DILI, 23 July 2025 (TATOLI) – The Indonesian Cultural Center (PBI) in Dili, in collaboration with Timor-Leste’s News Agency (TATOLI, I.P) conducted a two-day training workshop on mobile journalism for 28 participants. The training, held from July 21 to 22, brought together journalists, news editors, and editorial managers from TATOLI, I.P, GMN, RTTL, and Timor-Post as well as teachers from the Technical School of Informatics (ETI).
Held at the PBI compound, the workshop was led by Rossalyn Asmarantika, a former reporter and producer at Metro TV and current lecturer in digital journalism at Multimedia Nusantara University (MUN) in Indonesia.
The training aimed to equip participants with practical skills to produce and deliver news stories using smartphones and other mobile devices that are affordable, accessible, and increasingly vital in today’s fast-paced media environment.
Participants learned how to use smartphones throughout the reporting process—from gathering information and recording video to editing and distributing content via digital platforms.
The hands-on sessions included classroom instruction and fieldwork, where participants practiced mobile video reporting in real-world settings.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Ikhfan Haris, Education and Cultural Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Dili, thanked the participants for their active involvement. He noted that this was just the beginning of a broader collaboration between PBI, TATOLI, and MUN.
“We hope to expand this partnership by offering future training in investigative journalism and other specialized areas needed in Timor-Leste,” said Haris.
He stressed that good journalism requires strong reporting skills, emphasizing that poor reporting can turn good information into bad news.
Zezito da Silva, Vice President of TATOLI for Media and Journalism Affairs, underlined the importance of the training in empowering journalists to be more independent and efficient.
Silva explained that the initiative aligns with TATOLI’s editorial strategy of implementing the “one person, one team” model, in which a single journalist performs all tasks—gathering information, conducting interviews, filming, editing, writing, and publishing—without relying on a large team.
He said that in today’s world, the “one person, one team” model is becoming increasingly common in mobile journalism (MoJo), as smartphones and digital tools enable individuals to independently produce complete news packages.
When asked about future collaboration, Silva said that TATOLI and PBI will continue to explore opportunities for additional training programs to support Timorese journalists in today’s digital era.
“We need more capacity-building opportunities like this to help Timorese journalists, especially those at TATOLI, to enhance their skills and improve the quality of news reporting to better serve the public,” Silva concluded.
TATOLI
