My name is Kelvin Anthony. I'm from Suva in Fiji. I've spent the past eight years working and volunteering in the media and communications field for organisations in Fiji and the Pacific region. I'm passionate about standing up for difficult issues on social justice and want to use my skills and experiences to startup a social impact project that can benefit Fijians.
I want to create a communications platform: A podcast focused on providing Fijian young people a space to have conversations that matter.
The Fijian Newsroom is a podcast project that will enable Fijian youth to have a voice and the freedom to talk about issues that affect them.
Fijian young people under 40 years old make-up almost 70 per cent of the population. However, the Fiji media landscape is restrictive and credible spaces for critical and rational dialogue about social and political issues are few and far between. With more than half of the population now online and about 470,000 active Facebook users, social media has become a default vehicle for young people to share their views and opinion on difficult topics. While social media is powerful, it is also rife with discrimination, hate speech, misinformation, and racism and doesn't provide the ideal enclave to find solutions to present-day challenges facing the country.
We can use the power of new media to create a space that allows for meaningful conversations to take place -- and those that often get sidelined by traditional media in Fiji. The Fijian Newsroom will be an alternative media platform where young people and other marginalised voices, representing Fiji’s diverse communities, will get to share about their needs, fears and hopes, and engage in meaningful discourse about issues that they are passionate about in a sincere and constructive way.
The podcast will embrace new media to help fill a vacuum in contemporary Fiji, which is, young people being able to have a discussion about their goals and ambitions, as well as, challenges and bumps as they navigate their place in Fiji's new democracy.
The Fijian Newsroom needs to be an independent platform, free from commercial and political influence. That can only be achieved if the idea is powered by people like you. Through your donations and assistance to spread the word about this campaign, we can get the podcast off the ground and launch it by June 2020, at least two years before the next Fijian general elections.
There will be exclusive rewards too for people who can donate.
Every dollar raised will be used to purchase essential podcasting equipment, including a laptop, microphones, audio interface, headphones, and software, including subscription to web hosting, domain name registration, privacy and protection.
A small part of the funds raised will also be used to roll-out a targeted social media marketing campaign so that we can create an awareness on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about the new podcast and reach out to young people who will benefit from the platform.
We need anyone who's of the opinion that there's a need for a media platform for critical thinking Fijians to support this campaign.
If you, like me, believe there's a need to for a credible media platform for Fijians to engage with and contribute to...then I NEED YOUR HELP to get The Fijian Newsroom going!
If you have any questions/clarifications, drop me an email on [email protected].
NOTE: This is an all-or-nothing campaign which means if I don't reach my fundraising goal the money raised is returned back to the donors.
