Muhammad Ashari. Changes In Organic Composition of Capital Behind... MediaTor, Vol 13 (1), Juni 2020, 11-23
Changes In Organic Composition of Capital Behind Pikiran Rakyat Strategy of Convergence
Muhammad Ashari
Universitas Indonesia, Jl. Salemba Raya No. 4, Jakarta, Indonesia Email: [email protected]
Abstract. This article examines the convergence strategy in Pikiran Rakyat media. The convergence strategy is analysed using the Organic Composition of Capital Theory from Karl Marx (1887). The theory describes the interaction between technological improvement (constant-capital) and labour mobilisation (variable-capital) in the production process, which its primary goal is to generate profits for the capitalist. This article highlights technological change, driven by the tendency of capitalism to maximise profit and its consequences for the journalists. The used method for analysis is case study. Data for analysis are collected from documents, interviews, and participant observations. The result indicates that the improvement of Pikiran Rakyat constant-capital, concerning its convergence strategy, is done by integrating the content of all its subsidiaries through newsroom and e-mail, which have the purpose of disseminating news content to various platforms. There is an increase in the number of contents from these efforts. However, it also has a consequence for journalists and editors who are forced to produce news for various platforms.
Keywords: Convergence, Organic Composition of Capital
INTRODUCTION Kabar Priangan, Kabar Banten, and Convergence has become a Galamedia. business strategy that is adopted by After decades of concentrating in many media today. Mainstream media print media, Pikiran Rakyat has begun to companies in Jakarta, such as Media move towards digitalisation and adopted Indonesia Group, Tempo Inti Media, and a convergence strategy by forming Kompas, have adopted a convergence various digital platforms in this recent strategy in operating their businesses year. Various formed platforms, including (Tapsell, 2015). online news websites, e-paper, and social Pikiran Rakyat, a media company media. Pikiran Rakyat is also starting to that has existed since March 24, 1966, build a streaming television called PRTV has also changed its business strategy and starting to integrate the PRFM radio into convergence. Pikiran Rakyat is line. known as a regional newspaper in West The process of convergence in Java Province and had its head office in Pikiran Rakyat has taken place since the Bandung, the capital city of West Java early 1990s but has not yet reached the Province. Furthermore, Pikiran Rakyat stage of its application in the company’s also has district/city-level subsidiaries business strategy. During the early 1990s, newspapers, such as Kabar Cirebon, convergence was limited to discourse
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29313/mediator.v13i1.5126 11 MediaTor, Vol 13 (1), Juni 2020, 11-23
that was drafted by a handful of company through PRTV, which content is streamed employees. This was marked by the through various social media such as involvement of the representative of YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. In Pikiran Rakyat in attending the World addition, an e-paper application called Association of Newspaper (WAN IFRA) MyPikiranRakyat has also been formed forum. It is a forum that discussed issues (Riyadhiputra & Yusanto, 2019). around journalistic and mass media. From the Marxian political- Every year since 1993, representatives economy perspective, the convergence of Pikiran Rakyat were sent to attend strategy employed by media companies the forum (Resmadi & Yuliar, 2014). In today is closely related to the way the a way, this stage is the era of knowledge social system of capitalism works in transferring about digital media. creating a source of wealth. In the system The online news channel, of capitalism, the source of wealth is PikiranRakyat.com (PR Online), was obtained from the extraction of surplus founded in 1996. However, at that time, value in the process of production (Marx, the news uploaded in PR Online was 1887). This surplus value is also known precisely the same as the news displayed as profit (Mulyanto, 2010). Surplus-value in the newspaper. In addition, there is no is generated from the mobilisation of integration of content into the newsroom, labour that exceeds the average socially as the case at this time, where every needed time to produce a commodity. newspaper within PT Pikiran Rakyat This mobilisation of labour has its source Bandung subsidiaries can access and from the allocation of capital for labour- distribute the same content. At least in that power, which in Marx’s vocabulary is period, company policy still prioritised its termed by variable-capital. newspaper products. For PR Online, the In order to see the appropriation mid-1990s showed a stagnant and often of surplus-value or the process, which is marginalised journey. called valorisation of surplus value, Marx Since 1996 until now (2019), analysed it in the sphere of production. improvements have been made by There are two ways the capitalists valorise expanding digital media channels. It is surplus-value in the