Journalists associations
The three largest journalist organisations in Indonesia are Persatuan Wartawan Indonesia (Indonesian Journalists Association - PWI), Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and Ikatan Jurnalis Televisi Indonesia (Indonesian Television Journalists Association - IJTI). The total number of journalists who are members of either of the three associations is about 20,000 people. The largest organisation is PWI, with around 15,852 members, followed by IJTI with around 2,500 members. However, more journalists are not members of journalist organisations. If referring to data from Dewan Pers (2017) while there are around 100,000 journalists in Indonesia, only 20 percent of them are incorporated in journalist organisations.
The oldest journalist organisation is the PWI, founded in 1946. In the era of President Soeharto (1966-1998), PWI was the sole journalist organisation. Anyone aspiring to become a journalist had to be a member of PWI. This organisation in the Soeharto period was often used as a tool to suppress and control journalists, in order not to criticize the government. Journalists dissatisfied with PWI, then established AJI in 1994. AJI has campaigned for wage-worthy standards for journalists and is currently involved in monitoring of incidents and lobbying for the safety of journalists. After the Soeharto era, there was no necessity for journalists to become members of an association. Many journalists, especially outside Jakarta, are not members of any journalist organisations.