Journalists in Suai now have access to the internet! ICFJ’s Oscar Selly and his team installed a V-SAT at the soon-to-be officially launched Media House. The facility has been integrated into the existing Covalima Youth Center.

A few renovations are still needed so the official launch of the Media House will be delayed, but the center is open, unofficially.

Setting up a satellite dish, and then finding the satellite in space, is not easy; however, Oscar did this one all by himself. It was the first time. It took him just 30 minutes! Oscar said he felt like he was walking on air when he found the bird. “I was very happy. I had done it myself,” he said.

The official opening will happen sometime in mid-October.

The Suai media house will certainly come in handy for the upcoming local [suco] elections to be held October 9th. Suai and the other four media houses will serve as training centers and places where journalists will be able to file their stories back to Dili via high-speed internet.

ICFJ has already begun working with media outlets on planning for the local elections. Newspapers and Community Radio Stations agree that the best way to provide coverage to readers and listeners is through pool coverage. It will involve radio journalists feeding information to senior newspaper editors based at the Media Houses. The editors will use this material and gather their own stories and feed them back to the Media Center in Dili – where the stories will be distributed to all participating pool media outlets. Any election updates from Dili will be SMS’ed to the Community Radio Stations.

ICFJ will conduct a variety of journalism trainings and will partner with The Asia Foundation and IFES – two NGOs that will provide training on election law and election procedures. Additionally, ICFJ will be working with STAE – the government organization that oversees the elections – and with CNE, a government-funded independent entity that monitors the polls and counts the votes.

ICFJ’s Frances Suni is coordinating ICFJ’s pool coverage planning. He has worked on pool coverage during the two previous elections: the presidential and legislative polling. The issue of traditional land rights was the focus of July’s edition of “Meet the Press”. There were three guests who met reporters’ questions, including the Vice Director of the Department of Land and Property. One of the objectives was to explain the complex issue in terms that everyone could understand it. More than 30 journalists and others attended the event.

In July, a USAID evaluator from Washington came to Dili to review ICFJ’s program. Troy Etulain was able to see much of ICFJ’s work in Timor-Leste. ICFJ’s Chuck Rice took him to visit the Media Houses in Baucau and Ermera. The visit also included a helicopter ride over to Suai where Chuck signed the MOU with the Covalima Youth Center establishing the Media House. The helicopter ride takes about 30 minutes; however, by land, the trip is a good 10 hours – on horribly difficult roads that zig and zag through the mountains.

Troy, the USAID evaluator, also visited the National University, where he observed ICFJ’s Emanuel Braz teach his Ethics class. Troy also visited Radio Akademika.

In mid-July, Chuck taught a class at Radio Akademika. The students learned how to create radio news wraps and voicers. Wraps generally run 40 to 45 seconds long, while voicers tend to run 35-40 seconds. Chuck encouraged the students to include more wraps and voicers in their daily 6pm newscast.

It was a busy month at Radio Akademika. In early July, the wives of a US Congressional delegation visiting Timor-Leste, stopped by the station. The station staff interviewed Lisa Price, the wife of North Carolina Congressman David Price, who led the delegation to Timor-Leste.

Rama Atauro, the only newspaper produced for the people living on the island of Atauro, received a ‘Small Grant’ from ICFJ in July, for flash keys and other computer accessories, transport costs and a bicycle. The three-page wall newspaper has been produced by volunteers since April 2008. The newspaper pays for its printing costs by selling advertising. ICFJ’s Business Development Team has helped the staff with advertising and marketing strategies. To get to Atauro Island, it takes about three hours on a small fishing boat. When the ferry is running, it takes about two hours. The ferry travels to Atauro once a week.

Chuck and consultant Joana Saraiva held the regular Friday sessions with senior reporters and editors. These weekly meetings provide an opportunity to discuss the stories in the week’s newspapers.