production process, done with one primary purpose, which which is by (1) extending labour time is to adopt a convergence strategy. above the average socially needed time There are several digital media channels to produce a commodity or (2) the use formed: (1) www.pikiran-rakyat.com, of technology developed in the society a news portal that provides breaking which could make the labour process news, realtime and running news; becomes more intensive and productive. (2) www.info.pikiran-rakyat.com, an The first method, the extension of information site that provides West Java labour time beyond its average socially directory data, business information and needed time, is called the valorisations other information related to business of absolute surplus-value. The second activities; (3) Pikiran Rakyat Microsite, method, through the use of technology that which is a website that provides news functions to accompany labour process, is and information about products in the called the valorisation of relative-surplus form of articles, galleries and videos; (4) value. PR-epaper, which is an online channel What distinguishes the containing a digital edition of Pikiran valorisation of relative surplus-value Rakyat print newspaper. Pikiran Rakyat from absolute surplus-value is that the has also penetrated into visual offerings surplus-value could be appropriated
12 Muhammad Ashari. Changes In Organic Composition of Capital Behind... without having to extend overall labour constant-capital can affect the amount of time as in the case of absolute surplus- labour-power required in the production value. Moreover, the mobilisation of of commodities, especially if it increases labour could be increasingly massive productivity. In other words, a large-scale than before because it is also driven by investment to constant-capital at the same productive technology. time could result in a reduction of the The process of valorising surplus- variable capital component. Nevertheless, value - especially in the case of relative at the same time, an increase in labour surplus-value - shows the interaction productivity could be created. between technology and the process The relation between constant- of mobilising labour. Both of these are capital and variable-capital is called significant factors in a production process the Organic Composition of Capital that aims to valorise surplus-value. (Marx, 1887). The organic composition Marx (1887) mentioned part of capital could be enlarged through of the capital that is allocated in the investments in constant-capital. That production sphere, such as technology, means there is an effort to improve raw materials, etc., as constant-capital. the production sphere through the It is called as constant-capital because its improvement of machinery, factory quantitive value does not increase while buildings, engineering, management being used in the production process. In systems, etc. In practice, the massive fact, its value continues to decrease as it is allocation of constant-capital enables used over time in the production process. the efficiency of production. In turn, it For example, machinery will experience affects the amount of capital allocated on a worn-out after it is used perpetually in variable-capital. In other words, it could the factory after a period of time. become another way to reduce costs for Another part of the capital is worker wages or the portion of the worker called variable-capital. This capital refers itself in the production sphere. Not only to the capital allocated to the purchase of reduce the cost of wages and the portion labour-power. In the production process, of the worker but increased investment labour-power is the only source who can in constant-capital also at the same time add value to a commodity. For example, makes productivity become more intense. labour-power could be mobilised to Marx saw the Organic transfers the value contained in raw Composition of Capital in two points of materials such as yarn through a spinner view: (1) as a process of value creation (constant capital) so that it has a new and (2) as a technical composition of value in the form of a commodity of capital invested in the production process. clothes. Labour-power could also be Both of these have close relations in the mobilised to produce commodities above process of capital accumulation. the social average time to produce it so From the point of view of (1) the that more value could be created. The process of value creation, the Organic role of labour-power as an element of Composition of Capital shows the ratio the production sphere who can add value between constant capital and variable to a commodity becomes the basis of its capital in the process of producing the categorisation as a variable-capital. value of a commodity. As for the point Marx (1887) mentioned the of view (2) the technical composition of relation between constant-capital and capital, it shows its material elements variable-capital in the production by looking at the function of capital, process. According to him, a change in which is divided into means of labour
