Six Pacific journalists receive Australian Leadership Awards



The 2011 ALA Fellows and APJC Staff.

APIA 09 Nov 2011 – Six Pacific Island journalists from Tonga, Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Fiji are this month taking part in the ‘Reporting Climate Change and the Environment’ training as part of the Australian Leadership Award scheme by the Australian Government. The journalists were nominated by the Pacific Alliance of Development Journalists (PADJ), based in Samoa, as part of its goal to increase the coverage of climate change and environment in the Pacific media.

The fellowship which began on the 24^th of October is hosted and implemented by the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre (APJC). It aims to help journalists better understand and report on climate change and other environment-related issues affecting countries in the Pacific region.

APJC Director, Mr. John Wallace reporting on progress of the training to Radio Australia said: “People are writing stories already but we'd argue that the topic needs to be given a higher priority and news media can play a role there. I think by coming here and seeing professionals who've been doing that in their workplace, I think they can pick up new ideas and use those techniques to make them write stories that are engaging and really useful for their communities.”

The program includes modules on communication and leadership, seminars and practical classes on reporting climate change and environment; it also encompasses a news media internship and professional visits in Melbourne and other centers in Australia.

Talking to Pacific Beat, one of the participants, Mr. Rikamati Naare, a journalist for the Kiribati Broadcasting and Publications Authority says the training will be useful on reporting in his home country. “The wider community in Kiribati are fully aware right now about the impacts of climate change and they are urging for action.”

PADJ nominated the journalists based on their interest in development issues, particularly in climate change and environment.

This is the first year PADJ has nominated fellows for the APJC ALA Fellowships, since the establishment of the Alliance in 2010, by five regional journalists from Samoa, Vanuatu, Niue, Palau and Fiji.

This years PADJ Nominated Fellows for the AusAID ALA Fellowships organised by APJC are Ms Verenaisi Tuvuki Raicola senior reporter for The Fiji Times, Ms. Rozalee Nongebatu, senior reporter and producer for Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation, Mr Alain Simeon, news reporter for Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation, Ms Unumoe Esera, journalist for Le Weekender Newspaper, Mr Rikamati Naare, journalist for Kiribati Broadcasting and Publications Authority  and Ms Monalisa Palu, journalist Tongan correspondent, ABC Radio Australia.

The training ends on the 25^th of November.

For More Information: Contact: padjournalists@gmail.comWebsite: http://padjournalists.blogspot.com/



MDGs and development journalism

by Susan Alexander |
As a communicator, the Millennium Development Goals have been both a blessing and burden.
The Goals have taken a long time to get any traction in the media. After the 2005 Gleneagles Summit they penetrated the discourse of the “international community”. Amongst activists popular understanding and support for the MDGs was generated through actions like the Stand Up mobilizations, with massive involvement by Southern citizens. IPS worked intensively in its capacity as a development-focused news agency to use the MDGs as a way to get more space and attention for the core issues, and worked with journalists, partners and other media to strengthen communication capacity and impact.
Today such vanguard efforts are being replicated by other news outlets and partners, but with much still to be achieved. For general audiences the MDGs are, at best, jargon to be explained. A recent study of mainstream European newspapers showed just 3.5% of total coverage devoted to development co-operation, and most of that about disaster relief. Using the MDGs as an entry point for development journalism is a good approach but it is still a formidable challenge to get space and attention for development.
In 2010 it is hard to hear a shared narrative coming through. What is the story of success and failure that the “international community” wants to tell and what does the future hold? As the 2015 deadline approaches the Goals themselves are less compelling as a framing device and so the question is really what next?


Susan Alexander is Director of Operations at Inter Press Service (IPS).

Pareti joins PADJ

Award Winning Pacific Journalist (pictured centre) Samisoni Pareti, has joined PADJ. We are proud to have Samisoni on board!

PADJ nominates 8 Pacific Journalists

PADJ has nominated 8 regional journalists for a Climate Change Fellowship under the Australian Leadership Award scheme, organised by the Asia Pacific Journalism Centre in Melbourne Australia. The journalists who have also become members of PADJ are from the Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Kiribati, Fiji, Cook Islands and Samoa. The Fellowship will take place in Australia next in February 2012.

Sharing climate science in the media

By Rosalie Nongebatu - Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation
23 May Apia, Samoa - Delegates at the Lessons for Future Action Conference have been reminded of the importance of communicating the Science of Climate in a manner that is culturally considerate and locally relevant.
This was one of the challenges in Communicating Climate Science put forward by the Pacific Climate Change Editor Cherelle Jackson during her presentation under the Information and Awareness Raising Session this morning. Another challenge Ms Jackson pointed out included the lack of knowledge and background in Science by pacific journalists, who usually learn on the job before communicating the information to the community.
“We have to teach and understand the science of climate change and then relate this to our audiences.”
Ms Jackson says although outreach programs and awareness campaigns are of great value to personally communicating the science, the most effective avenue would be the mass media whether it be radio, television, online or newspapers.
According to a study carried out by Ms Jackson at the Oxford University on climate change journalism in the pacific, weddings and food were mostly reported on while climate change and the environment were not a priority. Ms Jackson’s survey was carried out in newspapers produced across five of the pacific island countries.
“This was a curious finding, although unsurprising, as you would think climate change would be a priority issue for pacific island newspapers seeing that they are experiencing first and worst some of the impacts of climate change and you would think their audiences would be interested in the issue.”
Ms Jackson also attributed the low numbers of communicating climate science to three challenges which included the lack of science knowledge by journalists, the need for scientists to communicate information clearly to the media and the lack of access to climate change resources in pacific island countries.
She also quoted a study done by anthropologist Dr Peter Rudiak-Gould on the changing behaviour of the people of Marshall Islands towards climate change as saying that concern for climate change isn’t automatic, even for those in the highly vulnerable areas.
She said according to the research, foreign educators can help by teaching people about the science of climate change but only local educators can help people make sense of the issue in terms of local concerns such as loss of tradition.
Ms Jackson also made a few suggestions when communicating science which include simplifying the science for non specialists to understand, but not to point of irrelavance and not to use jargon.
She also suggested scientists to localise, and humanise the information so that people could understand better.

PADJ invited to speak at regional climate change conference

APIA - Founding Member of PADJ, Samoan climate change journalist Cherelle Jackson was invited to speak at the Lessons for Future Actions meeting on Climate Change in Apia last month. Jackson was the only media representative to speak at the meeting, she spoke on translating the science of climate change to Pacific audiences.

PADJ News: Mona Ainuu awarded SPREP Fellowship

APIA - Niue Journalist and PADJ Fouding Member Mona Ainuu was recently awarded an assignment fellowship with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, to report on the Lessons for Future Actions on Climate Change in Samoa. Mona was one of just two regional journalists sponsored by SPREP to cover the event.