JAKARTA - The issuance of Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2025 concerning the Efficiency of Expenditures in the Implementation of the 2025 APBN and APBD has made the central and regional governments indiscriminate in advertising spending, making the media industry suffer even more.
Not only that, the government's attitude often prefers to pay influencer services and even buzzers to campaign and socialize policies to make the media industry more confused.
The government's advertising budget should have been diverted to the mass media as a form of affirmation in saving the press industry from a wave of layoffs.
"The government should not pay influencers, but place their advertisements in the mass media," said Secretary General of the Indonesian Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) Bayu Wardhana in his statement to VOI.ID, Wednesday, May 14.'
The government should prefer to protect the press and pay attention to the survival of the mass media as the fourth pillar of democracy. Law Number 40 of 1999 guarantees press life in the country.
"It is unfair if the public communication budget is only given to influencers, while the media are ignored," said Bayu.
The Press Council noted that layoffs in the media industry had soared from 2023 to 2024. At least 1,200 journalists and media employees were affected by the policy. This figure could be bigger because not all media companies officially reported layoffs of their employees.
As of May 2025, there were at least several media companies that had mass layoffs of employees, namely MNC Group, CNN Indonesia, Kompas TV, TVOne, ANTV, MDTV (NET TV), SEA Today, and Republika.
The decline in the value of advertising in the media has had a major impact on the company. This is because the biggest receipt of media companies currently still comes from advertising," said Chairman of the Press Council Ninik Rahayu.
Government policies in budget efficiency are exacerbating the situation, because advertising spending is cut so that it has a direct impact on media company revenues.
Many media companies have been very dependent on advertising revenue, especially from the government. However, the digital era so far, the mainstream media industry has also had to fight for ad niche with social media platforms.
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In the past, many companies, private agencies, and governments relied on conventional media, such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and other electronic media to advertise. But the presence of social media shifted that habit.
Ninik said, changing preferences and the emergence of various digital content made it difficult for traditional media to attract advertising attention so that their income plummeted.
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