Clinton School student Erin Stock (’12) worked with the United Nations’ humanitarian news service in Bangkok this school year to recruit reporters in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea – two Asia Pacific countries that receive scant international coverage.
Stock, as part of a required field service experience through the Master of Public Service program, also surveyed reporters working with the IRIN news service and partnered with editors to develop ways to bolster support and communication.
IRIN, a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), covers 70 countries that are often “under-reported, misunderstood or ignored,” according to its website. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, IRIN launched in 1995 in response to the gap in humanitarian reporting exposed by the Rwandan genocide.
In Bangkok, the bureau coordinates coverage of 12 countries: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Full-time IRIN staff, as well as freelancers or “stringers” in the coverage areas, contribute news and analysis on conflict, early warning, natural disasters, human rights and other humanitarian topics in the region.
With support from IRIN’s editors, Stock developed a resource guide for recruiting stringers in the Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste, a half-island nation that gained independence from Indonesia in 2002. She researched media outlets and organizations in the two countries as well as reached out to media professionals for the project.
Stock, who worked as a newspaper journalist before coming to the Clinton School, also worked with IRIN staff to survey stringers in 10 countries, analyze the results and develop recommendations on ways to improve support and communication.
“I learned a lot, not only about the issues and regions IRIN covers but also about humanitarian journalism on an international scale,” Stock said. “It was an incredible opportunity to collaborate with journalists who work hard – sometimes under difficult conditions – to alert and inform a global audience about issues of significance.”
Stock also had the opportunity to contribute several articles while based in Bangkok this fall, including a piece on landmines in Myanmar and flood warning fatigue in Thailand.
She co-reported and edited articles with freelance reporters on the ground as well, including a piece on political upheaval in Papua New Guinea that was republished online as part of The Guardian’s Development Network Series.
The two projects were part of Stock’s Capstone, the culminating and third field service project she has completed in the Master of Public Service program. The program is desiged to provide students with leadership skills and expertise for careers in nonprofit, government, and private sector service work.
For the latest IRIN news and analysis — and to subscribe to e-mail alerts — visit the website at www.irinnews.org.
Responses