East Timor's media striving anew amid many obstacles<\/p>\n
By Ati Nurbaiti<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): You need to meet your relatives who are in
\nIndonesia, and from where you are in East Timor the village has
\nno telephone, let alone wartel (communications kiosk) or e-mail
\nfacilities. Don't worry, just contact the local radio station --
\nmeaning coming in person to meet broadcasters -- and request them
\nto convey arrangements on where and when to meet.<\/p>\n
As in Korea, family reunions are a special feature in the
\nmedia, most notably at radio stations, the broadcasts of which
\nreach Kupang in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).<\/p>\n
Like other media, there are quite a few radio stations, but
\nmost are concentrated in Dili while the outer regions are where
\ncommunications facilities are most lacking.<\/p>\n
Radio Timor Kamanek, run by the Catholic Church, has the
\nwidest coverage across the largely mountainous terrain, its
\ntransmission power made possible by the support of a number of
\norganizations. The Indonesia state radio and news agency were
\nobvious targets in September 1999 destruction, aimed at leaving
\nnothing to those considered traitors of the prointegration cause.<\/p>\n
Radio reception is still scratchy even only a mile or two from
\nradio stations. In Maliana, in the western sector, residents of
\nthe Balibo hill town said they, instead, get more news about Aceh
\nfrom Indonesian channels.<\/p>\n
In East Timor's enclave of Oecussi in Indonesia's neighboring
\nNTT, the only media is the Tolas weekly magazine, and a
\n\"reporting center\" of the United Nations Transitional Authority
\nin East Timor giving out some basic information.<\/p>\n
Important news sources are, therefore, visitors or returning
\ninhabitants coming by ship, which serves the Dili-Oecussi route
\nonly once a week.<\/p>\n
The eastern extreme of Los Palos is lucky enough to have seen
\nthe set up of a small community radio; so has Bobonaro, capital
\nof Maliana.<\/p>\n
Initially aided by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
\nOrganization (UNESCO), which also helped start postwar radio
\nsetups in Cambodia, radio journalists\/managers now seek aid from
\nvarious donors.<\/p>\n
The community radios are not seeking professionals. UNESCO's
\nTarja Virtanen said that journalists working for community radios
\nare, as a rule, volunteers; the meaning of \"community radios\" is
\nthat this is media for and by community members, not
\nprofessionals, she said.<\/p>\n
In fact, fully paid professionals are only found in two media
\norganizations, the Timor Pos and the Suara Timor Lorosae, the
\nrest are still employed on a contract basis.<\/p>\n
Some journalists question the objectivity of their colleagues
\nwho are also working part time at non-government organizations.<\/p>\n
At Radio Communidade Maliana (Maliana community radio)
\njournalists, a little shy about the \"too simple equipment\", wrap
\nup broadcasting at 9 p.m. Because electricity supply is only for
\na few hours in the evening, broadcasting hours are only from 6
\np.m. to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n
After work hours, a visitor is grabbed for an interview one
\nevening even as the manager\/journalist is drawing up a proposal
\nfor the next three months, by hand.<\/p>\n
Neither typewriters nor computers are in sight at the small
\nstudio up the hills. In a month or so, the above journalist and
\npart-time teacher, Joao Correia, and his colleagues will be busy
\nagain drawing up an accountability report for the donor -- and
\nanother proposal to keep Radio Communidade on air.<\/p>\n
Nearby is Radio UNTAET, which, to the distress of journalists
\nhere, now occupies the former studio of the community station.<\/p>\n
Training offers are cropping up for journalists, mainly
\nfollowing the first congress of the Association of Journalists of
\nTimor Lorosae (AJTL) in January. One reporter went to Jakarta for
\nradio-technical skills, others have already had a few months of
\njournalism training in Australia and in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Language is still a main problem, with readers and journalists
\nthemselves grappling over how to treat the local language Tetum
\nas a written language, while much of the spoken language is mixed
