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Indonesian Journalists Get Help to Spread the Message about Avian Flu

Workshop participants watch a video on bird flu
Internews Indonesia
Participants in a workshop on reporting on avian influenza critique a story produced by a Jakarta TV network.

(May 15, 2006) “This training made me realize that we have a moral and social responsibility through our media to save lives,” said Web Warouw, a health reporter with the Sinar Harapan daily who attended a two-day Internews workshop in Jakarta on reporting on avian influenza. “Yes avian influenza is scary, but we can make a difference. People can learn how to protect themselves.”

Internews started the two-month training session May 10 for Indonesian journalists covering the outbreak of avian influenza in the country. This training, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia and funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), recognizes the important role media play in the midst of the global danger presented by the disease.

Indonesia has been among the hardest hit by avian influenza. The lethal H5N1 virus is already endemic in birds in Indonesia, which has accounted for more than half of the world's new infections and deaths in humans in the past six months.

 “Good reporting is essential to educate the public about the risk of outbreaks in their poultry and how to protect themselves in the eventuality of a human pandemic,” said Internews trainer Sonny Inbaraj. “This training for local journalists focuses on how the media can communicate correct information about avian influenza or bird flu to Indonesians, especially in the villages, in simple but powerful messages.”

Inbaraj, former country director of Internews Timor-Leste, has conducted health journalism trainings for both print and radio in Thailand, Ethiopia and Timor-Leste. He is assisted by Ester Hutabarat, a former Indonesian journalist with extensive radio training experience.

Fifteen journalists from print, radio and television attended the first training. Workshops will also be held in Bandung, Surabaya and Semarang in Java. In June, they will be held in Medan, Sumatra and Makassar, Sulawesi.

For Arie Rukmantara, from the Jakarta Post, the most important part of the training was the realization that every sector had an important role to play in fighting avian influenza.

“For public service announcements to work, the people must feel that the government cares. If the government has trouble with resources, the private sector has to chip in,” he said. “Bird flu affects everyone and our role in the media is to make that fact known and also demand that effective practices and policies to contain outbreaks are implemented by the government.”

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Wayne Sharpe, Country Director Internews Indonesia 		More Information