Program

Reporting on Forests in Southeast Asia: Journalist training workshop

planting-sea In 2011, journalists visited mangrove restoration projects as part of a workshop on REDD+ issues. Photo by Leony Aurora/CIFOR

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and SciDev.Net held the residential workshop Reporting on Forests in Southeast Asia, from 30 April to 6 May. The workshop provided journalists with the rare opportunity to see the inner workings of forestry science through hands-on experience from the field to the conference table.

The 2014 Fellows

May Titthara is an award-winning journalist for Phnom Penh Post, the leading Khmer and English newspaper in Cambodia. He has worked as a journalist since 2001 and is considered the nation’s foremost reporter on the issues of deforestation, land grabbing and economic land concessions. He has won several press awards, including Journalist of The Year 2013 from Society of Publishers in Asia, Excellence of Reporting about Child Rights from Plan International and Cambodia Club of Journalists, Excellence in Reporting Breaking News and Excellence in Human Rights Reporting.

Nan Thiri Lwin has been a journalist in Myanmar for almost five years, covering stories about Kachin conflict and ethnic affairs, Rakhine state violence, land grabbing issues, opium cultivation and trading, logs and wildlife trading. Her stories have appeared in The Irrawaddy Magazine, The Messenger News Journal and News Watch. Eight months after she became a reporter, she was given one of the first interviews with newly released political prisoner and Nobel Laureate, Aung San Su Kyi.

Kannikar Petchakaew is currently working as a correspondent of the Asia Calling radio program in Thailand and freelances for several national newspapers, magazines and radio stations. She juggles this while lecturing journalism students at Maejo University and pursuing a PhD in journalism. For 10 years she was the editor-in-chief of Korat Daily, one of the largest monthly newspapers in Thailand. During this time she twice received an outstanding reporter award from the Prachachat Business Newspaper. In 2010, she participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program Fellow in the USA, which gave her the opportunity to interact with journalists around the world and deepen her experience in covering complex issues. When not working, she spends her time reading, taking care of her organic farm and practicing yoga in her own studio in Chiangmai, north Thailand.

Iriene Natalia is an environment host of Green Talk for Green Radio in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, Indonesia. Before Green Radio she worked as an announcer and producer for Heartline Karawaci Radio and covered on-air and off-air community development program for Harmoni Radio in a small village in South Sulawesi. Iriene got her start radio broadcasting for Sasando Country Station in Yogyakarta as a news announcer. Iriene grew up in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

Natalie Heng has spent the last three years writing feature articles for Malaysian-based daily The Star, covering a diverse and wide range of topics related to the environment, science, and the arts. Prior to that, she cut her teeth in the newsroom at the Sun daily where her work included a comprehensive piece on abandoned housing projects in Malaysia. She grew up in Port Dickson, Malaysia, before spending ten years studying and working in the UK, after which she returned to embark on a journalism career. Her hobbies include acting, reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, including popular science, as well as hiking, squash and swimming.

Pia Ranada works as a multimedia reporter for Rappler, a social news website based in Metro Manila. Covering the environment and agriculture beat has given her the opportunity to write text stories and shoot video reports on climate change, post-Haiyan rehabilitation, urban pollution, land reform, illegal logging and more. She graduated magna cum laude from Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in Communication. She is also an avid mountaineer, skin diver, heritage advocate and bookworm.

Farah Cheah researches stories for the The Economist. She also writes on Southeast Asia for the “Banyan”/Asia blog. She took up the post, based in Singapore, in January 2010, at the outset of its Southeast Asia office bureau. Before that she completed a Masters by Research in Political Science at the National University of Singapore, where she also earned her bachelors with a minor in religious studies. Prior to doing her masters, Farah did field work for a research paper on identity politics in Nepal’s Madhesh for the Institute of South Asia Studies, and developed an affinity for local politics and the politics of identity. In her free time, she is either enjoying the outdoors or relaxing with her guitar. She coaches rockclimbing and drinks too much coffee for her own good.

