Radio of the Republic of Indonesia (RRI)

Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) is Indonesia’s national public radio broadcaster, founded on 11 September 1945 in the weeks following the declaration of independence. It is the country’s oldest broadcasting institution and operates a nationwide network of more than 70 stations, supplemented by 30 production studios, alongside the external service Voice of Indonesia. RRI reported in June 2026 that 46% of Indonesian radio listeners listen to RRI, that its streaming service had exceeded 55 million visitors and that active streaming users exceeded 20 million.

Media assets

Radio networks: RRI Pro 1 (local news, education and community programming), Pro 2 (younger audiences, music and lifestyle), Pro 3 (national news and current affairs, operated by the RRI News Centre) and Pro 4 (arts, heritage and culture)

International: Voice of Indonesia, RRI’s multilingual external service, broadcasting in Indonesian and eight foreign languages; VOI also supplies English-language content through rri.co.id

Ownership and governance

Like TVRI, RRI was designated a public broadcasting institution under Law No. 32/2002 on Broadcasting. RRI is governed by Government Regulation No. 12/2005, amended by Government Regulation No. 3/2024, a distinct instrument from the regulation governing TVRI.

A Supervisory Board (Dewan Pengawas) of five members is formally established by the President on the proposal of the People’s Representative Council, following an open fit-and-proper process in the DPR that takes government and public input into account. The Board of Directors is appointed and established by the Supervisory Board; presidential approval is required for premature dismissal rather than for appointment. The structure was intended to buffer RRI from political interference, but has been criticised for allowing patronage to shape appointments.

Anwar Mujahid Adhy Trisnanto chairs the Supervisory Board. I Hendrasmo is President Director, selected in December 2021 for the 2021–2026 term and in post through the 2026 review period. RRI’s official biography records prior roles at Lingkaran Survei Indonesia, Citra Publik Indonesia, Indo Survey and Strategy, and at the Ministry of Communication and its Newsroom.

Parliamentary oversight moved during the period: RRI’s budget hearings, formerly held with Komisi I of the DPR, were conducted with Komisi VII in 2026.

In March 2025, Komisi I received a proposal from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs to merge TVRI, RRI and ANTARA into a unified multiplatform public broadcasting institution. No merger had been enacted as of August 2026.

Source of funding and budget

Law No. 32/2002 provides for mixed funding — a broadcast licence fee, state budget allocations, public contributions and commercial revenue. The licence fee has never been introduced, leaving RRI dependent on annual state allocations.

RRI’s highest ceiling was IDR 1.4 trillion in 2021. Allocations between 2022 and 2025 were relatively stable with a gradual upward trend. For 2026 the ceiling was set at IDR 997.71 billion, a reduction the broadcaster attributed to national budget efficiency measures directed by the President; following a budget adjustment of IDR 50.7 billion to meet Presidential directive priorities, the effective usable budget became IDR 946.93 billion. By 7 June 2026, IDR 378.2 billion had been disbursed, 40.16% of the total, of which IDR 280 billion was staff expenditure.

Komisi VII approved an indicative 2027 ceiling of IDR 943.05 billion on 17 June 2026, and supported an additional IDR 82.19 billion request for transmitters in remote, frontier and outermost regions and for completing the external broadcasting building.

In February 2025, under Presidential Instruction No. 1/2025 on fiscal austerity, RRI scaled back operations, temporarily shutting AM transmitters and some programme services and cancelling events unless externally funded. It opted for selective reductions among freelance contributors and outsourced staff rather than core layoffs.

Editorial independence

RRI has formal safeguards for editorial independence. Government Regulation No. 3/2024 prohibits parties outside the Board of Directors from interfering in RRI’s operations, while the broadcaster’s statutory principles require independent and neutral broadcasting. Broadcast content is also subject to oversight by the independent Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), which operates a public complaints mechanism and can impose sanctions. However, no RRI-specific audience council or independent editorial ombudsman was identified, and questions remain over how effectively formal independence safeguards operate in practice.

