The future of South East Asia’s youngest democracy and its media industry was the focus on August 11 at a public forum in Dili, when Timor Leste’s President, Jose Ramos Horta, called on the country’s government to embed ideas of public broadcasting in the nation’s psyche in the same way as the BBC in the UK, NHK in Japan and the ABC in Australia.
“It’s extremely important that a public television that is high quality, that is very professional, independent and follows the models of some of the best public funded, editorially, very independent television networks,” he said. “It can be television that is state funded and publicly funded, but as long as the government doesn’t interfere in editorial production.”
Following a change in government led by former independence fighter Xanana Gusmão after largely uneventful national election in May, Gusmão’s National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction (CNRT) is leading the new coalition government in Timor Leste. It replaces the previous Fretilin party, which developed out of the revolutionary movement that fought for Timor Leste’s independence from Portugal and then against occupation by Indonesia from the 1970s.
The IFJ said it was clear that RTTL had been successful in pursuing a sustainability strategy that was embedded in the “independence model” and was engaging in ways that had not been done previously in the country. Timor Leste is currently the only country in South East Asia rated as “free” by Freedom House.
After the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between UNDP and the Japanese Government to construct a new RTTL office building this week, Ramos Horta said the country “could only create a good television, with strong investment and without government’s politicization through political appointments.” That public broadcasting model was important for a country to promote national unity and provide good information and “not fake information”, he said.
RTTL this year marked its 21st anniversary and is currently backed by major regional partnerships to strengthen its financial resilience and sustainability. It is hoped RTTL will soon launch podcasts in English, Tetun, Portuguese, and Indonesian languages. The RTTL Japan grant follows a major agreement in March 2023 between the broadcaster and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for increased content sharing and media development programs. RTTL recently launched a weekly news program in English on June 10 and also aims to establish a network of Pacific journalists under the ABC partnership.
The IFJ said: “The future of public broadcasting is always at its most vulnerable when governments change. Timor Leste’s lead on democracy and media freedom is no small matter – although the country may be one of the region’s smallest. It is more important than ever that politicians take note and keep RTTL a truly public broadcaster.”