This is an opportunity provided by the Building the Capacity of Journalists in Asia and the Pacific programme: Find out more

The program is delivered by Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with the Asian Development Bank.

Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Asian Development Bank are offering an online training program for journalists from small island countries in Asia and the Pacific.

The program will improve journalists’ abilities to report on climate change issues and provide multimedia skills training to help create more engaging and accessible content.

The training is open to journalists from small island countries in Asia and the Pacific including: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Participants will meet online every Friday (UTC+12) for five weeks for 3.5 hours of training to deepen their knowledge and skills in climate change reporting and digital journalism. The live trainings will be paired with 2-to-3 hours per week of independent research, activities, and group interaction via an online forum. Participants will be encouraged to produce climate change-related news content during the program.

The program will be delivered in English and led by Corinne Podger, an experienced Thomson Reuters Foundation trainer and digital journalism expert.

Reporting on Climate Change
Climate change is widely seen as the greatest threat to human development – perhaps even to human survival – in modern times. As the issue has moved gradually from the fringes of the news agenda to centre-stage, journalists have the dual task of grasping its implications and disentangling a mass of competing claims in a way that engages people.

This program will build the capacity of journalists to cover this critical issue and will help them produce stories that matter to their audiences. It will help journalists identify, research and deliver clear, concise and accurate stories on climate change, its impact on the environment and the lives of ordinary people, and what can be done to mitigate its impact and help people adapt. In addition, the program features a strong focus on developing digital skills, including mobile journalism, using audio to cover climate change stories, and social media. 

The program will assist journalists to:

• Deepen their understanding of climate change science, mitigation and adaptation;
• Broaden their knowledge of international bodies and global agreements focused on climate change;
• Report remotely on key regional and international events;
• Use the principles of Reuters journalism to report more clearly and accurately;
• Cultivate a network of peers and expert sources;
• Access subject matter experts to generate story ideas and deepen technical skills;
• Improve their ability to pitch stories to regional and international media outlets; and
• Produce digital multimedia content to support their coverage using affordable tools and smartphones (i.e., “mobile journalism”).

Participants who successfully complete the training will receive a Thomson Reuters Foundation and Asian Development Bank certificate. 

Who Can Apply

Applicants must be nationals of the following small island countries in Asia and the Pacific: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

If applicants are not full-time news media staff, they need to be able to demonstrate considerable experience as a freelancer, including very recent publications with media outlets. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a commitment to a career in journalism in their country with a minimum of two years’ professional experience and a good level of spoken and written English.

Applicants will need to have access to reliable internet capable of providing multiple hours of video calls. They should also have access to a computer from which to attend the training, and a smartphone for the mobile journalism aspects of the course.
 

Meet Our Experts

Please complete the application form at the link below and fill in this brief pre-training questionnaire.  You will be required to submit samples of recent work, either as links or documents.
If you have difficulty applying, please email Marianne.Tweedie@thomsonreuters.com  with the title of the course in the subject line.