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• 2004 Harry Brittain Fellows Begin UK Visit

2004 Harry Brittain Fellows Begin UK Visit

20 May 2004

The Harry Brittain Fellows with Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon.

Ten senior Commonwealth journalists who have been awarded the 2004 Harry Brittain Fellowship began a six-week visit to the United Kingdom on Monday, 17 May. The visit will enable them to learn about the country's media and examine its political, economic and social infrastructures. 

During their first week in London, the Fellows will visit Parliament, national newspapers, communications and publishing companies, Commonwealth organisations, and business and financial institutions. They will also travel to Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as to the English city of Manchester, and will spend a week on attachment at various regional newspapers.

The 2004 Fellows are Cameron Thompson (Australia), Francis Pabai (The Gambia), Sreyashi Dastidar (India), Sumitha Martin (Malaysia), Geoff Collett (New Zealand), Kirsty Pickett (New Zealand), Asfiya Aziz (Pakistan), Priestley Habru (Solomon Islands), Kay Karriem (South Africa) and Wilton Mamba (Swaziland).

On 19 May, the Fellows visited the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, where they met with Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon and Secretariat officials. In welcoming them, Mr McKinnon said, "As Commonwealth journalists, you are in a privileged position to spread knowledge about the Commonwealth and its work. There are plenty of good success stories in the Commonwealth. Take your pick. We're counting on you to help ensure the work of the Commonwealth is better known and that its role on the international stage is better understood."

Ms Martin, a journalist with the 'New Straits Times' in Malaysia, said, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. There are so many facets to the programme. One is the training with the experts and that definitely is going to be beneficial because we are going to visit some of the top newspaper companies. In fact, we met with one of them and he told us so much on press freedom and the importance of the Press Complaints Commission. I'm going to go back richer in experience and I'm going to share this experience with my colleagues back home and try to implement whatever I've learnt here wherever it is applicable."

Mr Mamba, Editor of 'The Weekend Observer' -- a weekly edition of the 'Swazi Observer' -- said, "I feel honoured being selected for this fellowship. I'm lucky to be here because as an editor of a small newspaper I expect to get a lot of experience from this programme. I hope to learn a lot from other newspaper companies, especially small companies the same as my own, on how they run their affairs and the way they operate. At the end of the day it's self-development." 

Mr Thompson, Day Editor of 'The Border Mail' in Australia, said, "Being selected for this fellowship is fantastic. I expect to learn a lot, especially on the different ways the print media here operate and their different ways of approaching things. So getting back, I'd start thinking of how to implement it back home."

Organised by the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU), the Fellowship seeks to broaden  journalists' personal and professional horizons. It also aims to foster the development of close international relationships between the participants. Since 1960, the CPU has awarded up to 12 Fellowships annually to young editors and senior journalists from Commonwealth countries as a memorial to the CPU's founder, the late Sir Harry Brittain.