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Spotlight on East Timor
East Timor's Prime Minister Faces Off with Local Media at ICFJ Forum
By Jody McPhillips, ICFJ Trainer
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| East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is challenged by fellow panelist Knight International Journalism Fellow Maria-Gabriela Carrascalao-Heard |
DILI, EAST TIMOR - When East Timor's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao blasted the press last month over stories he said were false, ICFJ and its local partners jumped into action.
They organized a forum on press freedom and responsibility, inviting Gusmao to explain his remarks as one of the panelists.
Journalists need to be more professional and more accurate, Gusmao told the audience of more than 100 journalists, students and representatives of civil society at the Jan. 26 event in the capital, Dili.
Gusmao had reacted angrily to reports that three people had died in a stampede outside a government office, saying he would "arrest the press" if they behaved irresponsibly. Knight International Journalism Fellow Maria-Gabriela Carrascalao-Heard, a panelist along with the Prime Minister, challenged those remarks.
Gusmao had used the Tetum word "kaer" -- which can mean “arrest”, “control” or “hold,” as in holding a teacup. “Arrest” or “control” would be unacceptable concepts when applied to the press, she said, and she hoped he meant “hold” in the sense of supporting the media.
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| Gusmao said that he supports freedom of the press, as long as the press behaves responsibly. |
Gusmao responded that journalists could interpret the statement as they wished. But he asserted that he supports freedom of the press, as long as the press behaves responsibly and reports the news accurately.
He also called on Timorese journalists to raise their professional standards, saying that he had worked as a journalist himself as a young man, “and I always checked my facts.” Carrascalao-Heard suggested he back up those words with action by pushing for a university-level journalism training program.
After lengthy remarks by the prime minister, there was little time left for the audience to question him. Though Julio da Silva Guterres, an investigative journalist who also works for an NGO focusing on anti-corruption, managed to get in a question, he came away unconvinced.
"My own view is that the government is still trying to control journalists and their publications,” he said afterward, adding that officials don’t understand that a free press should be politically neutral.
He said the prime minister "doesn't want to be embarrassed" by reports that he opposes a free press. At the same time, he said, "he wants the media to only say good things about the government, not critical things."
ICFJ is working to support the development of a strong, professional and sustainable Timorese media sector, mentoring future journalism trainers and working to improve the legal environment in which media will operate.
Carrascalao-Heard is working with news reporters from community radio station Radio Rakambia to produce a weekly national news bulletin that will be distributed to district-based community radio stations for re-broadcasting in local languages -- at least 23
languages are spoken in East Timor. In many districts, this will mark the first time news and information from Dili will be available on radio in a language people can understand.
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