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Renewed Timor-Leste media program launches country's first university journalism course
The U.S. Agency for International Development has approved a three-year grant renewal for the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ)'s Timor-Leste media development program. ICFJ will work with local partners to launch the first-ever university level journalism program and continue to run its media center, along with other initiatives.
Since its launch in 2006, ICFJ’s “Strengthening Independent Media Program in Timor-Leste” program has given resources and skills to print, broadcast and new media journalists in the country, as well as to media managers and those working in media law reform.
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UNTL student crew producing first live broadcast
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This program has already led to a number of firsts in journalism in the country. ICFJ supported Timor-Leste's first Media Awards ceremony that gathered over 400 civic leaders, journalists and aid workers, raising funds to run regional media houses outside the capital--the first regional center, in Baucau, opened in January, providing journalists in the country’s second-largest city with computer access and journalistic materials.
Among the award winners were Carlos de Jesus and Rita Almeida, who have become leaders in a training-of-trainers program established early during ICFJ’s previous two-year program, which has also received funding from the Australian Agency for International Development.
In June, ICFJ began helping students from the University of Peace (UNPAZ) produce a student newsletter. And in cooperation with the Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosoa’e (UNTL), ICFJ launched a campus radio station and pilot journalism-training course for students and faculty to operate the university’s radio station, Radio Akademika. Those steps are the first in ICFJ’s effort to establish the country’s first degree-granting journalism program.
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| Dili print journalists learning radio skills at ICFJ's in-house radio studio. |
Also, through a small grants program, journalists were able to equip newsrooms with new computers and video and radio equipment, rehabilitate four community radio stations, and purchase archival and database equipment at a weekly newspaper.
With USAID’s recent grant extension, ICFJ will do more to improve the ability of Timorese journalists to produce and disseminate high-quality news. Building better media will make valuable information available to all citizens of Timor-Leste.
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This program is made possible by a $5 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
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