MASI hosts training workshop for local sport journalists

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Local Sports Journalists have started their journey towards developing their capacity and up the standard of sports reporting in the country ahead of the 2023 Pacific Games.
A Media Sports Reporting workshop started in Honiara on Wednesday 26 May 2021 organised by the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) with support from the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS).
Fifteen participants comprising of working Sports Journalists in the local mainstream media, Announcers from the respective FM Stations in Honiara, camera men and aspiring young Sport Reporters are attending the three-day workshop.
MASI President, Ms. Georgia Kekea says this is part of a series of training workshops the Media Association is hosting this year in partnership with PACMAS to support capacity building for its members.“Sports reporting is one aspect of media in Solomon Islands that has not received much attention in terms of capacity building over the years and the current MASI Executive acknowledges the importance and need to develop this round.“It is particularly important because of the fact that Solomon Islands will be host to the biggest sporting event in the Pacific in 2023 (Pacific Games), as such, we need to start preparing our local media especially our Sports Journalists now,” the MASI President said.
PACMAS In-country representative, Ms. Nina Tuhaika acknowledges the Australian High Commission in Honiara through its bilateral partnership with MASI for making these media capacity building programmes possible in Solomon Islands.PACMAS is an Australian development assistance project, funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and managed by ABC International Development.“2023 is drawing near and we need to start preparing and hope to see more of such trainings for our Sports Journalists. It is encouraging to see young Reporters showing interest in Sports Journalism and it is clear that there is a lot of potential in this space come 2023,” Ms Tuhaika said.Day one of the workshop started off with a refresher on MASI’s Code of Ethics for media practitioners in the country and Ethics for Sports Journalists presented by Senior Journalist and Publisher of Solomon Business Magazine (SBM), Robert Iroga.
“Ethics are important in Journalism because they create guidelines for journalists and it was a fitting icebreaker for our workshop,” Workshop Facilitator, Philip Lilomo, said.
Lilomo, who is also Chair of the newly established Sports Journalists Association (SJASI) took the opportunity to also acknowledge both MASI and PACMAS for recognising the need of local Sports Journalists and other aspiring young media professionals who attended.
Also on Day One, participants had an opportunity to listen to a presentation from the Executive Director of the National Hosting Authority (NHA) of the 2023 Pacific Games, Christian Nieng who provided useful insight for sports journalists on the different parties and committees responsible for delivering the Games and the structure of sporting bodies both international and nationally.
The Sports Reporting Workshop continues tomorrow with sessions on writing skills and use of multi-media and a separate session with unfamiliar sports which includes five Sporting Federations in the country that have not had much media coverage .

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