Envelopmental Journalism : Redefined 12 Indonesian and Filipino Journalists Race Towards Panglao Island, Bohol, Following the Paper Trail of Brown Envelops by PECOJON On August 31,2010 a group of 12 journalists started what is probably the most unusual training ever attended by a group of reporters. Instead of finding themselves comfortably housed in a hotel with a facilitator as their host and guardian of their learning process seven Indonesian journalists found themselves dropped off at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines, with nothing more than a brown envelop for each of them to go on with.

These brown envelops were the first of a series of hints and information the reporters received as guide to make their way through the Philippines to their final training venue.

The Indonesian group split up in Manila and spread into different directions to meet their Filipino team mates. Fajar Igbal from the Muhammadiyah University in Yogyakarta met Karlon Rama from Sun Star Cebu in  Dumaguete.  Jakarta Post editor Sri Wahyuni and radio reporter Dewi Cholidatul were fetched by UP lecturer Shirley Palileo Evidente and Joel Espejo at the airport while Bambang Muryanto from Yogyakarta and Muhlis Suhaeri from West Kalimantan, both freelance journalists, went to Cebu to meet with Reuters photographer Charlie Saceda. Also Hendrawan Setiawan from RCTI TV in Jakarta and freelance reporter Ahmad Yunus took a flight to Cebu to meet with Serafin Plotria station manager of RMN, Bacolod. Along the way all of them had the task to find an interesting story to report on applying the concepts of Conflict Sensitive Journalism.

Conflicts to report on are not hard to find in the streets of Manila, Cebu and Dumaguete and the reporters don’t need to go as far as Mindanao to discover some conflict prone issues; the traffic situation in Cebu, DVD piracy in Manila or the struggles of street children, all these stories are challenging, bear conflict and require from the journalists dedication and professionalism. Conflict Sensitive Journalism as a reporting concept provides reporters with strategies to improve the quality of conflict coverage especially in the mainstream media.

The participants of the current training have already mastered these tools and are now trained to become trainers. However, first they have to find their way through the Philippines by following the traces of brown envelops to the island of Bohol, where the remaining activities of the training will be held. But this the participants don’t know yet.

The organization responsible for this new version of the amazing race is of course PECOJON-The Peace and Conflict Journalism Network, which is already known among media practitioners for its creative and uncommon approaches. PECOJON cooperates in this training with the International Institute for Journalism of InWEnt Capacity Building International in Germany.

“Nice experiences allow our trainers to grow a little. Challenging experiences make them grow a lot.” comments Antonia Koop, International Coordinator of PECOJON and the organizations lead trainer with a wide smile on the uncommon approach. While Len Manriquez, Chief of Operations and in charge of the training implementation juggles three cellphones while mailing participants and support teams, trying to keep an eye on 12 journalists in a race. “For me this training unites the strengths of Filipino and Indonesian journalists” she adds, ” It’s new. It’s a lot of work. It’s exciting.