Assessments obtained for State Media Monitor from journalists and media analysts in March 2024 found that, while instances of critical reporting occurred, consistent editorial autonomy remained largely absent, and observers have noted that the Supervisory Board has often functioned more as a political instrument than as a steward of the public interest.

On the basis of improved editorial posture under current leadership, digital transformation, regional outreach and revitalisation of the public service mission, with no verified cases of censorship or editorial interference in 2025, RRI was reclassified in 2025 from State-Controlled to ISFM.

A significant new concern emerged in June 2026. At a parliamentary hearing on 17 June, President Director I Hendrasmo described RRI as an “instrument of the state” serving the public and said its programmes function as an instrument of development communication supporting the government’s various strategic agendas. The statement indicates a conception of RRI’s public-service role closely bound to national policy priorities, and warrants renewed scrutiny of the broadcaster’s editorial autonomy.

State Media Monitor assesses this as decisive for the 2026 classification. The statement is not a government instruction to RRI; it is RRI’s own leadership defining, to parliament, what the broadcaster’s programming is for. An institutional mission in which programmes function as development communication supporting the government’s strategic agendas is an editorial agenda oriented to state objectives by the organisation’s own account, rather than one set by independent judgment of news value.

The countervailing considerations are recorded above and are real: RRI’s statutory designation as independent and neutral, the regulatory prohibition on outside interference, KPI oversight, and the absence of any verified censorship incident. SMM’s assessment is that a publicly stated mission of supporting government agendas outweighs formal safeguards whose practical effect has repeatedly been questioned, including by the observation that the Supervisory Board has functioned more as a political instrument than as a steward of the public interest.

A related tension is worth recording rather than resolving. RRI’s own institutional mission states both that it supports the President and Vice-President in national-development objectives and that citizens must receive independent, neutral and accurate information. That hybrid conception of public broadcasting is precisely what requires evaluation in practice.

AI and digital policy

RRI is using artificial intelligence in its multiplatform journalism and production workflows; its President Director said in June 2026 that RRI’s multiplatform journalists now broadcast, write, produce video and use AI.

RRI has stated that its internal Buku Gaya RRI 2026 includes guidance on the responsible use of AI in information production, alongside journalism, digital-writing and editorial guidance, although State Media Monitor did not identify a publicly accessible copy setting out the detailed rules governing generative AI, synthetic media or audience disclosure.

RRI is also subject to Indonesian Broadcasting Commission Circular No. 1/2026, issued in February 2026, which requires responsible and transparent AI use in broadcast programmes, human editorial oversight and safeguards for accuracy and public trust.

RRI has pursued digital transformation as a stated priority, targeting growth in terrestrial reach from 79% to 85% of the population and substantial expansion of digital streaming access between 2027 and 2029.

Classification rationale

RRI is reclassified from Independent State-Funded and State-Managed/Owned Media (ISFM) to State-Controlled (SC) for 2026, reversing the reclassification made in 2025. State Media Monitor assesses all three conditions of the State Media Matrix as met.

It is predominantly state-funded. The licence fee provided for in Law No. 32/2002 has never been introduced. RRI’s 2026 ceiling was IDR 997.71 billion, with an effective budget of IDR 946.93 billion after adjustment for Presidential directive priorities, overwhelmingly drawn from the state budget.

It is state-owned and state-managed. Its Supervisory Board is established by the President on the proposal of the legislature. That board appoints the Directors (presidential approval applies to premature dismissal rather than appointment) so the executive is selected at one remove from government, but the governing structure is constituted by the state.

Its editorial agenda is subject to state control. The determining evidence is the statement made by RRI’s President Director to Komisi VII of the DPR on 17 June 2026: that RRI holds a strategic position as an instrument of the state, and that its programmes function as an instrument of development communication supporting the government’s various strategic agendas.

August 2026