US$1m in grants for post-tsunami media aid
Title -- 4654 INDONESIA: US$1m in grants for post-tsunami media aid
Date -- 3 March 2005
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Ascribe Newswire 2/3/05
Copyright - A
Status -- Unabridged
Post a comment on PMW's Right of Reply: www.voy.com/166636/
$1 MILLION IN EMERGENCY GRANTS TO AID INDONESIAN JOURNALISTS DEVASTATED BY TSUNAMI
http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20050301.164438&time=03%2000%20PST&year=2005&public=0
MIAMI (Ascribe Newswire/Pacific Media Watch): The board of trustees of
the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has approved $1 million in
emergency funding to three international journalism organizations to
work together to aid print and broadcast journalists in northwest
Indonesia in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
The grants will help rebuild infrastructure and facilities
destroyed by the tsunami, as well as recruit new staff. The three
organizations -- Internews, the International Center for Journalists
and the Committee to Protect Journalists -- all have extensive
experience working with and aiding journalists in developing
countries.
Internews will use its $500,000 grant to rebuild radio
journalism in the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh. The Aceh province
was the most devastated by the tsunami, with 122,000 dead. Two
production studios and three editing labs, capable of producing radio
for distribution across Indonesia, will be built. Internews also will
use the grant money to build two smaller production facilities, hire
several advisers and provide stipends for local journalists who are
willing to go back to work as well as stipends for the families of
journalists who were killed.
With Internews focusing on radio, a $400,000 Knight grant to
the International Center of Journalists will aid print and TV
journalists in Aceh. The center, which runs the Knight International
Press Fellowships for American journalists to train overseas media,
will use the grant for a special series of fellows. At least four
fellows will serve in 2005 and 2006, with each spending time in the
field being debriefed by the outgoing fellow, so that one continuous
line of training is developed.
The Committee to Protect Journalists will use a $100,000
grant to establish a special free press fund to protect Indonesian
journalists from government censorship and harassment. The CPJ may,
in turn, give over some of those funds to local groups to allow them
to rebuild their capacity to push for press freedom.
"We hope the independent journalism produced by the efforts
of all three organizations will play a part in rebuilding this
devastated area, as well as inspire a new generation of independent
journalists in Indonesia and help move the country toward a freer,
more vibrant press," said Mike Maidenberg, Knight Foundation vice
president and chief program officer.
Concern has grown in recent months that government officials
will use the tsunami as an excuse to exercise greater control over
the Indonesian media. A separatist rebellion in the province of Aceh
has been ongoing for the last three decades and has killed 12,000
people.
These grants mark the first time Knight Foundation has
approved emergency funds to rebuild journalism infrastructure.
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
© 1996-2005 Copyright - All rights reserved. Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members. Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.
For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific Media Watch at:
E-mail: delaro@clear.net.nz or pcronau@hotmail.com Fax: (+649) 3787542 or (+612) 9660 1804
Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia
or PO Box 78028, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1002, New Zealand
Website: www.pmw.c2o.org
Return to Pacific Media Watch