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infrastructure (constant-capital) and automatic machinery, can reduce the labour power (variable capital). This costs incurred for workers’ wages so function is determined by the relationship that the surplus-value obtained from the between the deployment of the means production process could be reaped as of production and, at the same time, the much as possible. mass of labour needed in the production When convergence is adopted process. In the context of this study, the into a business strategy, it will have perspective that will be used for analysis an impact on the production process is the second point of view, which is the carried out by a journalist. In this case, technical composition of capital. convergence is not merely a matter of The practical side of the Organic technical issue, but it also related to Composition of Capital can be seen from cultural change (Jenkins, 2006; Deuze, the comparison of the way journalists 2005). One of the changes from the aspect producing news for print and online of the production process is the tendency media. The development of digitalisation of journalists to do multiple tasks. The has made the allocation of news for company will force them to be able to online media could be indefinite because disseminate information through various it has unlimited space. Meanwhile, the communication channels or presenting the allocation of news for print media is news for multimedia formats (Dickinson, minimal by the number of pages available. 2015; Nikunen, 2014). In such working On a regular basis, print media journalists conditions, journalists could experience could produce 2 to 3 news a day. While full exploitation by working above online media journalists nowadays could regular hours and relative exploitation in produce 6 to 10 news a day. Besides the presence of multiple tasks (Pratopo, that, news that is produced for online 2018). media could not only be presented in the The “de-skilling” process is also form of text, but it could also involving considered to occur in the environment audiovisual elements. of media convergence. That view arises From that comparison, it can be from the fact that there is an increased identified that there is an improvement in workload due to news targets demands the composition of constant-capital that set by the company management. This has changed the way the news is produced. causes the working patterns of fact Some examples of this constant-capital checking and investigation as well as in composition improvement could include the specialised print media environment the development of digitalisation to be increasingly difficult to do (Phillips, technology, be it digitalisation of content, 2015). websites, applications, or management For some people, convergence system development, such as integrated does not bring meaningful changes to the newsroom management, in order to welfare of media workers, even though support convergence. their workload has increased significantly. From the context of business Indonesian Journalist Alliance Research competition, capitalists tend to enlarge conducted in 2015 showed a wide the portion of constant-capital instead of gap between the cost of living and the variable-capital. Large constant-capital operational costs of journalists in the era could increase commodity production of convergence. In addition, journalists and makes production costs cheaper due also face work contract issues that are to reduced allocation of variable-capital. considered not to regulate essential In other words, investment in technology, matters, such as work benefits, social
14 Muhammad Ashari. Changes In Organic Composition of Capital Behind... security, holidays, and basic salaries in the media industry. (Yuganto, 2015). This research will highlight However, from the company Pikiran Rakyat strategy in enlarging management perspective, convergence constant-capital. In addition, the strategy - and within it, the necessity relationship between the deployment of multimedia reportage - significantly of constant-capital and the process of contributes to reducing production journalistic labour also will be seen. costs and creating a more flexible work environment (Phillips, 2015). Multimedia METHOD reportage is considered to be in line with This article uses Case Study the demands of media companies, which Method. This method is an empirical tend to produce more news from the same study that aims to examine contemporary human resources so it can save more phenomena in their daily contexts, production costs (Dickinson, 2015). especially when the boundary between The integration and consolidation phenomena and contexts is not very clear of the company, multimedia practices, (Yin, 2018). In essence, case studies increased workload as well as the search for an explanation of a decision or degradation of journalist expertise and set of decisions: why a decision is taken, its unsecured welfare, as explained how a decision is implemented, and with above, demonstrate the practice of what results (Schramm, 1971). convergence, which is the current trend Data were collected from three types in media organisations today. The of sources, which were documents, practice of convergence shows that there interviews, and participant