Journalists unite to help East Timor editors

Australian and Indonesian journalists will work together in Dili this month on a special training program for newspaper editors and managers in East Timor.

The program, organised by the Centre for International Journalism at The University of Queensland, will provide urgently needed help with newspaper management and election reporting coverage. East Timor has its first elections since independence from Indonesia on August 30.

CIJ director Associate Professor John Wallace said the management sessions would be run by senior staff of the Jakarta Post and the election reporting sessions by staff of the journalism program at The University of Queensland.

Funding for the program is coming from the Myer Foundation in Melbourne and the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club, which has raised funds to commemorate Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes, killed by militia in East Timor in 1999.

Associate Professor Wallace said: "There is a lot of support in Jakarta for journalism in East Timor, both from overseas correspondents based in Jakarta and from Indonesian reporters and editors."

Wallace said the new newspaper industry in East Timor desperately needed information on company structure and ownership issues. Because Indonesian law still operates in East Timor, it made sense to get help from Indonesian newspaper colleagues.

"Press freedom is an international concept, and the CIJ is well placed to bring people together to advance it," he said. "We are very pleased to be able to announce this initiative on the eve of World Press Freedom Day."

The East Timor journalists association will choose participants for the training, which starts on May 15 and runs for one week.

In February last year, the CIJ ran a post-conflict workshop in Brisbane for East Timorese journalists. It is also active in journalism training in the Pacific.

Media: For further information contact John Wallace:
jwallace@attglobal.net