UNITED NATIONS  NATIONS UNIES

United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor

The 2^nd Public Information Officers’ Conference

Headquarters Peacekeeping Force

PKF Briefing Room

7 June 2001

The Media Environment in East Timor

By Capt. Isabelito R. Sanchez, Jr. BA, MMPM

East Timor before or after the landing of peacekeeping forces has had its share of the limelight not only in the context of its violent realities but also in the  unfolding drama of its ushered-in independence. It remains to be  a work in-progress  awaiting completion by numerous stakeholders who are tied up with the basics of nation-building. The final test though is in the waiting- to see East Timor a truly independent state with all the amenities of political, economic and social self-governance.

There have been contradictions within the present environment and even more serious ones  outside about the true face of things obtaining presently.  There have been tales openly criticizing the efforts of the UN-led  administration  while peacekeeping gains especially in the border appear unchanged.  This kind of impression will do more harm than good especially when its advocates succeed in railroading the truth.

It brings  us to closely engage with the  legitimate and sole advocate of  public information which  is the media. By all its strength or weaknesses, the media remains the bulwark of freedom of speech, of expression and of the press.

This is the primary concern of this paper – to be  able to get a clearer picture of the emerging media environment in East Timor to serve as a policy guidepost particularly in the peacekeeping operations to achieve  the best possible coverage of intra-peacekeeping activities and inter-agency operations.

It is always safe to assume that the media will do anything they can to get into the real story - good or bad. The media may also be keen on getting “nice-to-know” stories in the absence of  “explosive” ones.  And  it may also be antagonistic to insistent “praise releases” from  the  peacekeeping fronts.  Another point to assume  would be the media may totally loss interest on peacekeeping efforts when things are getting right i.e., by the time peacekeeping role  holds no more significance in East Timor.

Four months close to the second anniversary of the 1999-referendum in East Timor, nothing is more up-beat and appealing nowadays than the uncertainty of  the  period-leading to full independence.  This is the normal course of events since the entire focus is the  first political run of the people to choose their leaders as members of the constituent assembly to draft the constitution.  This may happen in August 30.  This attention would unlikely change in  the succeeding months  whether the outcome is favorable or not. Media attention may just be glued to election related incidents  or some systemic dysfunctions in the process. 

It always pays to be on guard for media opportunities despite the seemingly less attention being infused to peacekeeping role.  This does not mean that peacekeeping is in a bad shape but rather the supporting role it  opted to play in the succeeding political exercises as well as during  sparse rioting in some areas, is putting  peacekeeping image in a safe mode.  Logistical support may not  land on the  front page than a story of violence may had.  But the failure of the Civpol during a civil unrest may  just be an unpleasant story to drag along the  peacekeeping force to the grill.  So that  being on the subsidiary role is not an assurance that would insulate us from the prying eyes of the media.

What is concrete  at present is the strong ties this headquarters is maintaining with the media.  The good working relationship we are enjoying with them is a teamwork responsibility and an achievement of the  peacekeeping effort as a whole. This can be gleaned by their eagerness to  publish the other side of peacekeeping i.e. humanitarian projects and assistance to the people of East Timor. While they may be interested with security issues, nothing can be had about it  which is unusual from the ordinary since early this year (except for the latest  grenade throwing incident  at the TCL on 29 May 01).   When nothing seems to be going on, they may just be more interested on our failures regarding individual discipline and the like.  The success of  security or peacekeeping operations can hardly be quantified  in contrast with the number of encounters with rogue  militias in East Timor, so that a  good story that appears in the papers may just be a headline  about sightings or presence of militias in East Timor.  Zero sightings or militia incidents do  not attract media attention  more than an extreme case of indiscipline among thousands of  peacekeeping forces.

The  bare truth is the media simply  gets the news when it is interesting or simply ignores it when it is not.  But sometimes, the media has its color which is just the opposite of “cold neutrality” and objectivity.

It is just fit to consider the nature, character, organization, ways or means, competence and other inherent factors that make-up the whole spectrum of a powerful institution  like the media.

By and large,  the media finds a healthy existence in a democratic society.  Closed societies have also their own  but not as  open as “western media”.

In the present environment,  it cannot be denied that  the  prevailing media takes its form from its western counterpart.  This is especially true with the international wires and agencies like the Reuters, CNN, Associated Press, ABC, Lusa, Agence France Presse, etc.  On the one hand, the local media takes its silent beginnings with the basic of newswriting or reporting and sometimes ends up asking  too many questions or even  too often arguing with the subject during press conferences and interviews.

The anatomy of ET media, for purposes of convenience is  made-up of foreign and local  media.  It has been observed that  each has its line of interest but such interest has not been confrontational but rather reinforcing with each other.  This is only naturally logical since foreign media caters to international audience while their local counterpart gets more interested in making their own people  aware  of  the quotidian tasks of society. 

