Internews has a long, proud history in Indonesia, contributing to building a public-interest media landscape in the aftermath of the massive political change in 1998 that Indonesians affectionately called Reformasi. Today, Internews’ flagship Media Empowerment for Democratic Integrity and Accountability (MEDIA) continue to increase the availability of and access to quality information that ultimately strengthens democratic accountability, ensures healthy information environment, and reduces the risk of conflict.

In MEDIA, Internews works hand in hand with seven implementing partners to improve data /investigative journalism, to build on successful ways to tackle disinformation, and to support the long-term financial sustainability of independent and provincial media. MEDIA is also building collaboration between media outlets and accountability sector CSO to ensure accountability reporting published by public-interest media will be followed up adequately.

While working with our experienced Indonesian local partners, Internews also assists in their organizational capacity building, including developing their strategic planning. Based on our long history in Indonesia and our trust-building effort, Internews managed to engage with local CSOs in media sector including the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia Anti-Defamation Community (MAFINDO), Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Media Legal Aid Institute (LBH Pers), to name a few.

Internews’ Earth Journalism Network is helping to grow the interest and capacity of Indonesian journalists to report on the environment and climate crisis issues. We have created a geo-journalism website Ekuatorial, establishing an editorial team and inspiring a new generation of Indonesian content creators supported through story grants. In addition, we provide technical assistance and collaborate for joint initiatives with our partner the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalists (SIEJ).

We continue to leverage our local partnership to design and implement our work directly in response to the information needs of local communities, ensuring long-term and sustainable impact while supporting our partners to do the same. In addition, we bring lessons-learned and best practices from our past successful projects that worked to counter mis/disinformation during election period, increase digital and physical safety for journalists and activists, raise media and digital literacy, and encourage diverse reporting to support religious freedom and human rights.