Ho Vinh Phu is currently acting as senior reporter at Environment and Science Technology at Vietnam TV. For the last 15 years, Ho has led the productions of top documentaries, training programs and films on nature and biodiversity conservation, market-based instruments, community based forest management and gender mainstreaming in climate change adaptation and mitigation. Ho has collaborated with both government agencies and international NGOs in numerous climate change training programs and awareness raising campaigns and actively engage in national journalist networks in Vietnam.

Vita Alwina Daravonsky Busyra is a reporter for the Jakarta Globe newspaper in Jakarta, Indonesia. She was recently Editor-In-Chief for Thoroughfare, a student publication of the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Before that, she worked as an editor and writer for a private magazine of the Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Houston. Vita just completed her Master of Liberal Arts program with a concentration in Communication in the University of St. Thomas, Houston last December.

Zubaidah Nazeer is the Indonesia correspondent for the Straits Times – a leading Singaporean news outlet. She has 14 years of journalism experience across four newspapers and has won awards for features and investigative reports and contributed to a book project at The New Paper. Zubaidah earned a Masters in International Relations from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, in 2008, focusing on terrorism and Asean. Her foray into journalism was fired by a thrill for adventure, a hunger to understand the world and a belief that living on the edge keeps her sane. She has travelled to Riau and Jambi to document the Ground Zero of where the burnings that caused last year’s worst regional haze in 16 years were happening. While there, she also did an investigative piece that took her on a 13-hour journey from Jambi to Pekanbaru to trace the forest destruction along the way. She has also written analyses on environmental issues such as on the rapid forest destruction in Indonesia and the effectiveness of the forest moratorium. Her free time is spent on photography, running and volunteering to mentor youths at risk.

Priyo Kusumedi is the managing editor of www.redd-indonesia.org – an Indonesian language news site on the country’s policies and implementation related to a UN program to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). The website is run by the Data and Information sub-division of the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry’s Research and Development Agency (FORDA). Priyo has spent the last decade in research, program and evaluation roles within the Ministry of Forestry.

Katrina Inandia is a junior journalist at the Berita Satu News Channel in Jakarta, Indonesia. She graduated from the University of Indonesia with a nutrition major and worked as a consulting nutritionist for a year before pursuing her childhood dream to be a journalist. Before Berita Satu she worked as a reporter at the Jakarta Update.

Audrey Chandra is a junior reporter at Indonesia’s Kompas TV. She graduated from The London School of Public Relations Jakarta, majoring in Public Relations. She has covered the Indonesian legislative election as well as natural disasters. She has previously worked as a host at Lativi (now tvOne) and a freelance reporter at RCTI, the oldest private TV channel in Indonesia.

Ardhy Akmal is a Kompas TV camera person. He has spent two years behind the camera covering various stories in politics, sport, criminal investigations and economics. He also covered the eruption of Mount Sinabung as a video journalist. A sport and adventure enthusiast, he holds a undergraduate journalism degree from Padjadjaran University.

The agenda

Time

Session

Description

Tues April 29

5-10pm

Participants arrive in Bogor
Wed April 30

08:30
(30’)

Opening session - Introduce trainers and organizers- Go through the main aims and objectives of the training
– Discuss pre-training survey results and participant expectations.

09:00

(75’)

How can scientists and journalists better work together? Led by a journalist-cum-scientist, in this session journalists learned about the scientific process, its implications on their work, challenges and problems in the interactions between scientists and the media, and strategies to help journalists in Southeast Asia more effectively engage with the scientific community.

10:15

(15”)

Coffee break

10:30

(60’)

Activity: Understanding a research paper This session explored the fundamentals of published research and what it provides to the journalist covering science stories.  Through close inspection of its nature and its components, journalists will identify how research papers can be used to identify and effectively develop a story.

11:30
(30’)

Forests and landscapes in Southeast Asia: Key concepts and definitions Opening address by Peter Holmgren, Director General of CIFOR.

12:15

(45’)

Lunch

13:00
(90’)

How are forests related to climate change in Southeast Asia? Sinks, sequesters, sources and stocks. Scientists demystified what these and other terms mean and why they are important. The session also examined the impact of climate change in Southeast Asia and how forests can help people adapt. Hands on demonstrations helped participants better understand the tools and methods forestry scientists use to study climate change.

