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As female athletes from across the globe compete in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, 20 women journalists from around the Indo-Pacific and Australian First Nations communities are on the sidelines in Brisbane, boosting their skills in sport commentary and mobile journalism.
I'm an online editor at Cook Island News and was thrilled to be selected to be part of the team undergoing an intensive training program run by ABC International Development and in collaboration with FIFA and Oceania Football Confederation.
ABC International Development (ABCID) is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's media development unit and its role is to support storytellers through training, sharing media expertise and providing technical and program support.
This initiative aims to increase career opportunities for women in sports media in Australia and the Indo-Pacific region, amplify women's voices in sports and foster professional networks through joining in a global sporting event.
Cook Islands Television reporter Nicolea Mateariki, says she's grateful for the opportunity to be among more experienced journalists and be trained by the best.
"I am the youngest one in the commentary training, and I feel proud to be among amazing women journalists. I feel commentary in the Cook Islands needs to be boosted in general and why not do this with female participation?"
It's been exciting to be a part of a group sharing a wealth of knowledge and by the end of this training we will be returning home with information and skills to utilise in our professional careers.
The program is not only having a positive impact on us, the participants, but will also benefit our communities and the organisations we work for.
Loading...The Australian government is supporting this training through the Office for Sport and Team Up, aligning with its goal of increasing gender equality, diversity and inclusion in sport, while increasing the Australian First Nations and Indo-Pacific presence at the World Cup.
During the training program, participants got to practise commentary and mobile journalism skills before, during, and after games, gaining valuable hands-on experience.
We started with a three-month online training program with ABC specialists before travelling to Brisbane for two-week's face-to-face learning which kicked off with a commentary class with the ABC's veteran broadcaster Peter Longman.
One of the ABC's most experienced women camera operators, Julie Hornsey, shared her storytelling skills in mobile journalism, teaching us how to use a MOJO kit, plus photography and video skills.
The rest of the training involved filming video projects for both the commentary and mobile journalism streams, doing interviews, social media training and familiarisation of Brisbane Stadium, (where the FIFA Women's World Cup is being staged), with FIFA's Broadcaster Servicing Manager, Juan Peral, and practical training at the Australia vs Nigeria game.
Louise-Anne Laris, a journalist for Papua New Guinea National Broadcasting Corporation in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, says the training has been an eye opener.
"Coming with no experience in mobile journalism, I believe it is a very important learning process for me."
Adi Arieta Lewanavanua, a freelance journalist from Fiji shared that she was surprised to learn how involved and detailed sports commentary needs to be, with a lot of preparation required prior to a game.
"It's an eye opener to see how big the subject is," she says.
Journalists share their experience of participating in the ABCID training program on ABC Radio Australia's Nesia Daily