By Somusa buapan and Asra Ratakarun
Translated by Areezee Awae
Throughout the past ten years, the Women’s Civic Network for Peace in the Southern Border Provinces (Civic Women) has been taking responsibilities of several roles including civil society works, providing compensation for people who are affected by unrest and contributing to the peace dialogue in the southernmost provinces. Today, the women are playing a role of communicators by being citizen journalists discussing various issues to build understanding about the situation through the media which will lead to creating an atmosphere of peace in the area.
The Civic Women’s Network and the Hilal Ahmar Foundation together with the Citizen Journalism of ThaiPBS, the promotion and publication department of the Office of Extension and Continuing Education and the Faculty of Science and Technology of Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus (PSU Pattani Campus) under the Empowering Women for Democratic and Peace Dialogues in the South of Thailand project supported by theUnited Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) organized citizen journalism training to give knowledge in regards to public media, news reporting, photography and basic video editing. The training aimed to increase women’s potential in southernmost provinces of Thailand or marginalized women so that they become capable of communicating, reporting and building understanding about the local situation to the public correctly.
The training was held twice – the first one took place from 31 May to 3 June 2014 at the Faculty of Science and Technology, PSU Pattani Campus with 32 participants, and the second from 13 – 15 June 2014 at CS Pattani Hotel with 26 participants.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Kusuma Kuyai, the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, PSU Pattani Campus gave an opening speech of the training and talked about the power of women in communication. She said that, “the power of women in the conflict area is essential to reflect aspects and balance the feelings of people. The owners of the stories are the ones to communicate by mentioning small aspects and explain their connections with society. Everyone who came that day was in the context of the area and accustomed to it. I believe that many of them have things to tell, which will lead to the change of the society and continuation of peace forums in the area.” Asst. Prof. Dr. Kusuma also stressed that it was about time women in the area had to stand up and communicate so that the issues become more potent.
The second day of the training consisted of field visit, interviewing and collecting data to make a news reporting. The area visited for photographs and collecting data was Ru Samilae weekly market in Mueang District of Pattani Province, which was a large used product market place. Each group of the participants interviewed people and collected data concerning not only used goods, but several other issues such as “cha chak” [pulled tea] shops, cheap drinks and perfume shops. A small corner of the market contained seafood stalls run by local fishermen.
On the third day, the participants were trained in video editing. This section took two days. They trainers wereMahamasabri Cheloh and Kuyi Itae, from the Wartani Citizen Journalist.
The participants made a rough story line with the materials they collected from the field visit and edited it into a piece of three-minute news. This step took quite some time and each of the participants had to learn how to edit a video and how to write a story line, which all of them did well.
The fourth day was the most exciting part of the training for the trainees because they had to present their work toSomkiat Chansima, the director of the Citizen Media of Thai PBS and Samatcha Nilpat, a lecturer in the Science and Technology Faculty, PSU Pattani Campus.
The Citizen Media chief said all of the stories presented were good enough to be broadcast on Thai PBS channel but may need a little more contents and that those could give much moral support to the women who wanted to communicate through the media.
Many participants said the training made them understand more about communication process. Mrs. Yaena Salaemae, one of the people affected by the Tak Bai incident in Narathiwat Province, has been an important source of information. She also joined the training to practice communication skills with some expectation. She said, “I am hoping to make news myself. I want to learn the process before news is broadcast, script writing and video editing because I have been in a state of affected person, associating with journalists for ten years. If I can communicate by myself, even though I am not a very knowledgeable person I will try my best to create a piece of news.”
Ms. Yah Ali, a host of Mueang Pattani community radio, took part in the training to learn story-telling skills through motion pictures. She believes that the most important thing of communication is the content. If the content is good enough, the tool can enhance it further but it requires calmness and frequent practice.
“Although I do not know everything, I understand it somewhat. And after we practiced and got into action, I could do it. These things will be our tool. When we have good activities, we can communicate. I want women to be uplifted so that they can communicate professionally. I want the training to continue because the abilities will always be with us and we can help the society also.”
Mrs. Chiamchit Sirisuwan, a community woman, said that, “it is a good thing people in the area can communicate about their stories with those who live outside the three southernmost provinces so that they can learn about our provinces. The advantage of women communicators is that they can go deeper than men can. With women’s natural softness, people will be willing to answer our questions.”
Mrs. Duangsuda Sangamphai, a civil society woman who was affected by the unrest, said that, “the advantage of citizen journalists is that we can communicate and tell stories of the people living in the area in our own perspective. We will get to know how to communicate, the authentication and precision of information given. I think we can use what we learned from the training for some things but we have to learn more to become real journalists.”
Ms. Surini Poni, a host of Media Selatan Pattani radio station, said that, “with the current condition of our hometown, if we do not rely on ourselves we do not have anyone else to rely upon. My job is in this line of work and I want to enhance my journalist skills. The advantage of women is that perhaps they are not [direct] targets, are not watched by other people and can spread more information than men can because women are thorough and discreet.”
The two rounds of training allowed the participants to produce news, reflecting stories about the southernmost provinces to the public in seven chapters of Ban Chan Wan Ni [My home today] and Citizen Journalists programs on Thai PBS channel. The programs are planned to be continued by setting up a news table to improve contents and news making skills for the citizen journalists. It requires collaboration among academic institutes and associate organizations to support and strengthen women leaders in the community and those of civil society organizations so that they can become citizen journalists who convey stories of the community to the public, which will be beneficial for building understanding about co-existence among Thai people who come from many different cultures.
