Tribun Network is a newspaper chain and online news outlet in Indonesia owned by Kompas Gramedia. The group owns 22 local newspapers and one national newspaper across 24 cities and regencies in Indonesia.
History
In the late 1980s, the Department of Information asked major newspapers to assist minor local newspapers that were hampered by the press permit (SIUPP) problem.The government restricted advertising space to 30% of all content for newspapers not aiding minor newspapers.[1]
In 1987, Kompas Gramedia took over ownership of the Sriwijaya Post in Palembang and established the subsidiary PT Indopersda Primamedia (Persda) to assist regional newspapers in need. In 1988, Kompas Gramedia took over Mimbar Swadaya, a weekly newspaper in Banda Aceh, rebranding it as Serambi Indonesia, and the weekly newspaper Surya in Surabaya, which began publishing daily. Kompas Gramedia took over the Pos Kupang daily in 1992, and in 1994, the Banjarmasin Post.[2]
Persda later strengthened its business by publishing its own regional newspapers in other cities under the Tribun brand.The first newspaper to hold the brand, Tribun Kaltim, was published in 2003 in Balikpapan, followed by Tribun Timur (Makassar) and Tribun Jabar (Bandung), among others.