Helmi Johannes

Helmi Johannes, (born Yogyakarta, March 23, 1961) is an Indonesian television newscaster and executive producer. Helmi Johannes now works for the Indonesian service of the Voice of America (VOA), based in Washington, DC. Helmi is responsible for the overall production, program development, talent and day-to-day operations of VOA Indonesian television programming, including overseeing the production of the weekday half-hour newscast "Jurnal VOA" which is especially catered for the Indonesian audience.

Prior to joining VOA, Helmi Johannes helped established Metro TV in Jakarta and served as Executive Producer, News Research & Development Manager and News Services Manager as well as newscaster(2000-2005). Metro TV is Indonesia's first 24-hour newschannel founded by media tycoon Surya Paloh who also owns the "Media Indonesia" daily. Here Helmi served as weekend anchor of the network's main evening newscast "Metro Hari Ini" and he also hosted "Midnight Live", a mixture of talkshow and live report on real-life issues.

Earlier, Helmi Johannes had worked for 10 years for RCTI, the first private television network in Indonesia. In early 1990 Helmi Johannes helped founded "Seputar Indonesia" (then "Seputar Jakarta"), the first newscast ever carried by an Indonesian private station. During his career with RCTI, Helmi Johannes had served as reporter, producer, newscaster and News Production Manager. Helmi had also produced Indonesia's first late-night newscast "Buletin Malam" (1991)and also "Indonesia Today", the first English-language newscast aired by RCTI (1996-1999).

As television reporter Helmi Johannes had covered the OPEC Meeting in Paris, France in 1991, the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Jakarta (1992) and the 1994 APEC Summit in Bogor, Indonesia.

Helmy Johannes had been on the executing board of the Association of Indonesian Private Televisions (ATVSI) and was also the Secretary-General of KOMTEVE (Indonesian Television Community), a non-profit organization that promotes public control on television contents. He is also a member of the Indonesian Television Journalists Association.

Helmi Johanes was the most favorite male news presenter in the people's choice poll conducted by Indonesia's Citra tabloid in 1994-1995. For 4 years in a row Helmi Johanes had also been nominated for the most favorite male newscaster of Panasonic Awards (1997 to 2000). Helmi Johannes was also one of the judges of the Asian Television Awards in 2001, 2002 and 2003. Before starting his television journalistic career, Helmi was a radio broadcaster for Geronimo FM based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Helmi's father, Herman Johannes was a prominent Indonesian professor and a rector of the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

External links

* [http://www.voanews.com/indonesian/2005-06-07-voa12.cfm VOA official website]
* [http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20030627.C02 Parliament hearing]