Caribbean journalists from St. Maarten, Bonaire, and Aruba in Deventer as they attend a Dutch Journalism Festival. “The Daily Herald's” Rajesh Chintaman participated in a professional panel of five journalists.
PHILIPSBURG--Journalists and media professionals from across the Caribbean part of the Kingdom gathered with Dutch colleagues during the second edition of the Dutch Journalism Festival in Deventer on September 18 and 19.
The festival, organised by "Huis voor de Journalistiek", brought together more than 1,000 journalists, media professionals and other participants for discussion, lectures and workshops on topics including local journalism, artificial intelligence, journalistic ethics and collaboration.
The Dutch Fund for In-Depth Journalism (Fonds BJP) invited a group of Caribbean journalists to attend the festival and organised two sessions, including a discussion on climate journalism and another on mental health and peer support in journalism. The climate journalism session, titled “From Bonaire to Maastricht", examined how journalists across the Kingdom report on climate change and the differences in how its effects are experienced in different parts of the region.
Five journalists and media professionals participated in the discussion: Rajesh Chintaman of “The Daily Herald” in St. Maarten, Radinka Ustasia of Bonaire, Oriana Wouters of Aruba, Maarten van Gestel of Trouw in the Netherlands and Emma van Bergeijk of nu.nl. The session was moderated by journalist and writer Milouska Meulens.
The discussion covered the journalists’ experiences, challenges and approaches to reporting on climate-related issues, with members of the audience also contributing to the conversation. Wensly Francisco, the Fund’s expert on Caribbean journalism, said the session was intended to bring together journalists covering climate issues in different parts of the Kingdom and allow them to exchange experiences.
The Fund has increased its support for journalism in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom over the past two years, including through grants for in-depth journalistic projects and opportunities for knowledge-sharing and collaboration.
Curaçao newspaper Extra also organised a session during the festival focused on journalistic collaboration within the Kingdom. Joëlle Terburg, executive director of the Fund, said the festival provided an opportunity for journalists from Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius to meet with one another and exchange ideas with colleagues from the European Netherlands.
