Fiji’s recent natural disaster has extended the school trip of six young reporters.
On March 25, six high-school-aged reporters embarked on The Reporters’ Academy’s first international trip.
The purpose of the Fiji tour was to attend the Pacific Islands News Association Pacific Media summit, capture content to complete Oceania Athlete Profiles for London 2012 and build relationships with media groups and reporters based in the Pacific Islands.
On Saturday, after a jam-packed week of reporting, interviewing, networking and attending cultural events, they were ready to return to Melbourne.
But Mother Nature had other plans. Friday night’s downpour lead Fiji into its largest flood-crisis since 2009.
With flooded roads and mixed messages on the status of both domestic and international flights, they decided to wait out the floods in Suva where it is safer. By Monday, the flooding and torrential rain began to subside in some areas of Fiji. However, the country is now facing an even bigger issue – a tropical depression threatening to rage through Fiji.
Warnings for the category one cyclone “Daphne,” are being pumped out across all forms of media in Fiji, dominating the headlines. Courtney Smyth from the Reporters’ Academy stated: “We are optimistic we will be able to fly home within the next couple of days, however we are making the most of being grounded. We are putting the journalism skills we have developed into practice by making videos and writing reports to keep those at home updated.”
The Reporters’ Academy is a youth journalist organisation, which originated in Manchester, England, and has now expanded into Melbourne, Australia.
By Thomas King.
Published in the Fiji Sun Newspaper, April 3, 2012
Thomas King
Crew Member
Student
My Activity Diary
TRA Melbourne Stranded in Fiji
()My Bio
Hi, my name's Thomas, I live in Melbourne and am currently in Year 10 at Ringwood Secondary College.
I've been involved with The Reporters' Academy from the beginning of 2011. I initially joined TRA because I knew it would be a fantastic opportunity for me to build on my journalism and reporting skills, which include photography, video editing and writing.
The majority of my passions and interests lie in the areas of environmental conservation and animal welfare. Over the past two years I have been working towards the protection of South East Asia's bio-diverse rainforests, homed to thousands of unique species, including orangutans. I have found that media is by far the most effective method of creating positive change, and I plan to ultilise TRA as a means to achieve this.
I hope to get the opportunity to travel to London in July 2012, to report on the Oceania olympic-athlete performances and collaborate with TRA Manchester.