JAKARTA - In September, after 19 years as a journalist with the national daily, Tempo, first as a reporter and then from 2010 as an editor on the international desk, Ms Maria Hasugian got a message from the paper s human resource department via WhatsApp warning of job cuts.
Tempo would go on to cut a 10th of its 525 staff, including Ms Maria and seven editors and reporters.
The venerable newspaper was not alone.
Struck by a crunch in spending on advertising, even as demand for news exploded, Jawa Pos and the main English language daily, the Jakarta Post, began making cuts too, according to media reports.