This study of the ‘envelope culture’ — in which sources offer money or other gifts to journalists — explores the complex web of social, economic and institutional conditions that perpetuate the cultures of gift-giving, bribery and graft in Indonesian journalism. The study finds that the envelope relationship may lead to exploitation of either sources or journalists and, at its extreme, has generated a nefarious criminal subculture. This paper also explores the policy responses of the Indonesian journalists' professional association and various newsrooms. Attempts to control the envelope culture often fail because anti-envelope policies are often too ambiguous, policies are rarely accompanied by pay increases sufficiently substantial to encourage behavioural change, senior journalistic role models fail to set appropriate examples and newsrooms lack systems for detecting and prosecuting offenders.
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