ABU News to launch mental health sessions for journalists

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) is set to launch a new program focused on addressing mental health challenges in newsrooms, a key initiative announced at this month’s Asiavision Editors’ Meeting.

The crux of the program is an online training session on mental health, scheduled for late September. Details for the webinar will be sent to all members in the coming weeks.

This vital session is a collaborative effort between ABU News, Public Media Alliance, and MediaStrong, designed to open discussions among ABU members on how to cope with the daily mental strain inherent in journalism.

The webinar is intended to be a safe space for newsrooms of all sizes to understand and address these challenges, with a particular focus on providing resources to smaller organizations.

The initiative has already garnered strong support from members. Felix Chaudhary, General Manager of News and Current Affairs at the Fijian Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) Fiji, highlighted the need for such resources, stating, “We don’t have access to this kind of opportunity, so we really welcome it.”

The meeting also served as a platform for sharing operational updates and new training opportunities. Asiavision News Producer Nor Amira Ismail provided a “refresher” on Asia-Pacific View (APV) best practices.

She advised members to keep story slugs under 40 characters to improve visibility and stressed the importance of uploading an equal balance of packaged stories and raw footage to increase content usage.

A question from ABS-CBN Philippines about mandatory crediting was also addressed. Amira confirmed that crediting the source organization is a requirement of the membership agreement.

ABU Director News Indra Singh added that specific crediting instructions are always detailed in the “restrictions” section that accompanies each story.

Looking to the future, Singh announced that ABU is in discussions with Jeremy Fernandez, a seasoned presenter from ABC Australia, to develop presenter and reporter training for its members.

The meeting also reinforced the importance of member collaboration. Members were encouraged to contribute to the monthly Asiavision Bulletin, the ABU’s newsletter.

News Project Officer Nerina Rosli invited members to submit interesting stories, project updates, or introduce new journalists to be shared with the entire ABU membership.

The next Asiavision Editors’ Meeting is scheduled for October, following the ABU General Assembly in Mongolia in September.