\nwith Portuguese.<\/p>\n
Portuguese has been declared the official language but leader
\nJose Alexandre \"Xanana\" Gusmao himself may have realized this is
\nawkward for the new generation of Indonesian-schooled Timorese,
\nwho only understand Indonesian and Tetum.<\/p>\n
Xanana addressed the above congress in Tetum while another
\nlongtime leading figure, Mario Viegas Carrascalao, spoke at
\nlength in Portuguese, all lost on the audience.<\/p>\n
The media is published and broadcast in English, Portuguese,
\nIndonesian and Tetum, while small-scale, local media only use
\nTetum.<\/p>\n
Said judge Cirilo Jose Cristduao with an ironic smile, \"Bahasa
\nIndonesia is our most precious heritage.\"<\/p>\n
Apart from language problems, the press here still need to
\nflush out habits of reporting under Indonesian restrictions
\nleading to jargon and self-censorship.<\/p>\n
Power problem<\/p>\n
However, publishers here are more worried about being able to
\nappear at all. For about a week in mid-January, the Timor Pos
\ndaily and a few other publications were a no-show because the
\nsingle printing machine catering to a number of publications had
\nbroken down.<\/p>\n
The other daily, Suara Timor Loro Sae, has its own printing
\nmachine but electricity is unreliable and journalists miss
\ndeadlines by hours.<\/p>\n
Timor Pos may be getting its own printing machine -- aid from
\nNewspapers Ltd in Queensland, owned by media giant Rupert Murdoch
\n-- which has sparked controversy among journalists.<\/p>\n
\"You guys will end up owning nothing at Timor Pos,\" a
\njournalist warned his colleague.<\/p>\n
Timor Pos chief editor Aderito Hugo da Costa insisted that
\nthere had not been any gesture from Murdoch to buy shares in the
\nnewspaper. Journalists at the paper were also adamant in
\nmaintaining editorial independence and said they were still
\nworking out terms of cooperation.<\/p>\n
Capital ownership was one of the concerns of the AJTL
\ncongress.<\/p>\n
The \"aid\" from Murdoch is read as the beginnings of big
\ncapital intrusion into Timor Pos, leading to a further divide in
\nthe already existing camps of \"professionals\" and \"activists\" in
\nthe press community here, a division which surfaced in the last
\nyears of Indonesian rule.<\/p>\n
With the downfall of then president Soeharto, the underground
\nmedia of the independence movement mainly involving students got
\na boost; while in East Timor, Suara Timor Timur daily was the
\nonly print media.<\/p>\n
All these journalists now work together, albeit with some
\ntension, as indicated during AJTL's leadership election, in which
\ncandidates were asked to define \"professionalism\".<\/p>\n
Hugo da Costa, one of the candidates, said professionalism in
\nthe press was that which did not mix with \"politics\", an obvious
\nreference to the activists.<\/p>\n
While candidate Virgilio Gueterres, a former student activist
\nand magazine journalist, appealed that the only differentiation
\nin the media should be print, radio and television. Gueterres was
\nfinally elected chairman.<\/p>\n
Apart from the dilemmas of capital ownership, the question of
\na neutral press is another issue among journalists here -- given
\nthat \"professionals\" were subject to so much intimidation from
\nIndonesian government and military officers, proindependence and
\nprointegration people for trying to be balanced.<\/p>\n
\"There's no way the media here can be neutral,\" one editor
\nsaid. \"They have to take sides\" with the people in the rebuilding
\nof East Timor, she said.<\/p>\n
The editor was referring to the difficulties posed by the
\nrestricted, Indonesian official version of reporting on East
\nTimor, presented as professional journalism on the basic
\nstandards of objectivity.<\/p>\n
Then there is the problem of so many new recruits with no
\njournalistic experience, leading to, for instance, sensational
\nstories on AIDS brought in by foreigners -- actually similar to
\nthe products of \"professionals\" in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"Our only main experience,\" said radio journalist Carmen, \"is
\nwhat we went through together with the people.\" Almost all the
\njournalists were among families and friends hiding in and outside
\nEast Timor, avoiding the rampage of September 1999.<\/p>",
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