How Can Editors Nurture Media Talent?
Are Caribbean news editors doing enough to develop young reporters in the region? Or is their inattention turning off much needed talent?
The media is used to scrutinizing others, but the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) will turn the tables and subject the inner workings of journalism to self examination.
”How can it be anything but healthy to encourage the media to examine itself,” asked Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, one of the organizers of CMEx.
”Maybe we have to work with editors to ensure they have the tools and skills they need to realize the enormous potential they possess for improving the quality of the coverage of tourism, the region´s most important industry,” said LeLaulu, himself a former journalist.
These will be some of the issues vented at the 8th edition of the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx), to be held in Puerto Rico early next year even as delegates examine how to attract the best and brightest Caribbean minds to the region´s tourism industry.
Organizers of the media and tourism talks announced that plans are moving apace for the February 9-13, 2006 meeting which will examine ways to motivate the region´s best people to engage in tourism development which creates wealth while cultivating local culture and conserving the fragile environment.
Dr. Basil Springer, chairman of Counterpart Caribbean, co-producer of the meeting, said the conference will take a serious look at the quality of journalism in the Caribbean region, and how news rooms can best use the talents of local journalists.
A number of the region´s senior media managers and promising reporters have confirmed their attendance for the meeting which comes on the heels of a successful session in Nassau early this month, which tackled Caribbean niche marketing.
Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Pamela Richards, CTO Secretary General Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, and President of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Berthia Parle have each been invited to attend the meeting.