observation. is a change in the production process due The source of the research document is to the emergence of productive digital news reportage about Pikiran Rakyat technology. It also shows changes in the convergence strategy. Organic Composition of Capital, where Data was also collected by the allocation of constant-capital, such as participant observation. In this form of digital technology, causes changes in the observation, researchers become part of mobilisation of labour. an environment where the research is Based on the background above, conducted (Yin, 2018). The researcher this study identifies the relationship is a journalist in Pikiran Rakyat since between convergence in the media industry 2012. During the working period, the and changes in the Organic Composition researcher also observed the dynamics of Capital, which underlies the operation that occurred when Pikiran Rakyat of the media industry, particularly at PT began directing its business strategy to Pikiran Rakyat Bandung. Digitalisation, convergence. Researchers also observed as a basis for media convergence, is changes in the workings of journalists seen as a productive force that causes since the company began implementing constant-capital to change in the portion multimedia strategies. of the Organic Composition of Capital. In-depth interviews were Changes in the amount of constant-capital conducted on May 16-27, 2019. The will affect the amount of variable-capital informants were Hilmi Abdul Halim, in the Organic Composition of Capital. Pikiran Rakyat Journalist, and Yusuf In other words, from a practical point Wijanarko, Digital PR Content Editor. of view, the mobilisation of journalists’ In addition to the two informants, other labour as capital-variable will also change informants were not mentioned. as digital technology causes convergence The analysis strategy is based on
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the proposition of a theory (Yin, 2018). This content integration also signifies In this study context, data collection was an effort to distribute content to various guided based on the propositions that are media, which is a subsidiary of Pikiran contained in the Organic Composition Rakyat. The news produced by Pikiran of Capital Theory. The patterns found Rakyat journalist can also be published in the data are then compared to their in Kabar Priangan, Galamedia, www. compatibility with the propositions pikiran-rakyat.com, www.galamedia. contained in the Organic Composition com, and other channels owned by the of Capital Theory. Yin (2018: 224) company. mentions this analytical technique as “There is no longer a limit that pattern matching between patterns based the product must come exclusively from on empirical evidence and predicted Pikiran Rakyat print reporters, but it can patterns. also from other reporters which is still a member of a subsidiary company. For RESULTS AND DISCUSSION example, news from Galamedia that is Pikiran Rakyat strategies in enlarging deemed suitable can be loaded, or the constant capital incoming PRFM News submissions The starting point for convergence turn out to be interesting to be printed, in Pikiran Rakyat is seen in the formation it can also be. So, the bulkhead between of a newsroom. Thus, an e-mail was previously separate newsrooms began created in 2018 to accommodate news to be contained in one large newsroom. stories created by Pikiran Rakyat From there, we can see the spirit of journalist and to support the newsroom the converged newsroom. “ (Yusuf itself. The news that was accommodated Wijanarko, 2019, personal interview). in the newsroom e-mail was not only The task force was formed under from print journalists, but also came from the name PR Digital Task Force to various media which is part of company manage the convergence strategy. Digital subsidiaries, such as PRFM radio, Kabar PR Content Editor Yusuf Wijanarko Cirebon, Kabar Priangan, Galamedia, said, besides integrating content and and PR-Info (Yusuf Widjanarko, 2019, distributing it to various media platforms, personal interview). PR Digital Task Force has its aim for E-mail is the most straightforward mapping the editorial products of Pikiran technology in the digital and online era Rakyat in a day. This product mapping is that can integrate content from various considered essential to take the next step, media under the company. The e-mail also which is the packaging and distribution supported the formation of a newsroom of content to various platforms owned by directed towards convergence, although the company. Product mapping also has e-mail technology has limitations in terms its function to measure how many editors of data storage. and sales marketing are needed to adopt a “Data traffic in the newsroom convergence strategy (FIGURE 1). is high-speed, so when e-mail storage The decision to form a newsroom is full, old data is erased. So when we with the aim of integrating content and need old data, the data has finally been managing it reflects Pikiran Rakyat’s lost. “ (Yusuf Wijanarko, 2019, personal efforts to add constant-capital. Capital is interview). not always defined as work infrastructure The editors of every media in the in physical forms, such as machinery subsidiary of Pikiran Rakyat have access technology. Nevertheless, it can also to the content in the newsroom e-mail. mean the application of management
