Contraception access and Pacific Games featured in Sean Dorney Grant coverage
The 2023 winners of the Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism have produced their finished works, delivering in-depth coverage of international stories seldom covered in the Australian media.
Marian Faa focused on access to contraception in Vanuatu, producing a series of stories for the ABC. Her coverage includes graphic details of sexual assault and violence against children, and viewer and listener discretion is advised.
Her stories include a long-form report, ‘Witch doctors, coconuts, and sexual assault: inside Vanuatu’s disturbing world of unwanted children’, which aired on ABC’s The Pacific on 6 May, together with ‘The Price of Taboos’ for ABC digital interactive, and a report for ABC AM, ‘Dangers of abortions in the Pacific’. Faa also produced versions of her story for the ABC’s TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube platforms.
Stefan Armbruster used his grant to cover the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands. The 2023 Games were the first major gathering of athletes from the 24 Oceania nations since the pandemic, and marked the first time the Solomons had hosted the event since it launched in 1963.
The Games occurred amid a geopolitical struggle for influence over the country as it prepared for last month’s general elections, in which Jeremiah Manele was elected prime minister.
Armbruster’s stories for SBS included ‘Struggle for geopolitical gold as Solomon Islands prepares for Pacific Games’, a piece on the Games’ history and context, and coverage of the opening ceremony and competition. As well as reaching a national Australian television audience, Armbruster’s reportage received more than a quarter of a million engagements, including hundreds of comments and thousands of reposts – and was also shared across the Pacific via PacNews and The Pacific Newsroom.
Working with regional reporters
Stefan Armbruster being interviewed by Solomon Islands broadcaster Maureen Mopio-Jane (Image: Stefan Armbruster).
Applicants for the grant are encouraged to work with Pacific-based reporters and fixers.
Armbruster worked with Georgina Kekea and Jeremy Gwao from Tavuli News, while Faa’s project benefited from working with ni-Vanuatu producers Monique Sangul and Nikiatu Kuautonga.
Ni-Vanuatu producers Monique Sangul and Nikiatu Kuautonga (Image: Marian Faa).
Both Armbruster and Faa say the Grant has also strengthened their contacts in the region and helped build their following on social media.
Mentored support
Winners of the Sean Dorney Grant are offered 12 months of mentoring during the grant period.
Faa worked with Drew Ambrose, a senior producer with Al Jazeera International who has many years of experience as a foreign correspondent covering the Pacific.
“The mentor program was undoubtedly one of the highlights of this grant for me,” Faa says.
“Drew helped me workshop ideas, plan for shoots and structure my television piece. We also talked about my broader career goals and he encouraged me to push myself professionally to get the most out of this grant.”
This was the second time Ambrose has served as a mentor for the Dorney program and he describes working with a grant winner as a “privilege”.
“While there are plenty of fellowships for journalists to visit other Global South nations, the Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism is one of the few special opportunities that can help develop you into an international correspondent through the completion of a year-long reporting project,” Ambrose says.
On the value of working with a mentor, Ambrose observes: “Getting advice from a foreign correspondent with experience in Pacific reporting can further advance the original pitch by helping you see new editorial angles to the story, not to mention guidance on navigating the logistical challenges, cultural awareness and budgeting involved in managing a grant-funded project abroad.”
Stefan’s mentor was Max Uechtritz, who has held news director roles at the ABC, Nine, and Al Jazeera, and now runs the documentary company Kundu Productions.
“The potential danger in long-term projects is accumulating too much information and too many angles – basically getting tempted by editorial tangents – which makes it difficult to see the wood for the proverbial trees in the storyline,” says Uechtritz.
“Having a mentor used to dealing with such distractions and encouraging the confidence to stay true to the core of the assignment can be very helpful.”
Armbruster agrees: “It was terrific to have an industry leader to provide guidance not just on the story I was working on, but on building a network of contacts and developing a vision of how the Grant will benefit your career, and what you might do beyond it.”
Next steps for our Grantees
Marian Faa has been appointed the ABC’s Papua New Guinea correspondent, and Stefan Armbruster recently left SBS to become Head of News (Pacific) for Radio Free Asia / BenarNews.
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