''Kompas'' () is an Indonesian national

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

from Jakarta which was founded on 28 June 1965. The paper is published by PT Kompas Media Nusantara, which is a part of

Kompas Gramedia Group Kompas Gramedia is an Indonesian conglomerate. It has focused on several businesses, predominantly mass media, as well as hospitality, manufacturing, and event organizing. The company's businesses comprises multiple divisions, such as media ass ...

. Its head office is located at the

Kompas Multimedia Towers Kompas Multimedia Towers is a complex of 3 towers, named Menara Kompas I, II and III, which is situated at Gelora, Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The complex has a land area of about 1.2 hectares. Tower I has a height of 92 meters and ...

Tanah Abang Tanah Abang is a district of Central Jakarta, Indonesia. The district hosts the biggest textile market in Southeast Asia, Tanah Abang Market. It hosts Bung Karno Stadium, in Kelurahan Gelora, and the western half of the largely skyscraper-dom ...

, Central Jakarta. The paper manages an online portal kompas.id, which contains updated news and the digital subscription version of the paper, while Kompas Gramedia also manages another editorially-separated portal kompas.com. Kompas daily is one of two newspapers in Indonesia audited by the International Federation of Audit Bureau of Circulations.

History

The paper was first suggested by General

Ahmad Yani General Ahmad Yani (19 June 1922 – 1 October 1965) was the Commander of the Indonesian Army, and was killed by members of the 30 September Movement during an attempt to kidnap him from his house. Early life Ahmad Yani was born in Jena ...

, then commander of the Indonesian Army, to

Frans Seda Franciscus Xaverius Seda (4 October 1926 – 31 December 2009), popularly known as Frans Seda, was an Indonesian finance minister in the early days of Suharto's presidency. He also served as a minister during the final days of Indonesia's foundin ...

, a government minister and leader of the Catholic Party. Yani encouraged Seda to publish a newspaper that was representative of the Catholic Party faction, in order to counter the communist propaganda spearheaded by the PKI. Seda sounded out the idea to his friends, P.K. Ojong and

Jakob Oetama Jakob Oetama (27 September 1931 – 9 September 2020) was an Indonesian teacher, journalist, and businessman who was one of the co-founders and owners of Kompas Gramedia Group, the largest media group in Indonesia, together with P. K. Ojong. He ...

. Ojong subsequently agreed to undertake the project and Oetama became its first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

. Later the newspaper's mission was changed to become one that is independent and free from any political factions. The publication was initially named ''Bentara Rakyat'' (''People's Herald''). At President Sukarno's suggestion, it was renamed to ''Kompas'', for the direction-finding instrument. ''Kompas'' began publication on 28 June 1965 from an office in central Jakarta. Its circulation grew from initial circulation of 4,800 copies in 1965 to around 500,000 in 2014. Since 1969, it has been the largest national Indonesian-language newspaper in Indonesia. Kompas reached its peak circulation in 2004, when its daily circulation reached some 530,000 copies, and its Sunday edition, 610,000 copies. Readership totaled some 2.25 million. In 2014 its circulation reached 507,000, with 66% circulating in

Greater Jakarta The Jakarta metropolitan area or Greater Jakarta, known locally as Jabodetabek (an acronym of Jakarta– Bogor–Depok–Tangerang–Bekasi), and sometimes extended to Jabodetabekjur (with the acronym extended to include part of Cianjur Regenc ...

. Like many major daily newspapers, ''Kompas'' is divided into three major parts: a front section containing national and international news, a business and finance section, and a sports section. ''Kompas'' features the

Panji Koming Panji may refer to: Geography * Panji District (潘集区), Huainan, Anhui, China ** Panji Town (潘集镇), a town in Panji District * Panji (subdistrict), Situbondo Regency, East Java, Indonesia * Way Panji, South Lampung Regency, Lampung, ...

and Benny & Mice (until 2010) comic strips every Sunday. In 1988, Kompas was the first newspaper to trial sending news stories via an internet connection, during the time the internet was unknown in Indonesia. Internet news delivery was first done by the newspaper's sport division in September 1988, when covering the Seoul Olympics that year. In 1993, while covering the Southeast Asian Games in Singapore, Kompas was the first Indonesian newspaper to send a picture via the internet. On 14 September 1995 Kompas launched its internet news division and website, Kompas Online. Initially the website used .co.id domain before switching to .com domain a year later. In 1998, Kompas Online was rebranded as Kompas Cyber Media, and rebranded again in 2008 as Kompas.com. Aside from the rebranding, the internet news division still uses www.kompas.com domain to this day.

Circulation

''Kompas'' began its first issue with a circulation of 4,800 copies. Since 1969, the newspaper dominates sales nationwide. In 2004, daily circulation reached 530,000 copies, special edition of Sunday to even reach 610,000 copies. Readers of ''Kompas'' are expected to reach 2.25 million people in Indonesia. ''Kompas'' print edition had an average circulation of 500,000 copies per day, and the average number of readers reached 1,850,000 people per day. The paper is distributed to all parts of Indonesia. With a circulation on average of 500,000 copies per day and reaching 600,000 copies for the Sunday edition, ''Kompas'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in

southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. ''Kompas'' was the first print media in Asia that made its own digital newspaper version for iPad.

Regional sections

The first regional section included in the paper was for

East Java East Java ( id, Jawa Timur) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost hemisphere of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean bord ...

in 2003. This was followed by Central Java,

Yogyakarta Yogyakarta (; jv, ꦔꦪꦺꦴꦒꦾꦏꦂꦠ ; pey, Jogjakarta) is the capital city of Special Region of Yogyakarta in Indonesia, in the south-central part of the island of Java. As the only Indonesian royal city still ruled by a monarchy, ...

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

, and two other Sumatran regional sections. However, in January 2011, the newspaper closed down regional sections and returned to a uniform edition nationwide. No clear reason was given for the action.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Indonesian press Newspapers published in Jakarta Publications established in 1965 1965 establishments in Indonesia Kompas Gramedia Group