omson Foundation launches election coverage training programme in Indonesia

Thomson Foundation and the Press Council of Indonesia will organise an extensive election coverage training programme in advance of the presidential elections in Indonesia on 9 July.

The programme kicks off with a round table for editors-in-chief in Jakarta on 19 May followed by seminars taking place in regional centres such as Bandung, Semarang and Banda Aceh.

The key themes of the programme are engagement with the audience and safeguarding editorial independence during election times.

Social media will play a key role in these elections , said the Thomson Foundation's director of development Bettina Peters. Indonesia has 64 million Facebook users, 27% of registered voters are under 29 years old. If the media wants to inform and engage with young voters, journalists will have to master social media as a source of information and as a way to engage with your audience."

Role of social media during elections

The world's third largest democracy went to the polls on 9 April to elect a new parliament but it is the hotly-contested presidential election that will put reporters and editors to the test.

With some of the candidates for presidents being owners of large media companies, safeguarding editorial independence will be challenge for Indonesian editors. The Thomson Foundation programme will provide them with tips and tricks on how to ensure they can tell the full story during the election campaign.

There should be a firewall between the editorial departments and the owners , said press council Chairman Bagir Manan, especially if the owner is a candidate in the elections. We will have the experience of reporting the current legislative elections to draw upon when we start the work with the Thomson Foundation. That will provide us with the information needed to draw up specific training programmes.

Main challenges in election reporting

The Thomson Foundation and the Press Council of Indonesia have worked together for several years, in particular in the organisation of the Bali Media Forum.

Last year marked the fifth anniversary of the forum and leading media experts from around the region provided important advice on election coverage that will be used in the current training programme.

Confronting hate speech

This year's Bali Media Forum is scheduled to take place in November.

The Thomson Foundation / Press Council of Indonesia work is being funded by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

LINK:	http://www.thomsonfoundation.org/news-and-features/2014/04/10/thomson-...
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