The ILO supported the launch of the annual survey of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Jakarta on decent wages for journalists. Released on 11 April, the survey recommended journalists’ decent wage at Rp 8.2 million (US$555).

The figure is based on basic needs of food, housing and clothing as well as the allocation of savings and devices needed for work, such as laptops or smartphones. The figure is also higher than the Rp 8 million recommended in AJI Jakarta’s survey last year.

“This is an important future note for both AJI and the Manpower Ministry on how we can formulate a media industry that humanizes its journalists more,” said Irsyan Hasyim, AJI Jakarta’s Head of Advocation and Employment Division.

Conducted in February 2023, respondents of the survey were Jakarta-based journalists with work duration from zero to three years consisting of 59 male and 38 female journalists from online, print and electronic media. Most of the respondents were from online news platforms.

From the 97 journalists surveyed, 44.3 percent admitted that they were paid under Jakarta’s 2023 provincial minimum wage of Rp 4.9 million a month, some receiving a mere Rp 2 million per month, an amount that was even below AJI Jakarta’s calculation to just cover food.

In addition to low pay, 88 of the 97 journalists surveyed claimed they did not receive overtime pay while 63 of them revealed that they worked more than eight hours every day. In terms of pay gap, the survey found that 5 journalists experienced different wages from their male fellow workers; while 58 of them admitted that they did not know about this issue.

Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO for Indonesia, emphasized the critical role of journalists in the society and in democracy. Thus, she highlighted the importance of maintaining their livelihoods.

“We do not talk enough about the people working in the media industry. It is also a little bit alarming that collective bargaining is being withdrawn in some countries due to the pandemic and economic recovery. I do hope that collective bargaining remains at the heart of the well-functioning labour market and democracy in Indonesia and in the media industry,” she said.

Meanwhile during the interactive discussion, responding the key findings of the survey especially on gender pay gap, Lusiani Julia, ILO’s Programme Officer, highlighted the need for AJI Jakarta to further explore the pay gap and to urge the wage transparency between female and male journalists.

“We need to continue promoting equal pay for both men and women to reach decent work for all as it is in line with the ILO Convention No. 100 on Equal Renumeration which has been ratified by Indonesia. We also need to encourage a wage transparency and to raise the journalists’ awareness about their labour rights, including about the wage system applied at their workplaces,” Lusi stated.

She also added that, as the next step of the survey, AJI Jakarta should arrange negotiation meetings with the high-level management of mass media companies to provide a decent wage that can fulfil the basic needs of both male and female journalists, including their family needs.

Other media experts sharing their insights and responses to the key findings of the survey were Wenseslaus Manggut, Chairperson of Indonesian Cyber Media Association (AMSI), Ahmat Fathanah, Public Attorney of LBH Pers and Ninik Rahayu, Chairperson of Press Council. They all supported efforts taken by AJI Jakarta to promote decent wages and working conditions of Indonesian journalists.

Wenseslaus highlighted the need for a stricter regulation under the Press Law which also regulates the decent wages for journalists, while Ahmad focused on the need for effective implementation of sanctions given to companies that break the regulations on providing a minimum wage for the journalists. Meanwhile, Ninik stated that the Press Council has issued a requirement for establishing a media company is the ability to provide decent wages for all the media workers, including journalists.