| Subject: Nation:
East Timor in urgent need of a newspaper
The Nation (Thailand) December 14, 1999,
Tuesday East Timor in urgent need of a newspaper
The Nation
MOST of the East Timorese people are kept
in the dark because they have no means to access the day-to-day
information on the development in their country, according to a United
Nations report released on Monday.
In a grim assessment of the media
condition of East Timor, the report said that there is a dire need for the
newly independent country to have a daily newspaper. "The people are
thirsty for news," the report quoted Bishop Carlos Belo as saying.
Before the referendum, Suara Timor Timur
was the only publication in East Timor with a circulation of 8,000. Its
office and printing facilities were burned down. Other media facilities
including TV stations were also torched.
Most of the 600,000 East Timorese people
receive information through two main radio stations, which are operated by
the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor (Untaet) and
by the Catholic church.
The report said that the violent rampage
during the first week of September, after the territory's Aug 30
referendum, have destroyed civic institutions and laid waste to all media
facilities and telecommunication infrastructure in East Timor.
There are few radios in East Timor and no
one knows for certain how many radio sets there are in the country. Most
of them were either destroyed or stolen. Those who do possess radios do
not have batteries to power them and there are no shops in the colony
selling batteries.
Untaet Radio runs a 24-hour broadcast
with three hours devoted to news and public announcements. Music is aired
mostly during the remaining hours. The church radio station,
<I>Kmanek<P>, broadcast 15 hours a day, airing religious and
community news.
Last month, the United Nations Education,
Science and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) dispatched a three-member
mission to assess the media infrastructure in East Timor.
The report is named Rebuilding East Timor
Media and prepared by Widayananda Jayaweera from Unesco, Yvan Chemla of
France and Kavi Chongkittavorn of Thailand.
According to the report media development
should be given the highest priority. It also recommended that funds and
resources be provided immediately to assist East Timorese journalists in
coming out with a regular newspaper.
The report also called on independent
news organisation to assist East Timorese in acquiring journalistic
skills.
Representatives from news organisations
in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand as well as donor countries
discussed the report on Monday at a two-day meeting to prepare an action
plan to help re-establish the media in East Timor. The meeting ends
tomorrow.
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