Maubisse Media House – “An awesome opening” is the way one attendee described the June 4th inauguration of the Maubisse Media House / Community Radio Station.

A village elder, dressed in traditional clothing, performed a welcoming chant for the 300-plus guests. His chants echoed across the village and into the valley below – and they were also broadcast live on the new radio station, Maubisse Mauloko. Mauloko in the local dialect in Maubisse means love and peace.

Otelio Ote, president of the Timor-Leste Syndicate of Journalists, told the guests that the event was truly a special occasion because Maubisse is the first sub-district in Timor-Leste to have a community radio station. ICFJ, in partnership with the community, established the station near the center of the village – in a building renovated by the International Center for Journalists.

Jose Maria, who owns the building, agreed to provide the structure rent-free for five years. In brief remarks at the ceremony, Mr. Maria said the citizens in Maubisse had always shown solidarity, and this was his way of doing so.

ICFJ did a complete restoration of the building – adding a roof, windows, doors and new flooring.

The UMR (Media House) in Maubisse is unique in that it includes a community radio – the first established by ICFJ in Timor-Leste. Unlike the other five media houses, Maubisse will not, at least for the time being, have internet service: the internet service provider decided to discontinue wireless internet to the village just days before the opening. ICFJ is currently exploring other opportunities to get internet to the media house.

With the opening in Maubisse, ICFJ is now operating six media houses, in partnership with the five journalism associations in Timor-Leste. The other media houses are located in Baucau, Suai, Oecusse, Dili and Ermera.

MTV Rocks Dili - An estimated 20,000 people turned out for a first-of-its-kind MTV concert in Dili on June 25th. The USAID-funded event was part of a nationwide initiative to fight human trafficking. Helping get the message out were some of Timor-Leste’s top artists and Indonesia megastars, Superman is Dead.

The International Center for Journalists was one of the partners for the event, with ICFJ providing equipment and facilities for the MTV producers to edit footage shown during the concert. The MTV producers used the www.timortoday.com studio, and ICFJ’s Marcelino Pereira assisted with the editing.

The footage featured Timorese citizens describing the dangers of human trafficking. The idea is that greater awareness about the issue can save lives.

The event was held on a soccer field just two blocks from ICFJ’s office. By the time the headliner, Superman is Dead, took the stage, the entire field was a sea of humanity with even more people sitting on the concrete fence around the perimeter of the field. It was one of the largest, if not the largest, turnout for a concert in Dili. It was the first time that MTV had organized a concert in Timor-Leste. But if MTV and USAID have their way, it won’t be the last: Plans are already underway for a second concert in Timor’s second city – Baucau – some time in October.

UNTL Second Semester - The second semester of the Social Communications program at the National University (UNTL) cranks up in July, but ICFJ’s Kleto Nascimento has been busy since April on developing the curriculum for the program. ICFJ will offer seven Social Communications classes during the second semester – including Fundamentals of Writing 2; Fundamentals of Journalism 2 and 3; Theories of News; History of Media; Sociology of Communication; and Theories of Communication. Mr. Nascimento has prepared course guides for each of the instructors, who will include two Timorese staffers at ICFJ, two other Timorese instructors, and two ICFJ journalism trainers – one Indonesian and one Australian.

Classes were scheduled to start on July 5th, but due to internal problems at the university, the semester is not likely to start until mid-to-late July.

JTOT’s - ICFJ continues to work closely with a core group of journalists as part of the JTOT (“Journalism Training of Trainers”) program. International journalism trainers meet with the JTOTs twice weekly to review stories and help them with issues such as multi-sourcing, lead writing, story structure, story ideas and accuracy. In late June, media lawyer Sarah Harmelink conducted a JTOT training on constitutional rights. She and Media Coordinator Francisco Pinto offered a similar training in early June to journalists from the eastern districts of Timor-Leste: this training was held at the Baucau Media House.

Power Outages - June was a difficult month in terms of electricity. The electricity company is installing new heavy-duty power lines, and as a result there were frequent power interruptions at the ICFJ office in Dili. The back-up generator was able to supply enough power to keep some of the office computers and other equipment running, but not all. ICFJ has been experimenting with solar panels to supply power to the server and satellite modem in order to keep the internet working.

Safety Inspection - In May, an electrical fire in the ceiling at USAID offices in Dili caused extensive damage to the building. As a result of this fire and concern for safety, ICFJ hired an electrical inspector to check the wiring in the ICFJ compound. ICFJ was informed that the wiring is of a high quality and that all electrical boxes and circuits are functioning normally.

Meet the Press - About 60 journalists and Social Communications students took part in Meet the Press on June 24. Captain Shane Granger of the ship Vega was the guest speaker. His ship, an 1893-built Norwegian sailing vessel, is docked in Dili harbor. He talked about his mission to supply educational and medical supplies to the poor.

Internships - The Timortoday.com staff will be providing some training to four interns from the Center for Journalism Investigations Timor-Leste (CJITL). The interns will learn how to operate a camera and edit video. By the end of the one-month internship, the interns should be producing news packages alongside Timortoday.com staff.

Media Awards - ICFJ’s Frances Suni, in partnership with the five associations, has begun fundraising activities for the annual Media Awards Dinner to be held in October. Trainer Frida Rodelo, with support from Mr. Suni, has designed a brochure and a proposal. In late June, they began to visit potential sponsors.