Media Diary

Biodiversity conservation projects of youth, corporations, and media in the ASEAN region have until August 15, 2010 to be nominated to the ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity.

The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the ASEAN Foundation launched the ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity as a recognition program for ongoing projects on biodiversity conservation and advocacy in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The awards aim to generate greater leadership, public and media awareness of the problems facing the region’s rich but highly threatened biodiversity.

Nominations are open for three categories: Most Outstanding Biodiversity Conservation and/or Advocacy Project by a Private Business/Corporation; Most Outstanding Biodiversity Conservation and/or Advocacy Project by a Youth Organisation; and Most Outstanding Biodiversity Reportage by a Media Organisation.  The nomination form and details may be downloaded from www.aseanbiodiversity.org.
 
Winners shall receive token cash prizes, and will be recognised in October 2010 in time for the Tenth Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity. They will also be given year-round opportunities to speak before business, youth, and media leaders.  A publication of best practices will also be produced based on the stories of the finalists and winners.

For more information on the ASEAN Champions of Biodiversity, log on to www.aseanbiodiversity.org.

The Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships (AFPF), a United States-based non-profit non-governmental organisation, is now accepting applications from print and online journalists aged 25 to 35 for its annual programme.

Interested parties should meet the following criteria:

• Be full-time employees for the news or editorial departments of independent newspapers, wire services, online publications, or magazines of general public interest in a developing country or an emerging market

• At least three years of full-time professional experience as a journalist in the print/online media

• Citizens of a developing country or an emerging market

• Early to mid-career status and between 25 and 35 years old

• A demonstrated personal commitment to a career in journalism in a developing country or an emerging market

• Ability and desire to share what is learned on the fellowship with other journalists at home

• Endorsement from the management of the home publication

• An excellent command of both written and spoken English as all activities are conducted in English

For more information, click here.

The Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) invites applications from working journalists and radio professionals for a four-month radio journalism training programme.

The training programme will include participation in four three-day practical capacity-building workshops by eminent radio journalists, production of news packages during the workshops and assignments that will have to be completed in between workshops.

Applicants must have and know how to operate digital audio recorders. Approval of employers is required for participation in the programme.

The first workshop will be held in Karachi in mid-July. PPF will cover the boarding and lodging, and travel expenses upon submission of original tickets.

Applicants may submit their CV and a letter detailing their experience and how participation in the programme will be useful to them to ppf@pakistanpressfoundation.org.

The International Labour Organization, the United Nations agency that deals with the world of work, is offering a five-day training course to Asia-Pacific journalists, editors, broadcasters and other media professionals. The course will be held in Bangkok from 4 - 8 October 2010.
The ILO's Regional Office for Asia and Pacific is calling for expressions of interest from potential candidates from countries across the Asia-Pacific region.

The course, 'Communicating Labour Rights', is a well-established international training programme operated by the ILO's Turin International Training Centre (ITC-ILO). Although this is the first time the course will be held outside of Europe, two Asian reporters have previously won the annual Decent Work reporting prize. This year, the course will be particularly tailored to the interests and needs of journalists and others working in the media in the Asia-Pacific region.

Tuition fees, travel to/from Bangkok and local accomodation/meals will be provided jointly by the ITC-ILO and the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

The course, including two on-line phases (one before and one after the face-to-face training), aims to equip media professionals with the knowledge and skills to use international labour standards, the work of the ILO's supervisory bodies , and the information held in ILO databases to improve their reporting. It will also give them an opportunity to cultivate contacts with ILO experts.

The successful applicants will learn about international labour standards, both as they relate to workers' rights (and basic human rights) and as they affect the social and economic development of societies and economies. They will also be able to share national experiences and observations about work and work-related issues with other course participants.

For information, please contact Ms. Krisdaporn Singhaseni at the ILO's Regional Office in Bangkok at krisdaporn@ilo.org  or Tel: +66 2288 1664, and include an up-to-date CV indicating present and previous employment details. Please note that as no translation services are available, all participants must be fully conversant in English.

