Jakarta. An analyst recently blamed the government for the waves of layoffs currently hitting the journalism industry, which led many media outlets and news stations to launch mass layoffs.

Public policy expert Trubus Rahardiansah pinned the blame on the lack of policies that could protect the media business ecosystem despite journalists' crucial role in the Indonesian democracy.

"I believe that the government has not paid enough attention to the TV industry, including its journalists. Even though the TV industry has long contributed to the state, including in the nation-building process and democracy," Trubus said Thursday.

According to Trubus, the Communications and Informatics Ministry should have been more active in designing strategic policies that could support the media industry's growth. News outlets, including TV stations, have to rely on advertisements to make money. However, TV advertising now has to compete with digital platforms such as TikTok and YouTube that are currently rising in popularity.

"In this digital era, the government should give [the media industry] some sort of protection. They can issue some sort of regulations that encourage TV advertising. This way, the ads not only run on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and so on," Trubus said.

Fiscal incentives can also help Indonesian news outlets stay afloat.

"The government can reduce the taxes and retribution news outlets have to pay, or even exempt them from these taxes. I believe that privately owned TV stations have to pay quite high taxes," Trubus said.

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