Workshops bring Pacific journalists up to speed with Forum issues
Prior to every Pacific Forum Leader’s Meeting, journalists from Pacific media organizations are invited to attend workshops conducted by the regional news agency PAC News to bring them up to speed with the issues to be discussed by the Leaders.
On Tuesday the Herald spoke with PAC News trainer, journalist Makareta Komaidrue about the two workshops that will be conducted at the Parekura Conference Centre for some 12 journalists from the Pacific who will be coveringthe Forum Leader’s meeting beginning at the end of this week.
The first workshop starts on Wednesday and ends Thursday. It will bring the journalists up to speed with Climate Change issues and will be facilitated by two staff from SPREP-the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. They are Nanette Woonton, SPREP’s media officer and Diane McFadzien a SPREP Adviser.
Woonton told the Herald that the climate change workshops are part of a bigger project to help Pacific media reporters report on the issue of climate change. Funding for this is provided by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency-Government of Australia in partnership with SPREP.
The second workshop takes place over Thursday and Friday and will brief the journalists on the issues to be discussed by the Leaders. Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Hon Henry Puna will open this workshop and a range of prominent speakers will address the journalists.
Makareta explained that PAC News is owned by PINA-the Pacific Islands News Association whose members contribute news items to. PAC News is staffed by two journalists and an Editor.
Pacific media companies make up PINA’s membership.
PAC News which has been based in Suva, Fiji since 1999, has been around since 1982. It has an MOU-Memorandum Of Understanding with the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat under which one of the agreed items is to conduct media regional training for the Forum.
Makareta herself has been a journalist since 1988. She began as a broadcast with Radio Fiji and was there for six years before moving to Fiji TV where she was based for four years. She then moved to PAC News and has been there for 11 years. She has been conducting training workshops for the past 10 years.
She thanked Pitt Media Group for their valued input into the workshops. -Charles Pitt

Herald Issue 608 21 March
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