BBC Media Action to set up office in Suva, Vijay Narayan and Elenoa Baselala to become certified trainers for the region

BBC Media Action plans to set up an office for the Pacific region in Suva soon and as part of this plan, two veteran Fijian journalists, Communications Fiji Limited News Director Vijay Narayan and Fijian Media Association Coordinator, Elenoa Masi Baselala will soon become BBC Media Action certified trainers for the region.

In a historic first, Fijian journalists from mainstream media in the country through the Fijian Media Association are currently undergoing a week-long training with the BBC Media Action.

Narayan and Baselala are co-facilitators as part of the Train The Trainers Program with the lead facilitator from the BBC, Issariya Praithongyaem.

In her opening remarks, Deputy British High Commissioner, Nicola Noble says people need to know who and what they can trust for news and information and also have platforms for peaceful, respectful discussion and debate.

Noble says through this project, the UK government is funding BBC Media Action to share their skills and expertise in the Pacific, supporting journalists to help them deliver trusted, impartial information and content to their audience.

She says the training this week is part of a multi-year program which aims to strengthen and support more open, accountable and diverse media, working with six Pacific Island countries at national, local and regional levels to promote healthier media and information ecosystems.

The Deputy Commissioner says the BBC, as many people will know, was established in 1922, and it is the world's most trusted international news broadcaster, and reaches a weekly audience of around 318 million people, informing and inspiring the lives of people across the globe and helping them make sense of the world we live in.

Fijian Media Association President Rosi Doviverata says the task is really on them to get educated, keeping up to date and that is something that they are going to be doing over the next five days.

Doviverata says the BBC Media Action establishing their regional office in Fiji is historic and something that they look forward to.

The BBC Media Action office for the region in Suva will be managed by the Project Coordinator, Dipak Bhattarai.