This year, together with our partners at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung Foundation, we sent out a call for young media researchers and journalists in Southeast Asia to apply for two great opportunities!
Emphasising the just and green transition in the region in a time of COVID19, participants were selected to either engage in investigation of the media coverage of the topic or join a team of storytellers creating powerful pieces.
We’re excited to announce the winners!
MEET OUR FELLOWS
Nhung Nguyen, Vietnam
Nguyen is a Doctoral student and an environmental advocate. She is a modern wanderer and has a natural curiosity to keep trying new things in life.
She believes media research is important because it shows the scenario of media coverage on climate issues, provides us with a better understanding, and helps by painting a clear picture of what needs to happen to improve climate journalism.
I believe that many small changes make a big one. So, everybody can do something to make the world a better place.
Nurul Qamari, Indonesia
Nurul is an announcer/reporter, currently working at a local radio station in Indonesia.
She believes everyone can become advocates on climate issues, they just need to be informed. Nurul wants to help cultivate a world where journalism is interesting and explorative, but also focused on solutions.
Indonesia has various interesting issues regarding climate that must be continuously addressed, forests that are starting to disappear, plastic waste and the issue of flora and fauna are also topics that often sink to the bottom of the list.
Andreas Ryan Sanjaya, Indonesia
Ryan is a dreamer, but he’s also a researcher and lecturer in the Department of Communication Science at the Soegijapranata Catholic University.
According to Ryan, Indonesian journalists are serious enough to expose environmental issues. For example, there is already the Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalist organization. The press has also begun to provide a large portion of environmental coverage, especially investigative reports on violations of law by corporations which are actually supported by Indonesians themselves.
Indonesia is a country with large natural energy sources, ranging from petroleum to coal. However, one day that resource will run out. Meanwhile, nature is getting damaged due to mismanagement. Like other countries, Indonesia needs to take a new green policy. Climate journalism has a big role to play in guarding this policy.
Pashmina Binwani Malaysia
Pashmina is a communications campaigner and freelance journalist. She also owns a travel documentary blog and enjoys capturing stories of people in remote and fragile landscapes!
She’s keen on further understanding on how climate change intersects with policy change, economic development and people.
I continuously focus on bringing the element of climate change urgency through my stories on environment and development such as land-conflict issues combined with on-the-ground reporting in Malaysia. Media research that is focused on data visualisation and content analysis will help me get the necessary training and exposure to understand climate change data and how to map out research plans and timelines more accurately.
Andi Muhammad Ibnu Aqil, Indonesia
Andi is an award-winning news reporter publishing mainly through The Jakarta Post, in Indonesia.
Andi believes we area living in an era of unprecedented environmental changes that continue to affect our climate and this is why climate journalism is important. It helps us keep track of the changes and helps us to prepare through mitigation and adaptation.
Climate journalism is always an important issue in Indonesia. Some of the key specific issues include deforestation, land and forest fires, energy and air quality. All of which are connected with one another. There is always something to write about from local problems such as air pollution in Jakarta or forest fires in Sumatera and Kalimantan to nationwide policies such as Indonesia’s NDC
Read more from Andi here and here.
Dian Wahyu Kusuma , Indonesia
Dian is a journalist and editor at Lampungpost.id. He’s published work in various media, including printed Lampung Post, Lampost.co, Lampungpost.id, Mongabay.co.id, Ekuatorial.com, and Lokadata.id/Beritagar.id.
His work has been highly recognised as he was awarded in a writing competition for journalists organised by the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in 2015.
In Indonesia, there is a scientific journalism community that focuses on environmental issues and climate change. We share experiences and opportunities on the journalism side. Fellowship for journalists is important to remind the public to mitigate climate change.I think the media must also have a role regarding climate, because the climate is a common issue to make the earth better.
Read more from Dian here and here.
Diana Timoria , Indonesia
Diana is a social scientist and a weaver with natural dye. She believes there are many local practices that care about the environment and wants to write more about the traditional practices and local wisdom to raise awareness of people to care about the environment.
In 2019, Diana participated in the INSPIRASI Programme (Indonesia Young Leader Programme) In New Zealand.
