Tribune’s Dones off to Japan for fellowship

Saipan Tribune reporter Liberty Dones left for Japan yesterday to take part in a fellowship conducted by the Sasakawa Pacific Islands Nations Fund Media Project.

Dones has been chosen for the prestigious Sasakawa Pacific Islands Fellowship together with The Pacific Daily News local news editor David Crisostomo and The Fiji Times deputy chief of staff Vasemaca Rarabici.

The three will make the trip to the Land of the Rising Sun to report on stories related to the Pacific and Japan that they themselves proposed.

Dones is expected to report on Tokyo’s utilities, more specifically how Japan’s capital has coped with the challenges associated with increased demand on utilities and how as a highly urbanized center it has addressed its power, water, sewer, and waste disposal requirements.

After reporting on their respective topics Dones, Crisostomo, and Rarabici will fly to Okinawa later this week to cover the PALM Summit, a gathering of the leaders of the independent Pacific Islands sponsored by the government of Japan.

The three Sasakawa Fellows were chosen from applicants and nominees from Saipan, Guam, American Samoa, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and Papua New Guinea.

A selection committee reviewed the candidates and selected the three fellows. Dones was originally chosen as one of two alternates, but made the final list when Avaiki New Service editor Jason Brown begged off due to personal reasons.

Dones boasts of a 10-year career in journalism, five of which has been spent in the CNMI covering significant issues that range from education, public health, labor and immigration, tourism, government, and business, among others.

In 2004, Dones was named by Philippine Overseas Labor Office as one of the recipients of that year’s “10 Outstanding Overseas Filipino Workers in the CNMI.”

She has previously worked for Marianas Variety on Saipan, and The Philippine Star, Earthwatch Magazine, The Manila Standard, and The Evening Paper in the Philippines.

The Sasakawa Pacific Islands Journalism Fellowship is being conducted by the Sasakawa Pacific Islands Nations Fund Media Project, in partnership with Pacific Magazine of Honolulu, Hawaii and the Institute for the Global Media and Journalism of Tokyo, Japan.

The Fellowship program is the third round of SPINF’s Media Project. SPINF has been conducting exchange projects for the Japan and Pacific islands media over the last 15 years and has invited almost 80 journalists from the Pacific islands to participate.

As part of the fellowship, the SPINF Media Project has also launched a website, forum.yahinomi.to. Pacific alumni of the SPINF Media Program are invited to contribute to the on-line community. Those who are interested in participating should contact the SPINF to obtain an ID to log in to the site.