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Timor-Leste
Rumor Management
Yubakar Rajkarnikar (right), a media trainer from SFCG Nepal, with Media practitioners and young journalists
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From October 29- 31, 2012, 24 young media professionals from all over Timor-Leste came together in Dili for the SFCG -TL Rumor Management Training. Lively sessions helped burgeoning journalists deepen their understanding of ways to handle the spread of harmful rumors, encouraging them to play an active role in strengthening democracy in Timor-Leste.
After opening remarks from the SFCG-TL Country Director, Jose de Sousa, and Timor-Leste’s Secretary of State for Social Communication, Nelio Isac Sarmento, participants were reminded of the importance of their work during this period of transition and how crucial it is for all media professionals to be acutely aware of the positive role they can play in conflict resolution.
The 3-day training was co-facilitated by Agus Nahrowi, Program Manager from SFCG-Indonesia and Yubakar Rajkarnikar, Media Manager from SFCG-Nepal. They incorporated these key sentiments into interactive training sessions, exploring ways to prevent the spread of rumors on the airwaves and in print. The young journalists explored ways they can become key players in mitigating adverse situations created by inaccurate information.
Trainers also took participants through exercises to help them better understand the unpredictable nature of violence and conflict. They were asked to question how conflicts become violent and, ultimately, how conflicts end. The key to the training was learning how to identify conditions that encourage the spread of rumors – while examining how, in special circumstances, they might even have a beneficial impact on society and journalists.
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