Community radios in South Asian countries are invited to participate in the five-day workshop titled 'Internet Broadcasting for Community Radios in South Asia' at Panos South Asia's Media Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, from Sep. 13 to 17.

The workshop shall orient the community radios on the concept and applications of Internet broadcasting, and hands-on on actually creating Internet radio and broadcasting. It will also be an opportunity for community radio practitioners in South Asia to network and share knowledge.

Interested parties  may apply by filling out the attached form and submitting it by email to prsa@panosradiosouthasia.org by July 15, 2010. All the costs for attending the workshop shall be covered by Panos South Asia. Only selected applicants who meet the criteria for participating in the workshop shall be informed about the outcome of their applications by Aug. 10, 2010.

Journalists reporting on environmental issues are invited to submit entries to the 2010 Media Awards, co-funded by Thomson Reuters Foundation, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and the COMplus Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development. The deadline for entries is on July 31, 2010.

The worldwide competition is designed to raise global awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues by encouraging the highest standards in environmental reporting. Six regional winners each receive a cash prize of 500 U.S. dollars while the global winner will be awarded 5,000 dollars and a travel grant to attend the award ceremony, which will be held in Nagoya, Japan in October this year, at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The six regions are Latin America, North America (including the Caribbean and Oceania), Europe, Asia (including the Middle East), English-speaking Africa, and French-speaking Africa. Each candidate may submit one article only, which must have been published between June 11, 2008 and July 31, 2010. Entries can be in any language but if it is other than English, French or Spanish, a translation must also be supplied. The contest is aimed at journalists working in print and online media and winners will be selected by a panel of environmental and media experts.

Entry forms and further information can be found on the IUCN website.

The Climate Change Media Partnership is accepting applications for its fourth annual fellowship programme (2010-11), which is open to journalists from the global South with an interest in climate change.

For details about the fellowship and requirements for applying, go to www.ccmpapplication.com

The deadline for applications is 23:59 British Summer Time on Jul. 11, 2010. An international panel will then select the fellows and successful applicants will be notified by Jul. 28, 2010.

For more information, please write: CCMP@panos.org.uk

The Public Interest Journalism Foundation in Australia recently launched its crowdfunding investigative journalism project 'YouCommNews' based on the success of the United States crowdfunding initiative Spot.us. Reporters from YouCommNews are mostly freelancers who registered with the website and agreed to abide by the ethical code of the Foundation and the Australian Press Council. Members of the public who support the Foundation can 'commission' journalists to report on a subject of their interest. The resulting news stories will then be published in mainstream, independent and online media either freely or through the sale of publication rights. The sponsor will be refunded once the story is sold.

For more information, visit http://youcommnews.com/.

The Inter Press Service (IPS) and partners on May 22 launched biodiversity reporting guidelines for journalists covering this vital but complex topic. The guidelines are part of a wider communication initiative for 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.

Partners for this project, which is within the COM+ sustainable development communication alliance, are Biodiversity International and the International Federation of Environment Journalists (IFEJ).

The 30-page publication by Pankaj Sekhsaria is available in English and Spanish.

IPS director general Mario Lubetkin launched the guidelines during the 'Settimana della Biodiversita', a week-long celebration of agriculture, food and biodiversity organised in Rome by Biodiversity International.

For more information, click here.

The Broadcast Asia 2010 International Conference, to be held in Singapore from June 15 to 18, 2010, invites interested individuals to avail of its early registration until May 14. Regular registration June 18.

The conference, organised by Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd, will gather over 70 international senior-level speakers from prestigious companies as IBM, Motorola Asia-Pacific, Broadcast Australia, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Star TV India, Nagravision, to name a few. Conference participants can attend six different session tracks: Embrace and Engage the Future: Broadband, 3D and Beyond; Breaking New Barriers in Multi-Platform Content Delivery; The New TV Model; Optimising File Based Workflow and Asset Management; Increasing Your ROI: Leveraging on New Social Networking Media; and Revolutionising Technology Transmission and TV Systems.

Sponsorship opportunities for the conference are also available. Up to 400 key trade publications and general press are expected to attend the said conference.

For more information, visit www.broadcast-asia.com.