Broadcast News – We see their faces every day, delivering the latest news of the world to Indonesian viewers. Here are six of the best news anchors, exclusively for DAMAN’s 12th anniversary issue.
Zulfikar Naghi – The Natural Born
Naghi is probably the one who is most familiar with appearing before a large audience, even before becoming an anchor – and we’re guessing, he is really enjoying it. He was a graduate of public relations, he’s competed in pageants and has worked as wedding MC since in college. He even applied for anchor jobs at two different TV stations at the beginning!
That doesn’t mean he’s content, though. Naghi thinks that even if he’s been in broadcasting for 12 years now, there will always be room for improvement. That’s why he’s dreamed of opening his own school of public speaking, where he could share his wisdom and knowledge in communications science and public speaking. Right now, other than his TV work, he’s still doing the thing that started it all: wedding organizer and event MC.
Tommy Tjokro – The Wise Veteran
Tjokro was a marketing man when he fell in love with the world of television broadcasting. Like most of his peers, he started as a field reporter until one day, a flood blocked the way to his studio, making most anchors who were supposed to be on duty that day unavailable. Long story short, Tjokro was tapped as a sub, and now he’s the country’s most notable news anchor – an accomplishment that culminated when he was chosen to be the Presidential election debate moderator.
Yet, with everything he’s achieved, when asked about his biggest challenge and dreams, his answer was both rationalized and romanticized his job. “We’re moving towards the 5.0 society. With the rise of digital media, viewers want quicker and juicier news. I, as a news presenter, wish that my presenting would help them to induce more empathy, to educate them more – instead just fueling the worst side of this rise in technology.”
Robert Harianto – The Sharp Shooter
Harianto has his own flair that he’s not at all trying to cover. He’s more laidback, cracking jokes and doesn’t mind to express what he thinks – an interesting persona for someone whose job means hard news and presenting his best before millions of viewers every day. His dream interview is with Elon Musk, and if he can choose one more name, he would prefer Indonesian rapper Rich Brian over any politician in the world.
His passion outside of his work is to collect rare and limited sneakers. His biggest dream at the moment is to have his own program where he can combine political and social issues with fun and smart comedy – like the Daily Show, something that we think fits perfectly for someone like him.
Benny Dermawan – The Travelling Eye
Speaking about starting from the bottom, nobody else has a story as long and as interesting as Dermawan. A bachelor in physics and electronics, he was job hunting along that field when he got accepted as a camera man in a TV station. He moved between programs for years before being assigned to news. Here, his journalism skills were trained further as he often does everything all by himself – from writing scripts to live report. It eventually got him his first presenting gig in the station’s travelling program where he stayed for four years.
He was already a producer when he was asked to do a camera test for a vacant anchor spot. Even though he does not hold back when asked about which he likes better, “I like reporting in the field. On assignments for weeks or months at a time, I can experience the situation and interact with the sources directly that way.”
Rory Asyari – The International Kid
Unlike most of the anchors on the list, Rory already knew he wanted to be in journalism since the beginning – it was just his luck that television recognized his talent first. His proudest achievement so far is also very impressive: being assigned to the United States four times in a period of six months, where he did everything from interviewing Fethullah Gülen to covering Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Interestingly, the latter is still the one person that Asyari wishes to interview the most.
“Although this is one of the most hated person on Earth. I’d like to really understand actually about how does he feel when he’s made controversial policies that are against human values,” while acknowledging that Trump will deny or turn the questions around. “That’s the challenge of interviewing a difficult person like him!” he answered excitedly.
Prabu Revolusi – The Seasoned Talent
A very busy man outside of his television work, the man who will catch attention from his gloriously distinct name now runs two dining and coffee shop outlets with his wife. He also teaches communication in two different universities in Jakarta, and he’s an avid runner – who, as a matter a fact, just got back from the Tokyo Marathon by the time we talked to him. The only one on the list that got his anchor job because he was found – not that it was an easy path for him after all.
Revolusi was spotted by a talent scout who then asked him to audition for an news anchor role. Little did he know, he was competing with 200 other candidates. But he got the job anyway – and 14 years later, he’s moved between three TV stations (with two of them being news networks,) and now leads the newsroom at CNN Indonesia.
Photography Robby Agus
Styling Peter Zewet
Styling Assistant Jerdi Anarchi
Grooming Arimbi
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