring your case to Dewan Pers instead of suing the media in court. Dewan Pers has the right to sanction media that violated the journalistic code of ethic; and your case could be solved even faster and more effectively (plus, without having to worry on how much should you pay the lawyers if you brought this matter to court!).

As the discussion went on, the 'President Advisor of Republik BBM', Effendi Ghazali, joined the talk show via phone. He quoted a saying that stated: it is time for the press to use the term "freedom for" instead of "freedom from". It means, nowadays, press should no longer trapped in the hysteria of freedom from the government or freedom from being banned. It's time for press to think about how to use their freedom responsibly for greater public good.

Hmm, what do you think about Indonesian media? Is it a "freedom-for" or "freedom-from" kind of media?

Welcome to Yasha

Maverick welcomes Yasha, who starts his first day as a Maverick today.

For those who watch Metro TV in the morning, Yasha Chatab is a familiar face. Since 2004, he was the anchor and reporter for Metro This Morning, Metro TV’s English News and Metro Pagi.

When asked about his motivation in leaving the glamorous TV world to join a PR Consultancy, he explained that it was time for him to move on. After spending more than four years in radio and TV, moving to PR seems to be the next natural thing to do, he said.

Yasha holds a Bachelor degree from University of Houston, majoring in Business Administration, and will soon get his Master degree on Communications Management from the University of Indonesia.

In his spare time, Yasha loves to eat out, write for his blog and go to the gym.