Next step for television services in Samoa

Television medium in Samoa have stepped up their game in their news services following a push by the United States of America's grant scheme.

The scheme enabled an initiative called SAMPOD or Samoa Alliance of Media Practitioners for Development to train cameramen, and news editors to further the growth of their knowledge in how they work.

"Television media has just skyrocketed in the last decade, and it’s become so important to ensure were doing a good job," said TV1 news Editor Merita Huch.

"However, training has been really hard to come by since the nature of our work is so busy, we have to meet our deadlines.

"So we’ve been learning from the mistakes we have been making all these years. Which is why we thank the US Embassy in Samoa for the push, that has reminded us seniors in journalism how our work goes, and for training the young ones," she added.

The training was conducted by Rudy Bartley, owner of WT Media, and a prominent name in the early years of TV Samoa in Editing and Camerawork.

"We were focusing on television, because it is such a powerful medium, and to ensure our services is done right is very important," he said.

"We have been working closely with the National University of Samoa in the hope to push television training in camerawork and editing," he continued.

From taking footages, mic positioning, sequencing and editing to airtime, the training did not leave out any important tool and skill needed to be implemented in the work force.

"This has been very successful, and we hope to see some more of this soon, because we are always striving to improve our services," said Huch.

Certificates were handed out during the special ceremony that closed out the training, and the Charge d'affaires for the US Embassy in Samoa was present to witness the success of the initiative.

Pacific Loop