Climate change greatly affects people’s lives but there are still many people who don’t care about climate. Therefore, it requires sustainable writing and capturing stories from people who are already concerned about the environment and climate change. There are many local stories in Indonesia that have an environmental perspective.
Trang Do, Vietnam
Trang is a journalist currently working for Vietnam Law newspaper – a press agency under the Ministry of Justice. She has a psychology and law background but has been working in the journalism field for more than 3 years, focusing on culture, tourism and environment.
She believes good climate journalism can provide people with accurate and up-to-date information, which she mentions has been a pressing issue in recent years.
In Vietnam climate journalism is heavily influenced by the government. Because fake news related to climate change can easily terrify common people, causing confusion in the society. Therefore, publishing climate journalism must be considerate. Climate journalism in Vietnam is still not effective mainly because the people’s awareness of these problem is still low. However, the society cares more about the climate, especially after Covid-19
Read more form Trang here and here.
Mikael Angelo Francisco, Philippines
Mikael is a freelance writer and has been the editor-in-chief of FlipScience.ph for the past three years. In 2018, Mikael copped the Asian Scientist Merit Prize, the UP Science Journalism Award, and the DOST 2018 Outstanding S&T Media Practitioner (Online/Cyberpress) Award.
According to Mikael, climate journalism is important because it champions the truth and combats waves of pseudoscience and disinformation about a very real and soon-to-be-unstoppable threat. It also shines the spotlight on those whose lives are and will be most affected by climate change, and emphasizes the need for just transition and sustainable solutions.
The state of climate journalism in the Philippines is, in a word, inadequate. It exists, but it needs to be stronger. While there are climate stories being published here in the Philippines, I don’t think we’re doing enough. Hopefully, I can help change this in the coming years.
Read more from Mikael here and here.
Danna Peña, Philippines
Danna is a communications professional and is passionate about film photography, literature, animals, and all things sustainability. Above all, she is passionate about mindful living—for the self and for the environment.
Danna has over five years of experience specializing in feature writing, copywriting, editing, and social media content strategy. She is currently the Community Manager for a global travel marketing agency focused on positive storytelling and sustainable travel and does social media consultancy work.
Climate journalism is important because it raises awareness on the climate crisis we face today—the more we raise awareness, the more we can get people’s support on the issue. Climate stories are not heavily prioritized on the local news.
Her work has been published on CNN Philippines Life, Rappler, DG Traveler, and PURVEYR. Read more from Danna here.
Mark Anthony Toldo , Philippines
Mark is a freelance journalist, former TV documentary producer and writer. He loves being with nature, hiking up the gorgeous mountains, and watching sunsets along the pristine beaches of the Philippines!
Mark believes climate journalism is critical, especially in the Philippines, as it’s one of the countries most vulnerable to disasters and highly impacted by climate change.
Climate climate change awareness across the Philippines remains low, as according to our 2017 study at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). Climate journalism, I think, has a huge potential to drive not only awareness but climate action, too.
Read more from Mark here and here.
Vivien How, Malaysia
Vivien is an Environmental, Health and Safety Researcher & Educator & Practitioner. She is an ambivert in nature but also has a PhD in Environmental Health, Graduate Certificate in Health Risk Management, Professional Certificate in Chemical Health Risk Assessment, and a BSc. Environmental and Occupational Health.
Media portrayal on regional and local climate change issues from different perspectives is important to provide a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary view on different issues and themes. Climate journalism, should be the platform to explore and investigate issues based from multi-disciplinary lens in order to expand our readers’ insights and awareness
Read more from Vivien here and here.
Yvonne Tan, Malaysia
Yvonne is currently in Germany pursuing her MSc in Southeast Asian Studies. She has a soft spot for social movements and loves writing about them. Besides that she is usually eating butter chicken with garlic cheese naan.
A lot of the problems that Malaysia experiences are rarely framed as ecological issues and hence, the idea of a green transition seems almost implausible in a development-centric country. Climate journalism is still in its infancy in Malaysia and to a large extent co-opted by corporate social responsibility rhetoric, however there are many grassroots movements that are growing hand-in-hand with climate journalism.
Read more from Yit here.