A group of 16 — a combination of people working in non-government media and students — participated in a two-week media training in Majuro called “Telling Your Pacific Story.”
It featured the involvement of experienced media professionals — Floyd Takeuchi and Dr. Ann Auman — from Hawaii — and Corinne Podger — from Australia who appeared through the Zoom platform, working with the group that met at the College of the Marshall Islands.
The workshop covered big picture issues for journalists: Core values of journalism —accuracy and truth, independence, impartiality, humanity and accountability; ethics and conflicts of interest; understanding fake news and sources; and having a conversation with your audience.
From the big picture, the workshop zeroed in on writing skills, teaching participants how to write a four-paragraph story and haiku. This was a precursor to each of the participants writing their Pacific story in 300 words. Stories ranged from the experience of a young Marshallese moving to Majuro after being born and raised in the US and a grandmother’s personal experience with the Bravo hydrogen bomb to an intriguing mother-daughter relationship and a real-life experience with climate change. These are just some of the creative and compelling stories that came out of the workshop.
In addition to writing the stories, the participants recorded their stories.
At the June 24 conclusion to the workshop, a selection of the voice recordings were played so everyone could hear the different Pacific stories.
The training, which was organized and sponsored by the Pacific Media Institute, was supported by Australia’s Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS), the College of the Marshall Islands, the University of the South Pacific, the US Embassy and the ROC/Taiwan Embassy.
