DILI, 27 july 2023 (TATOLI) – Expedito Dias Ximenes, the Secretary of State for Social Communication (SECOMS) has pledged to develop the Timor-Leste News Agency, known as TATOLI, to achieve its goal of serving as information clearing houses in the exportation of news about government to local and foreign.
“The IX Government, through SECOMS, during its five-year mandate will develop TATOLI to serve and fulfill its role in producing news about the government to local and foreign,” Expedito made the comments during the celebration of TATOLI’s 7th anniversary, in Dili, today.
He said that despite its seven years of existence as a news agency, TATOLI is still far from achieving its goal of serving as an information clearinghouse due to limited resources: “One of the challenges TATOLI faces is that public expectations of TATOLI are high compared to its current capacity with such limited resources.”
“TATOLI has not yet fulfilled one of the roles of a News Agency, which is to produce good news and be a reference for other media,” Expedito said.
Therefore, he said, it is important to have an appropriate and adequate building to facilitate the work of staff members and especially journalists.
“Capacity building and training are important to equip TATOLI journalists with current journalistic skills to produce good news. TATOLI has to be like Lusa of Portugal and Antara of Indonesia. During my mandate, I will put efforts to transform TATOLI into something we all want it to become,” Expedito promised.
Echoing Expedito’s statement, the Chairman of TATOLI’s Board of Directors, Manuel Pinto, also emphasized the importance of having a suitable building and other resources for TATOLI to move forward.
“It is important to reflect on who we were before, who we are now, and who we want to be in the future. We have to keep working on our goal to achieve it one day,” he said.
Manuel believed that the leadership of the new Secretary of State, Expedito Dias Ximenes could bring transformation to TATOLI during his mandate.
TATOLI was established by the Government of Timor-Leste, through the Secretary of State for Social Communication, under the leadership of the former Secretary of State Nélio Isaac, on 27 july 2016.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
