Dili, Timor-Leste – Journalists in a second, rural district were linked up with the rest of the country March 20 when ICFJ opened a multimedia journalism facility in the Ermera District town of Gleno.

At the new media house, journalists have free access to the Internet, can borrow equipment such as tape recorders and digital cameras, and may get other forms of support, including journalism training. In the past, regional journalists had to travel to the capital, Dili to access such resources.

ICFJ and its partners opened Timor-Leste’s first regional media house in Baucau in January 2008. In all, five such regional facilities are planned to bolster the flow of information and news between rural districts and the capital, Dili. They are expected to keep people are better informed about what is happening around the country.

At the Gleno opening ceremony, ICFJ project director Charles Rice demonstrated its high speed internet connection by placing a video Internet phone call to a colleague in Portland, Oregon.

More than 100 people attended the ceremony , including United States Chargé d’Affaires Henry Rector, USAID’s Mark White, AusAID’s Darian Clark and veteran journalist Otelio Ote.

Ote, head of Timor-Leste’s Syndicate for Journalists, praised ICFJ’s work . “We had been waiting a long time for an international NGO to show up and help us. Our wishes were answered in late 2006 when ICFJ got here,” he said.

The Ermera media house has been integrated into the Radio Comunidade Cafe Ermera, the local community radio station. The radio station had the space available to host the facility, were willing partners, and the station’s journalists will make heavy use of the media center. Today’s opening ceremony was broadcast live on Radio Cafe.

One of the first duties for the newly appointed Ermera media house coordinator, Antoninho Salsinha Carvalho, will be to encourage journalists from the neighbouring districts of Aileu, Manufahi, Ainaro to come and use the resources available at the media house.

An Internet cafe attached to each media house is expected to generate revenues to help make the centers sustainable. In Ermera, for instance, a private space has been set up for paying customers to make Internet phone calls.

The media house in Ermera is a joint initiative by the Timor-Leste Journalists Association (AJTL), the Syndicate for Journalists Timor-Leste (SJTL), the Center for Investigative Journalists (CJITL), the Timor-Leste Photographers Association (TILPA), the Community Radios Association Timor-Leste (ARKTL), and the International Center For Journalists (ICFJ). In the next month, the joint venture plans to open three more centers: in Dili and the regional centers of Suai, and Oe-Cusse.