Before the UN-led mission in  East Timor, it was said that media coverage was one-sided. “Unfortunately, yet predictably, there was one-sided media coverage (sic) of the crisis in East Timor by major media institutions in the West (especially from nations that continuously supported the often brutal regime). Most mainstream coverage failed to trace back the root causes for such gross violations (i.e. the fact that East Timor has oil, timber and other rich resources and that Indonesia is strongly anti-Communist, which has helped western backers ignore brutal crimes and therefore continue "business as normal").”

(The Mainstream Media and East Timor, www. Globalissues.com/Geopolitics/East).

The  ET  environment  now serves as a good media project.  It makes a good source of  internal and external beats something of that type that commands  a  pervasive awareness on the people and the  very stakeholders  of the United Nations’ mission.  It provides a showcase  of  unity, diversity and contrast. 

Unity for one is  the immediate concern in the present environment.  Interesting stories that warrant media attention are the  nation-building activities of stakeholders and the people themselves.  This is the reason why a news report regarding mis-coordinated efforts which lead to wastage  and inefficiency in the UN mission as a whole attracts severe criticism and opens up  further discordant attitude towards the  capacity  of said mission to seize the situation and respond to its legal mandate.  The prying eyes of the media is always watchful not on the things that we can do but more often than not on things that we cannot do.  So that extraordinary stories even which are  indirectly relevant to our mission becomes more interesting than the primary task of maintaining security.

Diversity is the  prevailing mode of acceptance and accommodation.  In this mission, the media is aware of the diversified nature of  culture and the “different ways” of doing things.  Both foreign and local media may just be interested in the ability of the peacekeeping mission to delve into, assimilate and co-exist with the  people in the  given environment.  It somehow portrays  a true commitment of people serving in the mission as can be perceived by the media the beauty of  people  who are  culturally diverse in working together  to  achieve a common purpose.  In  this media environment, cultural differences can either evoke sympathy or apathy but the  final measure is when the people  themselves has made  a story on the good side we have been doing on them to the media.

The  other factor is its contrasting reality.  While it is true that everyone wants a good media exposure in every thing  each does, we cannot tell the media exactly to come up with  our stories.  The media  may just be sensible to our accomplishments but sometimes consider such as insignificant especially when the whole UN mission in the environment is underfire. And sometimes even if things are turning out right as a whole,  what we may consider as big story in our own concerns may hardly find space in the media.  It is because the media is more concerned  on  issues of wider impact that bears on  macroscopic issues than that detailed mundane accomplishments. Although each participating nation or stakeholder has its media concern, the truth is the media thinks of the systemic whole in addition to freak daily bickering and squabble in the immediate environment.

Foreign media in particular is more professionally equipped in terms of experience, training, and objectivity. This can be observed in the manner they would conduct themselves in any media opportunities to the end product  that  may appear in the news and broadcast. But one can easily sense their political color  in their presentation when it leaves an audience to easily conclude and put the axe on somebody’s head.  While they may present two sides of the coin, objectivity losses its essence the moment it presents a conclusion.  As one may observe, an objective news  leaves others to speculate and make one’s own judgment.  This  has happened in the past  on the way they treated the present media showcase.

The easy access of foreign media to hi-tech “tools of the trade”  makes them more formidable than their counterpart.  Much of their stories would render a greater impact  on world opinion which would take pressure on policy holders and makers whoever they be.  Just lately,  Reuters an international wire agency came up with its own story quoting a UN Report depicting the increasing violence in East Timor (18 May 2001).  CNN appears also appeared with a broadcast (28 May 01) of  the same story a week later but treated it  as something related to economic difficulties or unemployment and makes comment on its impact in the up-coming political exercises leading to full independence. There were other stories  about   the  increasing violence in East Timor  which  may  put in question  the ability of the UN-led mission to maintain  law and order.

This greater impact on international audience  would render  nugatory if not  sparingly the  achievement of peacekeeping mission in  maintaining security in East Timor.  It would not be the Civpol who would bear the lasses when  law and order breaks down pervasively but  the peacekeeping force because of our greater mandate of national security. One thing may just lead to another. But one good thing to capitalize on at present  is the humanitarian aspect of  making  employment possible to local populace through peacekeeping sponsored livelihood projects and the like.

In contrast,  local media consisting of print, radio and television (a web site called EastTimor.com  run by Timor Aid is in addition but  only features links to several agencies) enjoys a smaller coverage and have their own difficulties. But such situation does not however take for granted its significance in the immediate environment.

Basically, the local media has yet to be felt since the spate of violence  and destruction in 1999.  Although not young in its inception, it can just be said to be figuratively “rising from the ashes.”  In the inaugural congress of the Timor Lorosae Journalists Association (TLJA)  which gathered East Timorese journalists in Dili from 10-14 January this year, they declared “their desire to build an independent and free press for their new nation out of the ashes of destruction left behind by the militia violence in September 1999.” (Brochure on Local Media in East Timor  prepared by UNTAET/ETTA). At the end of the congress, a code of ethics was adopted with their aim of the highest standard of professional integrity, training and conduct in the profession. It calls on them to be fair in their news coverage, avoiding discrimination “based on political orientation and refrain from accepting gifts and payments from outside parties.” (Supra).

