Journalism Training

In collaboration with members of the Singapore Press Club, ICFJ Timor-Leste organized a two-day journalism workshop on March 25 and 26. The training event was led by Mano Sabnani, former editor of two daily newspapers in Singapore, Business Times and TODAY. Sabnani led a group of senior Singapore journalists on a media familiarization trip to Timor-Leste from March 19 – 22, and he agreed stay behind to conduct the journalism workshop.

Participants of the workshop included senior journalists, editors and managers as well as owners of newspapers in Timor-Leste. The workshop covered the principles of good journalism, business models of successful newspapers, successful advertising, distribution and printing techniques, and how to deal with various challenges in practicing journalism. The workshop also looked at media trends around the world and discussed how newspapers need to combine print copies with online versions in order to achieve a higher level of readership and stay current in a fast changing world.

18 journalists participated in the two-day session; they came from Business Timor, The Dili Weekly, Timor Post, Jornal Nacional Diario, Guide Post, Timorexpose.com and Timortoday.com.

National Press Center Enters Second Phase

The National Press Center (NPC) construction project entered its second phase during March. Darian Clark of the Australian Government’s Aid Program – AusAID is the funder of the NPC project – visited the NPC site on March 4. Clark said he was happy to see the progress of the project and also said he was particularly delighted by ICFJ’s techniques in implementing the project: Instead of hiring one contractor with overall responsibility, ICFJ opted to employ independent builders working under strict, day-to-day supervision. Although this required that ICFJ Operations Manager Fernando da Silva spent most of his time at the construction site, it meant that the available resources were utilized in the most economical way.

Supporting the critical need of the Timorese journalists’ associations to have their own offices as a place of work, AusAID representative Clark demonstrated his organization’s commitment to complete the building: AusAID approved additional funding to take the project into its final phase. During March, all the roofing work was completed, doors and windows have been installed, and internal and external wall plastering works commenced.

Building work at the National Press Center is expected to be completed by the end of May 2011.

Internet Access Restored at Oecusse Media House

The Media House in the enclave of Oecusse had suffered repeated loss of internet connectivity during January and February. Heavy rainfalls, compounded by intermittent thunderstorms and severe lightning, had resulted in various technical problems, and ICFJ TL staffers had to make a number of trips Oecusse. The situation was made worse by the fact that the ferry service to Oecusse – the only available public transport – stopped operating during January and February. This required over-land travel through Indonesian territory, incurring additional costs.

On March 7, through an arrangement with the Public Information Unit of UNMIT, ICFJ’s technical expert Oscar Selly was able to make another trip to Oecusse on one of the UN helicopter flights. During his four-day stay in Oecusse, Selly was able to carry out several repairs and reinstallations, both on the server and on the computers at the Media House, and internet connection was eventually restored.