218 media representatives are in Jakarta to cover the ASEAN Championship (AFF Suzuki Cup) and out of that number, only seven are non-Indonesians. There are two Malaysians, two Singaporeans, one Myanmarese and two with BBC TV.
Jakarta is playing hosts to Group A which features Indonesia, Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia.
In Group B, hosts Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos are playing in Phuket where 118 Vietnamese journalists have descended on the resort island to cover their national team.
The Thai media contingent is only 29-strong by comparison while Malaysia has 10 representatives.
Mhiggo, if one has gotten a press pass just to watch the home team play in a match, then it isn’t surprising it’s empty on the nights when the home team has nothing to show, eh? I’m sure my friends from Jakarta Post for eg. do not have much choice but to be there every night regardless of the excitement level (or the lack) of the match. We’ll see what happens when Indonesia takes on Singapore. 😉
If there’s 218 credentialed journalists in Jakarta, they must all be stuck at Face Bar. There’s been plenty of good seats available in the press rows on Friday night and tonight.
As for the demographic breakdown, rumour has it there’s even an American among the press mob.
The unvarnished truth…;-)
That’s because Indonesia has ALL sorts of print media, and from my experience covering events in Indonesia, there is not much red tape imposed to ensure that only “real” qualified journalists get into their always overcrowded press centre – especially for the 2 “national” sports Football and Badminton – many of them get a press pass just to get free admission to the matches or to speak with the athletes at the post-match conferences. You will know immediately who the “journalists” are because the kinds of questions they’d ask during the press conference are shocking..
It’s frustrating for the foreign press because there will be not enough power point or even space for them as the local “press” are everywhere and many are not really there to work. There was once I witnessed a foreign photographer from a big press agency being denied entry into the main hall (or rather, locked out of) because it was already overcrowded with photographers and she was screaming at the security that she is here to work (suggesting that many people inside aren’t).