Pacific journos converge in Suva for ‘talkfest’

Journalists from 11 Pacific Island countries were part of the East-West Centre’s Pacific Islands Journalism Reporting Tour 2019. Picture: SUPPLIED

By WANSOLWARA STAFF

Twelve leading journalists from 11 Pacific Island countries converge in Suva, Fiji, this Friday, to discuss critical issues affecting the region, including climate change and natural disaster relief and recovery, and regional security.

The one-day Capstone at The University of the South Pacific (USP) Laucala Campus marks the culmination of three weeks of dialogue, study and reporting tour of the U.S undertaken by the journalism fellows, covering Honolulu, Washington D.C., Galveston, and San Francisco.

The study tours funded by the U.S State Department funding have been organised and overseen by three Hawaii-based East-West Center staff: Susan Kreifels, the Media Programme manager; Scott Kroeker, the senior programme officer; and Katie Bartels, the program co-coordinator.

Besides covering critical issues affecting the Pacific, the journalism fellows received in-depth skills-based training in fact-checking, open source research methodologies, and news literacy, and disinformation/propaganda challenges in the local news and social media networks in the region.

The Suva workshop is jointly hosted by the by the East-West Center and the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and USP Journalism Programme in Suva.

The workshop will focus on students sharing their ‘learnings and experiences’ from the intensive three weeks of engagement and discussion.

The USP Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, will also address the fellows.

The coordinator of the USP Journalism Programme, Dr Shailendra Singh, said he was looking forward to the workshop, in which 20 USP journalism students would also participate.

 “It’s a great learning opportunity, said Dr Singh. “I was part of a similar programme earlier this year for journalism academics from around the world —the Study of the U.S Institute for Scholars fellowship — hosted by the Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of journalism.  It was a marvelous academic and cultural experience.”

USP Journalism has played crucial training role in the region for 30 years, with over 300 graduates in prominent media roles in the region and beyond.

The PINA manager, Makereta Komai, said as a regional media organisation, PINA was happy to partner with the East-West Center and USP Journalism in upskilling Pacific journalists.

“This study tour is a great learning opportunity for the Pacific media to engage and discuss issues directly with U.S decision makers and see first-hand how the U.S is implementing policies related to climate change and disaster risk reduction, regional security and issues related to the media.”

As the premier regional organisation representing the interests of media professionals in the Pacific, PINA links radio, television, newspapers, magazines, online services, national associations and journalism schools in 20 island nations.