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Press freedom celebrated with unity talks and ethics review

By Bob Howarth

DILI (Pacific Scoop / Pacific Media Watch): The tiny new nation of East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, has celebrated World Press Freedom Day with an hour-long forum involving its leading journalists and in-house gatherings at media houses.

The most positive news to come from Timor-Leste came from the forum in Tetum language on the national network TVTL.

Moderated by TVTL anchor, Elitorio Souza , veteran journalist and head of the Syndicate of Journalists Ote Otelio was joined by Mouzhino Lopes, director of the new daily newspaper Independente, and the head of the Association of TL journalists, Tito Felipe.

Lopes, who is secretary-general of the TL Press Club, is well-known to many Pacific journalists after graduating in 2005 from Divine Word University in Madang, PNG.

The wide-ranging forum covered issues such as salary ranges (where the average reporter earns about US$120 monthly), ethics and political and commercial challenges and the rights of media workers.

The forum on May 4 found virtually no examples of outright political pressure or threats to reporters during the recent presidential elections, apart from an incident where a candidate seized a tape in Los Palos from reporter who failed to understand the concept of off-the-record briefings.

Training and access to internet was also a major issue.

Limited internet access For example the University of Timor-Lestes journalism students have no on-campus internet access and have to pay $1 an hour at internet cafes for research and communication.

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Press freedom celebrated with unity and ethics review