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FIGURE 1. Pikiran Rakyat online digital platform for news that was previously sent to the newsroom techniques and specific work discipline advertisements that could be installed on techniques (Mulyanto, 2010). each page. If there are advertisements The main point about constant- on every page, then the news that could capital is that it does not merely become be printed on each page is an average the infrastructure used by workers in of 3 news. From that estimation, producing commodities. Constant- approximately there is 72 news produced capital also contributes to increasing every day. labour productivity. Theoretically, the The decision to improve constant- improvement of management techniques, capital through a convergence strategy as well as technological improvement, was adopted because of pressures from can intensify the duration of labour so changing the media market in the past that the portion of the surplus-value can decade and the climate of competition be obtained more. In turn, increased work between the media itself. The condition intensity can drive profitability to the of the media market in Indonesia is now maximum. influenced by the increasing ownership The implications of company of smartphones and the use of social management’s decision to form a media among young people. Many media newsroom e-mail have at least resulted companies have the belief that they need in the integration of around 300 news to capture this segment of young people content in a day (Yusuf Wijanarko, to transform their business towards digital personal interview, 2019). The production and convergence (Tapsell, 2015). of the news is far higher than the quantity Regarding the pressures in the of news produced when the news content media market, Managing Director of is only produced by a separate channel. Pikiran Rakyat Perdana Alamsyah said For example, when calculating in that the current press company needs a general, the news produced from Pikiran reliable business process, and it must be Rakyat newspaper alone, at least in a day, supported by business revenue in order there are only 120 news produced. The to maintain its enthusiasm and activities. figure was obtained from the calculation According to him, many press companies of the newspaper pages as many as 24 with its long history of existence have pages. On each page, it could print five stopped publishing and even closed news. That does not take into account the down because of the lack of it. On the
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FIGURE 2. Online digital channels form Pikiran Rakyat subsidiaries, PRFM, which is combine text and audio context.
other hand, there are also print media 2000 (Yusuf Wijanarko, 2019, personal companies which is still insisting on interview). competing and, in the words of Perdana In practice, constant-capital Alamysah, “not hesitate to extinguish the improvement is a capital intensive idealism of the press, selling themselves activity. Not all media companies have and publishing pages, for the sake of an equal ability to allocate resources, so the last breath before finally collapsing” its constant-capital could e increased. In a (Nurulliah, 2019). climate of industrial competition, efforts Perdana Alamsyah said that to enlarge constant-capital tend to paved the media industry is in the midst of ways only for conglomerates, oligarchies, change, and it gives a new challenge and monopolies (Marx, 1887; Mulyanto, for Pikiran Rakyat. He is talking about 2010; Tapsell, 2015). the industrial revolution 4.0, where its Constant-capital improvement, main signs are the presence of artificial which is driven by the business competition intelligence products—robots, machines, climate, tends only to benefit large capital and computer components that can learn companies because the capital invested and think for themselves. The role of in it are very expensive. One of the the algorithm changed the conditions commentators said that the continuous of society in the industrial 4.0 era efforts to raise constant-capital eventually significantly. He said that Pikiran Rakyat would lead an attack straight to the must face these challenges (FIGURE 2). driving force of capitalism itself, which However, some of the employees is free competition (Mulyanto, 2010). see the company’s decision to move In other words, the market eventually toward convergence is too late. Digital will be filled with monopoly practice PR Content Editor Yusuf Wijanarko by big capital companies, which is far said that the company’s policy towards from the notion of “free competition”. convergence was at least 14 years late. In an environment like that, the choices He said this by referring to the emergence left for a small capital company is to be of the second internet wave in early swallowed up by large capital companies
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minimum infrastructure to carry out a convergence strategy so that it is expected to survive in competition.
