New media for a new country
Title -- 4352 EAST TIMOR: New media for a new country
Date -- 20 March 2004
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- KNIGHTLine International, March 2004
Copyright -- KLI
Status -- Unabridged
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NEW MEDIA FOR A NEW COUNTRY
http://www.knight-international.org/i/knightlinesummer03.pdf
Carolyn Robinson describes her new, "home-grown" approach to journalism
training in East Timor
DILI (KNIGHTLine International/Pacific Media Watch): Whenever I get discouraged with the slow pace of media development in East Timor, I take a moment to reflect on the remarkable determination of the journalists with whom I work. Joanico do Amaral, Dominggos de Carvalho Pinto, Maxi Fraga and Vito Tael Ilari have been collaborating for the past year, focused intently on their goal of creating a local television operation in their hometown of Baucau, the country&Mac226;s second biggest city.
They may be far less skilled than their counterparts from richer countries, but in many ways they are far more dedicated. They overcome limitations on a daily basis that would confound more sophisticated journalists: no income, no reliable phone access, no easily available transportation or dependable power supply. When I first started working with them, they had no television production experience or equipment either. The quartet shared only a goal of producing local television news broadcasts. Since then, their accomplishments producing three half-hour television news and current affairs programs constitute a small miracle.
Fortunately, their aims were also mine. As a Knight Fellow in East Timor, I wanted to train journalists to make television news in the districts outside the capital, Dili. The programs would supplement the one hour a day of local news and programming coming from the only television station in the country, TVTL. That station, however, broadcast only in Dili and surrounding areas. Most of East Timor was without any local TV news programs.
But how was I going to accomplish this with a team lacking cameras, editing equipment, a studio and television production skills? If there had been a more promising choice on the horizon, I would have taken it. No other group in the country, though, could claim to have even these basic credentials.
This lack of resources reflects the great dilemma facing the East Timorese.
Independence may have freed them from the brutality of Indonesian
occupation, but it left them with little ability to run their own affairs.
Few Timorese ever held responsible positions in government, business or
society, leaving almost no one qualified to run the new nation. A physical
infrastructure is also lacking thanks to the destruction carried out by
departing pro-Indonesian militias after the overwhelming vote for
independence in a 1999 referendum. Whatever small physical assets the
impoverished country once possessed vanished.
Media outlets remain in limited number. There are just two daily newspapers
with a combined circulation of 1,000 copies. (This reflects the high rate
of illiteracyabout 60 percent of the population of 800,000.) A national
radio broadcaster can reach most districts if a lack of maintenance
problems and sufficient fuel supplies allow. And local community radio
stations are only now being set up with assistance from the World Bank and
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The amount of daily
local news and information that circulates around the country remains small.
Take a chance on them
Given the desperate conditions, I decided to risk it with the team
available. I would teach them television news program production with my
own equipment a Sony handcam and a Macintosh G4 Powerbook with Final Cut
Pro video editing software. With a few inexpensive accessories and extra
RAM, this is a complete television production house, something that fits
into a large handbag and costs less than $5000. To the surprise of many,
sophisticated television production equipment is becoming almost as
affordable as radio.
My objective bucked the trend set by international funders operating in
East Timor. The donor organizations that have been propping up the country
in its early years expressed skepticism about the future of domestic
television broadcasting. They considered it too expensive to develop in a
place where few people owned television sets. But after two years of
working to develop the media in East Timor, first as country director for
Internews and then as the news director and acting head of the local
television station set up by the United Nations, I felt strongly that
neither of these concerns was insurmountable.
My Knight Fellowship, therefore, was dedicated to proving that television
production could be affordable and viable in East Timor. The many
challenges I faced made the effort an undoubtedly huge gamble. Would my
equipment be up to the task and survive rough handling by inexperienced
reporters and producers? Would the unpaid news team stick with the plan
long enough to create its own news broadcasts? Would the team members be
able to produce something after a few months of training that viewers and
donors would appreciate?
I started traveling once a week to Baucau with my local assistant, Levy
Branco, to teach shooting techniques for television news stories. Soon we
had half a dozen reports on tape. Several weeks were then dedicated to
scripting stories into a format appropriate for television. And, following
this, Branco, an experienced television producer from the Dili television
station, taught the dedicated quartet the essentials of editing using my
Macintosh laptop.
Once the short reports were completed, we created a television news studio
in my house with a few halogen lights, a desk and a traditional weaving as
a backdrop. The anchor received instruction in broadcast news presentation.
After a little coaching, we taped his introductions and cut these together
with the matching reports to make a complete newscast. Branco, by this time
almost nine months pregnant, also provided instruction on making an opening
graphic for the show.
And, voila! The first East Timorese local television news program produced
outside the capital was finished. Branco gave birth to her second child the
next day.
The local news program was a great success, but more was required. The team
needed another project, one that would complement the newscast and impress
the donor community while being easy to produce. I suggested a current
affairs program in which questions about pressing local issues could be
posed by Baucau officials and residents to the appropriate cabinet ministers.
The show, named "Husu ba Governu" ("Ask the Government"), became an instant
hit with local citizens. It also helped fill a gap in East Timor's
fledgling democracy. The country offers few means for the average citizen
to communicate his concerns to the government and few opportunities for
ministers to respond directly to individual questions. "Husu ba Governu"
now serves as an outlet for sorely needed interaction between civil society
and its leaders.
As I was finishing my nine-month fellowship, three donors, in a sign my
efforts had indeed paid off, stepped forward to offer support. Television
Baucau now has equipment proposals pending with USAID, the World Bank and
the Japanese embassy. Additionally, a major oil company developing a field
off the coast of East Timor has expressed interest in sponsoring their
programs, potentially providing the station with long-term cash flow.
It's just the beginning
I have now received a second Knight Fellowship in East Timor to continue to
help develop TV Baucau. The station still requires more assistance with
almost everything it does. My efforts now focus on spending several months
helping to obtain advanced training, more equipment, sponsors and
advertisers, and expanding their distribution network around the country.
Whether these efforts will be sufficient to guarantee sustainability
remains unknown. It is another gamble, but one that is necessary and with
reasonable odds of success.
The Timorese journalists with whom I work, however, have an additional
concern. They worry about repaying the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation, to date the only organization to offer them assistance, for its
support. I put them at ease, ensuring them that their providing more local
television news for East Timor is the best payback for all involved.
--
Carolyn Robinson has spent most of the last 20 years as a television news
producer and reporter. She began her journalistic career with CNN at its
headquarters in Atlanta, where she produced live news programs for Headline
News before moving on to CNN&Mac226;s Medical News unit, where she produced its
weekly half-hour show and reported on a variety of health issues. Carolyn
also freelanced as a producer and reporter for CNN at its bureaus in
London, Washington and Hong Kong, as well as for several international
print and radio media organizations such as Reuters, AP, NPR, The Christian
Science Monitor and the Far Eastern Economic Review. She has spent most of
the last decade working in Asia, first as senior producer at a Chinese
television affiliate for CNN in Hong Kong, and then moving to East Timor in
2000 as country director for Internews. She then worked as the news
director and acting head of the local television set up in Dili by the
United Nations.
Since June 2002, Robinson has been training and developing television
journalists in East Timor as a Knight Fellow, and she will continue working
in East Timor on a second Knight Fellowship throughout 2003.
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