14:30
(60’)

Discerning fact from fiction and opinion When do environmental issues become politicized? How can journalists assess sources of scientific information for credibility?

15:30
(15’)

Coffee break

15:45

(60’)

Why population matters: Urbanization, migration and remittances A mythbusting session where participants realized that many of the facts they thought they knew about migration, urbanization and remittances are misleading or simply plain incorrect.

16:45

(45’)

Is it greenwashing? Assessing environmental claims Large companies and institutions often claim green credentials, but are they always what they purport to be? In this session, participants will assess a few examples of controversial environmental claims

17:30

(15’)

Round up of Day 1

19:00

Welcome dinner at Kembang Desa Restaurant
Thursday May 1

08:30

(30’)

Recap learning from previous day

09:00
(90’)

Illegal timber trade in Southeast Asia This hands-on session uncovered where scientists look for information about illegal logging. How do they analyze government statistics? The session also explored non-traditional enforcement tools and the impacts of illegal logging on the wider ecosystem.

10:30
(15’)

Coffee break

10:45
(105’)

Finding sources and scrutinizing statistics Numbers and statistics are in almost every news story and it is important that journalists are comfortable using numbers and know how to spot misleading figures. This session will help journalists make sense out of statistics and data in forests and landscapes stories, and will look at some common mistakes to watch for.

12:30
(60’)

Lunch

13:30
(60’)

How do we feed a growing population in the face of a changing climate? Did you know that forests are an incredibly important food source for many people in Southeast Asia? And that they don’t just play important roles in providing food but also in regulating water, pollination and other essential functions? This session focused on learning more about the role of forests in contributing to a food secure future.

14:30

(60”)

Telling a science story that will engage your audience Science can be technical, impersonal and difficult for the average person to understand or relate to. How can journalists tell science stories that resonate with their readers?

15:30
(15’)

Coffee break

15:45

(75’)

Facilitated discussion: Pitching a science story to your editor Is your editor interested in science stories? Chances are that this is one of the greatest barriers you face in getting a science story to run in your media outlet. Two science editors discussed tips and strategies for improving a pitch. This session helped prepare participants for the final pitching exercise on the last day of the workshop.

17:00

(15’)

Round up of Day 2 Participants were asked to complete a homework task related to their pitch on Sunday.
Friday May 2

08:30
(30’)

Recap learning from previous day and discuss story angles Participants check out of hotel.

09:00

(60’)

Social media and its use in science journalism In this session, participants discovered the crucial role played by social media and the Internet in science reporting.  Scrutinizing online information, finding and establishing networks, and maximizing the potentials of social media as a tool for finding sources and disseminating information were all discussed and analyzed.

10:00
(90’)

Move over Monopoly: Learning Land Use Planning with The Landscapes Game Monopoly is one of the world’s most popular board games, but its objective – acquire as much land as you can, develop it and drive your opponents to insolvency through rent-seeking — is unsustainable. Scientist Herry Purnomo wondered what would happen if he could inspire a billion people to instead play a game that takes an alternative view of investing and land use management. So he built it.Read more: http://www.cifor.org/lpf/landscapegame/Coffee and snacks served during the game playing exercise.

11:30

(30’)

People in parks: An overview of land governance in Halimun Salak National Park With hundreds of national parks in Southeast Asia and thousands of people living in and around these parks, land management and ownership issues are bound to be complicated. CIFOR scientist Moira Moeliono talked about how land is governed in Halimun Salak National Park, just before journalists embarked on a two-day field trip to the park.

12:00
(60’)

Lunch

13:30

(2-3 hours)

Leave for field trip

15:30

(60’)

Coffee break At Halimun Salak National Park office

16:00

(180’)

Dinner and informal discussionWho uses national park resources? The companies and people who depend on Halimun Salak National Park An informal discussion with national park staff, private sector and local community representatives about the challenges and opportunities they all face living and working in Halimun Salak National Park.