The relation of increased constant- capital with journalistic labour processes Pikiran Rakyat journalists also experienced a labour intensification as a convergence strategy is being implemented. They not only produce news to be published in newspapers just like before. News that has been written by journalists can now at least appear in four places at once, be it in newspapers, radio, online news sites, or Pikiran Rakyat social media accounts. One reporter informant mentioned that at some point, they were often asked to do a reportage for PRFM radio. While at the same time, they produce news FIGURE 3. Pdf version of Pikiran that will later appear on online sites and Rakyat newspaper. the print newspaper (FIGURE 3). Some journalists were even instructed to use or go bankrupt. their social media accounts to spread Pikiran Rakyat’s position as a news content in audiovisual form. regional media and not incorporated in Hilmi Abdul Halim, a journalist one of the national media conglomerate who has been working in the Purwakarta groups is just like “David versus Goliath” Regency for the past two years, tells story. The improvement of constant- about his experience in making news capital made by Pikiran Rakyat is not as about a festival in Purwakarta. The news massive as those media conglomerates. he produced about the festival is seen There are at least eight on several media channels owned by the conglomerations of national media company. He claimed his first goal was groups, such as Trans Corp, MNC, SCMA only to produce news for print and PR Group, Berita Satu, Kompas Group, Online. Nevertheless, aside from that Visi Media Asia, Jawa Pos Group, and two media channels, the news apparently Indonesian Television Media (Tapsell, appeared on other media channels without 2017). The eight conglomerate media his knowledge. groups mobilised digitalisation and “At that time, I was checked convergence strategy with very intensive google. It turned out that my news also capital. Pikiran Rakyat, as a media appeared on Galamedia online. The news company engaged in the regional level and photos that I sent to the newsroom of West Java Province, certainly faces appeared in Galamedia. However, my competition with those eight national name was still included in the news, along media groups that are also expanding into with the photos myself take.” (Hilmi the regions. However, Yusuf Wijanarko Abdul Halim, 2019, personal interview). said, Pikiran Rakyat at least still has the The journalist’s working
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conditions, as mentioned above, are in agreement among the editorial levels line with the tendency in the Organic about the delivery of news for various Composition of Capital when a portion platforms. Some of them think that of its constant-capital is enlarged. It has the presentation of news between the a consequence to intensify the labour of newspaper and online needs to be journalists. distinguished. While others consider the Labour intensity, which is presentation of the same news between increased, does not only experienced by newspapers and online is not a problem a journalist. But also in the editorial line because readers of newspapers and online of Pikiran Rakyat Digital team. Some are considered different. In this way of editors are forced to do marketing and thinking, it assumes that the different advertising matters besides their primary readers of print and online will not read job, which is managing content for the the same news twice. newsroom. Some editors still cover for Regarding the lack of agreement print newspapers besides managing the on how things should work, Pikiran newsroom content. Rakyat Journalist, Hilmi Abdul Halim In some cases, the convergence said, the workflow implemented by strategy has led to multiple tasks and the company was still not focused. He overlapping job desk among Digital PR considers the workflow is still confusing editors. Contradictively, this overlapping in practice (Hilmi Abdul Halim, 2019, work harms productivity levels. Pikiran personal interview). Rakyat Digital Content Editor Yusuf These conditions indicate that Wijanarko said. Ideally, a content editor there is a workflow that is not yet fully can manage 15 news in a day. However, integrated. On the one hand, the lack of due to the multitasking matters and capital makes the convergence strategy is overlapping desk job, every editorial not well implemented. Meanwhile, not all team could only manage seven news a journalists are well-conditioned to follow day on average (Yusuf Wijanarko, 2019, the workflow. personal interview). The number of Besides that, the issue of worker editors was still minimal at the time of the welfare also becomes a concern for study, around ten people. both journalists and editors. In general, Besides, there is still confusion the wages they currently have are not among journalists about the procedure for commensurate with the workload they sending news to print and online media. must receive. So far, wages that have been Journalists generally distinguish news received are, by standard, still considered for print and online media. Journalists equal to newspaper workloads, not who have a long history worked for print multimedia. media generally assume that the news Regarding this matter, Hilmi characteristics in a newspaper must be Abdul Halim said the level of wages tends presented in-depth and take into account to decrease when compared to his tenure, various perspectives from every source which has entered the eighth year. Along that is relevant and available. They assume with the importance of expanding media the presentation of news for online media channels, competition among media should not be as comprehensive as the company, and advertising revenue that news presented for newspapers because is significantly reduced, there are some of its media characteristics that demand rewards in the form of payment beyond immediateness and instantaneous. the regular wages that has been cut off. However, there is a lack of Journalists, who produce online
