Samisoni Nabilivalu
SUVA (The Fiji Times / Pacific Media Watch): Working journalists and journalism students who enrolled in the Sea Series Media Fellowship for 2011 graduated on Thursday.
The fellowship introduces journalists to marine life and the living ocean environment and features lectures from local experts and community leaders who discuss critical issues in managing Fiji's marine resources.
At the end of the course, a field trip was organised for journalists to see first-hand the impact of environmental changes on communities and how they manage their resources and the critical issues facing the country.
The fellowship is intended to enhance their understanding of marine science and conservation issues, build their networks of ocean expert contacts and increase their ability to cover important marine conservation news during and after the series.
Organisers of the programme also used the graduation as an opportunity to launch the Ocean Journalism Awards to honour those who have demonstrated a level of excellence in covering marine-related issues and to raise the covering of issues critical for the future of our people.
Samantha Rina, a subeditor with The Fiji Times was among the winners in the newly-created awards scheme and walked away with the newspaper category of the Ocean Journalism Awards for a series of articles she wrote highlighting critical marine environmental issues.
She submitted her stories towards the competitions closing date and says participation in Sea Web and her proactive articles were the result of a past experience during which she realised that some journalists did not care much when it comes to environmental issues.
The programme also gave her a platform from which she could forge stronger links with environmental non-governmental organisations, many of which in the past had been unco-operative with journalists.
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