Practicing interview techniques during Solider's journalistic training session.
Advocating Disability Issues Through Journalistic Training
Seventeen activists from 10 provinces in Indonesia participated in journalistic training held from 4–8 September 2017 in Yogyakarta, designed to sharpen their writing and advocacy skills to become capable online journalists for Solider (www.solider.or.id). Organised by SIGAB (Sasana Integrasi dan Advokasi Difabel, Integrated Space for Disability Advocacy) with support from the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice 2 (AIPJ2), the participants learned comprehensive report writing, opinion-piece writing and investigative journalism concepts. In the first two days, they also learned basic principles of disability advocacy and wider issues that would be the main principles of each writing category.
Solider started out as SIGAB’s printed media back in 2005. With the support of AIPJ Phase 1, Solider was later developing into a more dynamic online form. Starting early 2013, Solider in collaboration with AIPJ, has strengthened its contributor resources through a series of annual journalistic training, to equip them with journalistic skills, disability perspective, and ongoing efforts to improve access to justice. To date, there are up to 46 contributors with various active participation level.
“Solider is a medium which tries to change the public’s perspective on disability,” said Ismail, a member of SIGAB’s staff who is active in Solider’s development. “That is why training participants need to understand advocacy and disability issues, shift their paradigm, and start viewing disability issues from the human rights and inclusive development perspective. This is an important topic presented at the beginning of the training, before participants learn about technical issues,” he added.
With a strong understanding of disability issues, SIGAB hopes that the writings produced by these new journalists will be free from the stigmas which are often covered in news written by journalists lacking a full understanding of the basics.
On the last three days of the training, the participants learned about the basics of journalism. Bambang Muryanto from Aliansi Journalis Independen (AJI) Yogyakarta and a contributor to The Jakarta Post talked about writing techniques, reporting, interviewing, news writing, and ethics in journalism. At the end of the session, participants practiced the theories and engaged in a mock interview and news writing. The articles were discussed as a group, and Bambang prepared evaluations of materials produced during the session.
“Now that I have knowledge about writing and a deeper understanding of advocacy, I am more confident in seeking news and writing articles about disability issues in NTT,” said Javas, a participant from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
Following the training, participants joined a closed group on Facebook, “Meja Redaksi Solider” (Solider Editor’s Desk), and will share their writings and experiences with other group members (SIGAB staff members and Solider contributors from previous trainings).
It is hoped that the 17 new journalists will bring fresh ideas to Solider and continue to educate the public on disability issues, which will ultimately bring positive changes to society especially in the implementation of inclusivity of various aspects of these issues.
