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Judith Neilson Institute to fund AFR's Indonesia bureau

Bo SeoReporter

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The Australian Financial Review will reopen its bureau in Jakarta, Indonesia with the support of the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.

The initiative is one of 11 grants to various media organisations from the institute founded by the billionaire philanthropist Judith Neilson.

Emma Connors will be the next Indonesia correspondent.  Louise Kennerley

Ms Neilson committed $100 million in November last year to the institute to "celebrate and encourage quality journalism in Australia and the world". She said at the time that reporting on Asia would be an early priority.

"We welcome the support of the institute which, together with our own funding, allows us to reopen our Jakarta bureau. It will boost our reporting of the region extending a tradition that began when The Australian Financial Review started on the ground coverage of Asia from Tokyo in early 1960s," said Financial Review editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury.

"Amid the disruption to the geopolitical power balance and trade and investment flows that have supported the region's economic development, Indonesia and the rest of south-east Asia assume a new importance for Australia and Australian business.

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"The Jakarta post will be a base for reporting on Indonesian economic, business, trade and political issues but also for covering news across south-east Asia.

"It will add to coverage global coverage from our correspondents in Shanghai, Washington and London, and our extensive syndicated sources from the world's top new organisations," he said.

The new correspondent Emma Connors, who will take up the role in the next few months, first joined the Financial Review in 1997 as a technology reporter, later writing across the masthead and its related publications on issues including health and economics before becoming opinion editor. Connors rejoined the Financial Review in October 2017 to run AFR Weekend's Perspective section and Friday's Review liftout.

Judith Neilson pledged $100 million for her foundation in November 2018. Janie Barrett

The masthead maintained a bureau in Jakarta between 1986 and 2009. Previous correspondents have included Michael Byrnes, Greg Earl, Angus Grigg and Morgan Mellish, who died while on assignment in the Garuda plane crash of 2007.

JNI board director Mark Ryan said he hoped the Financial Review's Indonesia bureau would help inspire among readers a desire to engage more deeply with the region.

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"It's about responding to existing appetite and feeding that, but also, through good work and journalism, encouraging greater interest," he said.

Mr Ryan said this could eventually allow JNI-sponsored programs to finance themselves without the institute's support, but added that he was approaching the future with an "open mind".

"We don't see this as funding commercial news operations into perpetuity ... We see ourselves as putting momentum behind worthy and pressing needs," he said.

The institute said the grant to the Financial Review had been finalised after a series of conversations with the editorial leadership – rather than a one-off application – and that this was consistent with JNI's collaborative approach.

The masthead's demonstrated interest in covering the Asia-Pacific region, the personal commitment of senior editors, and its engaged and well-informed readership factored into the grant decision, Mr Ryan said.

Other JNI grant recipients range from legacy media outlets to local news websites and radio stations.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will employ an Indigenous journalist and trainee photographer. The Australian will produce a new series on the implications of China's transformation.

Bo Seo is a journalist for The Australian Financial Review based in the Sydney office. Email Bo at bo.seo@afr.com.au

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