IN THE LEAD UP TO WORLD NEWS DAY, FIJI SUN PRESENTS JONATHAN BRYCE
I BELIEVE THAT WITH JOURNALISM, WE CAN HOLD PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS’
Change is always constant in our society and if we are to change for the better, we should take a look at ourselves as a country, as a culture and as a people. That is what journalism does.
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.
Today we feature Jonathan Bryce, a senior subeditor in our ‘Engine Room’, who’s a humble yet enthused worker in the face of challenge.
Mr Bryce is one of those who has had a hand in writing for editorial and advertorial.
He is working on a novel, which he hopes to publish soon.
Mr Bryce’s career began at the Fiji Sun in 2008, since arriving from New Zealand after studying there for six years.
He is the son of the former Archbishop Jabez Bryce Bishop of the Diocese of Polynesia, the longest serving at the helm, from 1975 until his passing in 2010.
He has a sister in New Zealand while he supports his mother in Suva.
When you started working in a newsroom:
I started working in the Fiji Sun newsroom all the way back in 2008. I was working as a reporter at the time. My favourite part of the job was when I had to write features on certain people. I had many memorable interviews, resulting in many great reports.
Why do you do what you do?
I believe that with journalism, we can hold people accountable for their actions. We investigate, we get both sides of the story, we try to shine a light on things that the country needs to see and needs to know about. Change is always constant in our society and if we are to change for the better, we should take a look at ourselves as a country, as a culture and as a people. That is what journalism does. It shows us the truth of ourselves and helps us grow.
It’s a powerful tool that should be wielded responsibly and I believe we do that well. This is why I do what I do at the Fiji Sun; to help us get the news right so we can provide the truth to our readers.
Why do you put up with deadline pressures at work and from outside?
This is the reality of news. It’s new, it’s fresh, it’s constant. No one pays attention to old news. They pay to get up-to-date information and information they can use in their day-to-day lives. We put up with deadlines at work because we have a responsibility to bring our readers the most upto-date information available.
In your journalism career, what are some of the challenges you’ve faced and how were these addressed?
Deadlines, stress and miscommunication have often been the biggest challenges. For deadlines and stress, we split our work between our workmates accordingly. Teamwork is crucial to our success and you can’t provide quality without it. Oftentimes it is best to get away from the desk and take a breather. This is necessary for your benefit and for the benefit of our work. We do our best to prevent any kind of miscommunication between departments and workers. We all move in one direction and if certain important information gets lost in the hustle and bustle, it can be devastating. We must always be communicating in order to prevent that.
Please highlight at least two pieces of work that you did that brought about change in policy, community/ or in behaviour?
When I worked in our news department I interviewed one of the leading surgeons who had travelled from Australia to perform free heart surgeries on locals who needed such operations. It helped me highlight such a need for local surgeons who could perform these operations here. And while it would be a very long time until we would get local heart surgeons of our own, I like to think that article I wrote helped shine a light on that need. Another memorable piece, which I sub-edited and designed for our front page was the welcoming ceremony for our National 7s team after they returned home from winning gold at the Rio Olympics. It was a major celebration and it was my pleasure to help design the page for our readers to see the ceremony commending our national team’s outstanding performance.