By LITIA MATHEWSELL
An agreement has been signed that will strive to strengthen the professional competence of journalists covering business news.
The Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) and Pacific Islands News Agency (PINA) this week signed this memorandum of understanding.
The signing between PIPSO chairman Paula Taumoepeau and PINA’s Matai Akauola signified efforts to give local media personnel an enhanced understanding of the corporate sector and its operations.
Mr Akauola said PIPSO’s business expertise could be lent towards training programmes to help journalist’s understand business operations.
He said these would provide them with more in-depth knowledge during assignments and replace a more generalised perception on business issues.
“We have expertise on politics and court but understanding what businesses are about is an area we are lacking in the media,” he said.
“So this partnership with PIPSO could go well for us.
“They can give us tools on how to understand the way the business sector operates, so that as journalists, we will then know what kind of questions to ask.”
The signing took place during the first day of PIPSOs technical workshop and annual general meeting.
Effective communication
Mr Akauola was one of the speakers and spoke on effective communication strategies and ways to build relationships with the media.
He reminded participants to ensure notice of their events to media outlets as press releases would compete for coverage and print space with dozens of others.