Roadside Newspaper

A motorcyclist stopped by the road side to by a newspaper from a newsstand on Jalan Alun-alun Timur, Bandung.

News-stand

A news-stand at the corner of Dr. Setiabudhi and Gegerkalong Girang streets near the campus of Indonesia University of Education in the north of Bandung.

This news-stand has been in business for more than twenty five years. I used to buy newspapers and magazines from this news-paper stand when I was an undergraduate student some twenty five years ago and it is still there today. Nothing much has changed about it, except that in addition to selling newspapers, magazines, and tabloids, it now also sells prepaid cell phone vouchers. I think the number of publications it sells have also increased since the Era of "Reformasi" when Indonesian press became freer and it became easier to publish newspapers and periodicals.

Free Newspaper Read

Except for advertisement bulletins, there is no free newspaper in this city. But that doesn't mean you can't read newspapers for free. You can certainly read them for free at the libraries, hotels, office lobbies. But here, you can also read the newspaper on certain bulletin boards on Jalan Asia Afrika street. These bulletin boards are located on the side walk in front of Pikiran Rakyat newspaper office. And as you may have expected, the board only carries Pikiran Rakyat newspaper.

Published in Bandung since 1965 and circulates mainly in the Provinces of West Java, Banten, dan DKI Jakarta, Pikiran Rakyat (literally: People's Ideas/Thoughts) is a major newspaper in the country and the largest in West Java and Banten.