In Dili,  there are only two tabloids which are gaining daily circulation namely,
Timor Post and  Suara Timor Lorosae (STL).  Both are hodge podge prints trying to accommodate  an audience who can read Bahasa, Tetum, English and Portuguese.  (I have been writing academic articles in the  Timor Post which  appeared in its editorial page in the  1^st quarter, such articles are now posted at www.geocities.com/snake1ph/peacekeeper.html).  Most of our stories are carried by these two papers to fill-up more spaces.  With the prevailing  atmosphere in the environment, most of  their stories carry  straight political news and incidents of criminality and other mundane announcements.

As a matter of fact,  Xanana Gusmao , East Timor independence leader called on the local media to play a significant role in the  forthcoming political processes in ET. He said, “I want the press to socialize the elections.” "The press must help motivate all Timorese people to take part in the 30 August election," said Xanana. Xanana wanted radio to at least devote 5 minutes to election coverage and the print media to allocate half a page daily." (Timor Post, 24 May 01).

It has been observed that the local media is too emotional in treating issues especially those which have a profound impact in the on-going reconstruction of their new nation.  In press conferences, they often appear to be leading in the open forum  by almost raising follow-up questions to the detail which bespeaks their avid interest for  local news and issues to the point of being argumentative. This is a fact which a media handler must live up with next to language barrier.

Also taking the forefront in  media-building is UNTAET per se.  The UN-led mission maintains and runs publication of print, broadcast and television. Tais Timor, a bi-monthly UNTAET tabloid is produced by OCPI’s publication branch.  It carries nation-building messages from social, economic and political “nice-to-know.” Although it is not a propaganda machine but can be a source of good entertainment  and a collection of feature articles on East Timor daily scenes.

There are five FM radio stations and one AM  station in East Timor (See Local Media in ET, a brochure).  In addition,   there is UNTAET-Radio which  broadcasts on the hour news in four languages (Bahasa, Tetum, English and Portuguese) and  music personality formats. (See Untaet-Radio Program Schedule). It has a coverage that  reaches most of the districts in East Timor.

On the one hand,  in the absence of  a satellite decoder installed,  there is TVTL that carries East Timor news, Indonesian news and BBC news . This channel  can be viewed in Dili  with just a “rabbit antennae” installed.  It also features  nation-building messages as well as  favorite cartoons. (See TVTL Schedule on Intranet).

I overheard a comment which says “if you don’t give them anything, they have nothing.” Truly, nobody gets the news if we don’t give the news. If there’s nothing in the news, then it is  best to give them to fill-up spaces.  This is the kind of observation that runs along the corners of Dili but of course from the  standpoint of a foreign observer.   The thing is the local media is  generally  young.  Being young has its own failings.  It can be said to be  still striving to “rise from the ashes” and  still  groping to find its way  in the new democratic media environment.

As can be further observed, there are other  limitations that the local media  must overcome, namely,  professional training and competence, language barrier, resources,  audience,  and the future. 

While asserting itself into the mainstream of the new nation,  the local media is caught  in the middle of society in transition. The establishment of the TLJA is a positive step at least to provide a common direction  among themselves.  The laissez faire  of  information in the new democratic set-up is a big challenge to local media.  This is good for  them  as they find good interaction much less competition  with others.

The local media can be a strong premise to  muster positive public opinion which is  paramount in nation-building.  Has it achieve that far to mold the East Timorese people to act constructively  in the villages to  far nook and cranny of this emerging state?  To think in the affirmative,  there would not be  any reason  why  people could not be more civil as they must in achieving full independence.

As a tool  for public opinion, the local media must not only take a proactive role to help the people  to have a better judgment on issues but  more  importantly must identify itself as the “watch dog” of excesses in authority  without fear or favor.  The issues of justice, reconciliation, security, unemployment, morality, culture, political transition, economy and a plethora more  are  issues that preoccupy not only the local media but the  people.  The local media would not only limit itself  as a purveyor of straight news but  also go out its way to present  constructive messages to  hone a strong resolve on the people to  work together for their country’s future.

As a personal note,  the media environment in East Timor  provides a rendezvous of  interests from diversified stakeholders in the transition process, to the point  that others would try to outsmart  one another.  It provides an easy access to incite world attention through  the foreign news services.  On the one hand, it provides a hodge podge  of information about what who does and what who does not.  Sometimes it has  little bearing on how the people can improve their lives.

As PI practitioners,  it is a perfect opportunity therefore to come up with projects  that  give them a sense of self-respect and an assurance of an improved life in the future.  The  local audience in the present environment  are too preoccupied rebuilding their lives that constructive undertakings which can have an immediate impact on their misery would certainly  be long remembered.  It is not a contest of how many press releases appear in the news but a greater impact is  achieved as well  when it is the people themselves would know us  by what we do and make us known. On a final note, the media is not an enemy but a temporary ally.

A word of caution  would be:  Don’t be too eager to queue for  your  press releases but neither  do you go slow to identify  the deserving or plainly rectify mistake.

N.B.: The author is a professor in Political and Social Sciences  at the University of the Philippines (Clark Field) and is presently serving the Peace Keeping Force  as  public information officer at the headquarters.