Dili, Timor-Leste – Nearly one hundred people attended ICFJ’s March 13 launch of a new online video news service for Timor-Leste

The service provides a 30-minute package of timely news that is updated once a week. Accessed at the Web site: www.timortoday.com, the service offers stories that touch the daily lives of the people of Timor-Leste. The program was created by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) with grants from USAID and AusAID.

Those attending the launching celebration included US Chargé D’Affaires Henry Rector, Australian Ambassador Peter Heyward, USAID Country Director Mark White and AusAID Minister-Councellor Ali Gillies. The audience watched www.timortoday.com stories about the demolition of illegal vegetable markets and the struggles of a community radio station near Baucau.

Initially available in the local language, Tetum, the news programs eventually will also be available in English and Portuguese. The stories are written and produced by journalists from across the country using production facilities in media production centers that are being established by ICFJ across Timor-Leste. Three of the facilities are already open in Ermera, Dili and Baucau. Two more are scheduled to open in April in Suai and Oecussi.

These regional media centers are designed to provide journalists with high speed Internet access, training and other services.

Once the journalists complete their TV stories at the media houses, they are able to send them via high-speed Internet to the Dili Media House for final production and posting at www.timortoday.com.

These journalists, many of whom had not held a camera until two months ago, have had intensive training in the districts by journalist Lusse Cloutier.

Their training continues Dili under the guidance of Knight International Journalism Fellow Gabriela Carrascalao-Heard and Journalist Training of Trainer Casemiro da Cruz. They lead a team of seven journalists -- including two ICFJ staff members – who are teaching how to produce and package news stories. This training will continue even as the reporters begin to produce stories for www.timortoday.com. ICFJ’s five-year media project in Timor-Leste runs through 2011.

Many of the reporters working from the districts are women who were selected for training by ICFJ to encourage women to get into journalism as a career. Female reporter Alexandringa Desa, who is married with four children, said “in the past men had all the rights to do everything, but if women are given the opportunity, women can do the same.” Speaking at the ICFJ ceremony, Desa said that www.timortoday.com and TV journalism training are important for everyone in Timor-Leste: women, children and men

At the ceremony at ICFJ’s offices in central Dili Charles Rice, the ICFJ-Timor-Leste Country Director, joked that, "we decided to tempt fate by having the event on a Friday the 13th and we almost regretted it. The day before we had a power surge that nearly took out our internet modem, that would have cooked us.”

But the modem survived and the show went on the Internet. “Fortunately, everything turned out okay,” said Rice. “Friday the 13th was our lucky day.” Diario Nacional covers the launch of www.TimorToday.com Timor Post covers the launch of www.TimorToday.com