20 Muhammad Ashari. Changes In Organic Composition of Capital Behind... news or photos outside a regular basis, then expanded its media channels and usually get extra paid outside the basic integrating the content produced by its salary they receive. However, such journalists into the newsroom e-mail. additional fees are no longer available. From the perspective of the Organic “Initially, when I was in first Composition of Capital Theory, the trend year worked for Pikiran Rakyat, the of the media industry shows the tendency wages I received feels so big. I was fresh of capital investment in productive digital graduates back then. Nevertheless, for technology or, in other words, investment now, for me, who has eight years working in constant-capital. in a company, then married and others, it However, the explanation of feels so inadequate. Over time, I always Organic Composition of Capital does feel it is so extremely inadequate when not stop at the picture of increasing compared to inflation. “ (Hilmi Abdul productivity through the application Halim, 2019, personal interview). of productive technology. The Organic While wage levels tend to be Composition of Capital also provides an stagnant, on the other hand, journalists overview of its effects on workers. The are forced to do multitasking jobs. It meaning of increasing ratio in the Organic has consequences for some journalists Composition of Capital for workers is a regarding the costs they must pay while continuous decline in employment and the producing news. As Hilmi Abdul Halim level of average wages in specific sectors pointed out, working out a convergence (Mulyanto, 2012). The explanation strategy means be more frequent using the for it is that along with the increase in smartphone and accessing a broadband the ratio of Organic Composition of network, aside from filling gasoline for Capital, and there is a higher allocation his motorcycle to be able to reach the of capital directed towards the means of field so that the reportage job could be production rather than labour-power. As a done correctly. Convergence, he said, has result, there can be types of jobs that are an impact on the costs of the daily life of disappearing replaced by technology. As a journalist. in Pikiran Rakyat itself, at least there were 81 employees being layoffs at the end of DISCUSSION 2019. They are part of the management, The Organic Composition of administration, editorial, and production Capital is the ratio between the constant- staff. The company assumes that there capital and variable-capital mobilisation. are workers who are not essential It has the main target to produce profits for anymore in the production sphere after the capitalist. The Organic Composition the convergence strategy is implemented. of Capital will experience changes as In turn, it could affect production costs, new productive forces emerge in the which became too large to be bear by production process. the company’s finances. Aside from that, Digital technology could be there is pressure from advertising and a productive force that arises in the circulation rates, which is continually in media industry today. Media companies, decline. especially those with large scale, can Along with the shrinkage of labour- implement business expansion strategies power due to the pressure in a working through convergence, which within it, environment, which is more filled by there is a concentration and diversification means of production such as technology, of media channels (Tapsell, 2017). so does the real wage of workers. It also Likewise, with Pikiran Rakyat, which explains the next aspect of the Organic
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Composition of Capital regarding the as before. However, as the multitasking tendency of the rate of profit to decline demands imposed on journalists are because it is only labour-power that increased, there has been no significant become the real source of profit creations improvement in their level of welfare. (Ibid, 2012). This tendency is also seen in Pikiran Rakyat’s profits in the 2018-2019 REFERENCES period. In that period, there was a decline Adzkia, A., R., S. (2015). Praktik Multimedia in profits reaching 54%. dalam Jurnalisme Online di Indone- While for workers who are sia. Jurnal Komunikasi, 10(1). Diter- still fortunate enough to be absorbed ima dari https://journal.uii.ac.id/jur- in industry, the intensity of work is nal-komunikasi/article/view/7489 Deuze, M. (2005). What is Journalism? Jour- increasing because they are dealing with nalism, Vol 6(4), 442-446. DOI: technology that has to produce more 10.1177/1464884905056815. commodities than before as its primary Dickinson, R., D. (2015). Inside the chang- orientation, solely so that profits can ing newsroom : journalists ’ re- be further increased for the interests of sponses to media convergence the capitalists. This increase in work Kostas Saltzis and Roger Dick- intensity could also mean that workers, inson, (May 2008). https://doi. such as journalists, are forced to produce org/10.1108/00012530810879097 information for various converged media Feldman, T. (1997). An Introduction to Digi- channels in the company, and they do so tal Media. London: Routledge. without a significant improvement in the Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: where old and new media collide. average wage level. New York University Press. Lugmayr, A. (2016). Media Convergence CONCLUSION Handbook - (Vol. 1). Springer-Verlag The Organic Composition of Berlin Heidelberg. Capital of Pikiran Rakyat experiences Marx, K. (1887). Capital, Volume 1. Mos- changes in terms of constant-capital cow: Progress Publisher. Diterima and variable-capital when directing dari
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