19:00

(90’)

Travel to Cikaniki village Overnight at Cikaniki guest house.
Saturday May 3

05:30

(3.5 hr)

Hike to a waterfall and biodiversity watching. Discover the flora and fauna of one of Java’s most biodiverse national parks. Journalists walked the canopy trail to spot the elusive and endangered Silvery Gibbon and visit a nearby waterfall.

10:00
(120’)

Field visit with local people at Sukagalih village Sukagalih is a small village on the outskirts of Halimun Salak National Park. It applies an interesting village conservation model (created without the support of any NGO) that participants discussed directly with the villagers while enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

12:00
(60’)

Lunch

13:00
(240)

Discussion with local people and local authorities at Sukagalih village Discussions focused on how local villagers are involved in national park management and the green corridor initiative to protect local flora and fauna.

16:00

(60’)

Coffee Break and opportunity for one-on-one interviews

17:00

(60’)

Ethics in science reporting: Facilitated discussion on the challenges of reporting on forestry in Southeast Asia Science writing is not spared from ethical issues and problems. This session enabled participants to identify typical challenges and dilemmas surrounding the reporting of science, and brainstorm possible ways to address them.

18:30

Dinner and cultural performance After dinner, journalists had the opportunity to watch two traditional west Javanese dances. Pencak Silat is an indigenous martial art of Indonesia. Jaipongan is a popular musical reincarnation incorporating aspects of traditional dance and modern arts that was created during the 1960s when President Sukarno created a ban on western music and urged the public to “revive the musical traditions of the past”. Participants spent the evening in homestays in Sukagalih village.
Sunday May 4

07:00

(60’)

Breakfast Villagers participate in “gotong royong” (public cooperation in the way of a working bee) on Sunday mornings.

08:00

(120’)

Final assessment Discuss story ideas and angles that may be gained from the field trip as well as final pitch to editors exercise.

10:00

(15’)

Coffee break

10:45
(45’)

Evaluation & Closing

12:00
(60’)

Picnic lunch at Cianten tea plantation

Published stories

Half a dozen stories have been delayed due to rapid developments in Indonesian and Thai politics and will be curated to this list as they are published.

Outlet Country Title Link
Tempo Magazine Indonesia Map the World http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/05/16/206578196/Map-the-World
Rappler Philippines Indonesia: Water springs eternal in Sukagalih village http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/57757-sukagalih-water-indonesia-southeast-asia-forests
Vietnam TV Vietnam 7 ngày công nghệ http://vtv.vn/video-clip/131/7-ngay-cong-nghe-09052014/video38467.vtv
The Straits Times Singapore Zero tolerance for illegal land burning, vows Yudhoyono http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/zero-tolerance-illegal-land-burning-vows-yudhoyono
The Star Malaysia Susilo wants green legacy preserved http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/06/susilo-peatlands/
Kompas TV Indonesia Live coverage of the Forests Asia Summit http://www.useetv.com/tvod/kompastv/1400770800/1400778000
89.2 FM Green Radio Jakarta Indonesia A Wonderful Sukagalih www.greenradio.fm
REDD-Indonesia.org Indonesia Indonesia berkomitmen untuk melawan deforestasi dan degradasi lahan gambut http://redd-indonesia.org/index.php/media/arsip-fokus-redd/1195-indonesia-berkomitmen-untuk-melawan-deforestasi-dan-degradasi-lahan-gambut
REDD-Indonesia.org Indonesia SVLK kurangi penebangan dan perdagangan illegal http://www.redd-indonesia.org/index.php/media/arsip-fokus-redd/1197-svlk-kurangi-penebangan-dan-perdagangan-illegal

Organizing partner

  • ICRAF
  • SCIDEV.net

The workshop was carried out as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry with support from The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

What did the Fellowship include?
The Fellowship award included accommodation, airport transfer, meals, tuition and travel support.

The program gave journalists an opportunity to have one-on-one interviews with leading scientists and policy makers to explore and understand various issues affecting Southeast Asia’s forests and people, including coastal forests, food security, illegal logging, timber trafficking, livelihoods and climate change. It also included seminars on finding the human story in science, reporting politicized science, understanding a research paper, future social media trends and understanding statistics.