IN THE LEAD UP TO WORLD NEWS DAY, FIJI SUN PRESENTS LUSIANA TUIMAISALA
FOR ME, BEING A JOURNALIST HAS HELPED ME PROVIDE ACCURATE, BALANCED INFORMATION AND IS NEVER BIASED ‘I’m thankful to this organisation for its understanding and believing in me by sending me to China in 2018 to attend a one-year advanced journalism progra
In the lead up to World News Day on September 28, we will be featuring turing some of the key people in the FijiSun newsroom. sroom. Most readers only know them by their bylines. Meet Lusiana Tuimaisala, aisala, senior business journalist for the Fiji Sun.
Ms Tuimaisala came me to the Fiji Sun in early 2015 after iTaukei studies s at the University of Fiji.
The plan was for her er to work on iTaukei pages being planned in the Fiji Sun.
That was then. Now is Business.
This woman from Namosi - and cheer leader for Namosi rugby in our newsroom - is heavily involved in business. Business Journalism that is. The transformative moment for Ms Tuimaisala came in China.
She was the first Pacific acific Islander to win a year-long Asia-Pacific programme mme of studies coordinated by the China Asia Pacific fic Press Centre.
She studied Chinese, se, completed classes at one of China’s top universities sities and covered major events such as the Belt and Road trade and development initiative. She did so well that she was one of the best among fellow journalists alists from Asia and Africa.
The Chinese Embassy assy in Suva was so impressed they organised for a colleague to go to China on the same programme the he next year.
It had been an exciting citing and defining time for Ms Tuimaisala’s career r in journalism.
The big moment came ame during an intensive work attachment. Ms Tuimaisala imaisala worked in Beijing on a high- class English-language h-language financial magazine. She learnt much. She fell in love with Business Journalism.
Now she is working ng full time in our Business Department, one of managing anaging editor business Maraia Vula’s key and keen team members.
So keen that Ms Tuimaisala uimaisala now even misses Namosi games to focus us on the business of reporting business.
When did you start working in a newsroom?
Started in the Fiji Sun Suva newsroom in March 2015.
Why do you do what you do?
I love my work so much, and I love working for the Fiji Sun. Meeting new faces and establishing good contacts with people of very high profiles is very important to me.
With the work that I do, I am able to update people around me of the latest and reliable news.
For me, being a journalist has helped me provide accurate, balanced information and is never biased. I have learned a lot from the Fiji Sun publisher and CEO, Peter Lomas, on how to better my work as a journalist making sure that I get things right. Not 90 per cent right but 100 per cent.
How do you put up with deadline pressures at work and from outside?
Meeting the deadline was the first thing I was told when I joined the Fiji Sun newsroom. Starting work at 8am and going home late at night sometimes was something I have never experienced in my life. But now, I’m used to working long hours.
I was fortunate to be given the privilege by Managing Editor Business Maraia Vula to learn how to layout pages. With her guidance and assistance, I am able to do multiple tasks including reporting, transcribing, laying out pages, proofreading and more.
It’s an interesting experience; I got to learn many things from doing supplements, covering business, sports, court reporting and general community news.
I’m thankful to this organisation for its understanding and believing in me by sending me to China in 2018 to attend a oneyear advanced journalism programme in Beijing.
This was a great opportunity for me where I learnt the Chinese language, covered major international events, worked on a financial magazine and completed classes at a prestigious university.
These included the China International Import Expo, the China
International Fair for Investment
Expo, the China- South Asia Expo, and the Boao Forum for Asia.
I also covered Fijian focused events and participated in China’s big Belt and Road trade and development initiative.
That was a good exposure for me as a journalist.
In your journalism career, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced and how were these addressed?
Meeting deadlines is very important in this career. Sometimes my superiors will tell me to rewrite my story 10 times until I get the final proof proof. I am thankful to some of the professional writers like;
Maraia Vula, Jyoti Pratibha, Rosi Doviverata, Ranoba Baoa, Shalveen Chand, Nemani Delaibatiki to name a few, for always taking their time to help me out in my writing and the style of reporting. Transcribing audio to text is time consuming when the other media outlet breaks the news. Sometimes, I have been threatened or confronted by the public on my reporting. Establishing good contact with my sources is very important.
I believe I’m still young; I still have a long way to go, and I will continue to learn new things every day.
Pieces of work that you did that brought about change in policy, community/ or in behaviour?
On my annual leave in March 2017, I used my 20 days leave travelling around the marine islands getting stories for our newspaper.
I went to Lau, Gau, Batiki, Nairai, Koro, and Ka
davu.
That was my first ever experience going out into the rough seas by boat, talking to different people, talking to seafarers on the challenges they face on a day to day basis.
I had the opportunity to sit with villagers and hear their stories. I received feedback from them after they saw their stories in the papers which I was happy about. Some said it was the first time they were given an opportunity to speak to the world. A big part of being a journalist is getting to know people.
World News Day aims to raise public awareness of the critical role that journalists play in providing credible and reliable news, to help people make sense of — and improve — the rapidly changing world around them.