Young reporters
for the environment

Four fourteen year olds from Gozo College Boys Secondary interested in media and journalism were hosted for a week by the Malta Tourism Authority – Gozo Office, in collaboration with Young Reporters for the Environment – Nature Trust Malta. This job shadowing experience provided the students with a variety of opportunities and skills in order to get a more clear picture of what journalism entails and have actual hands on experience.
The week long programme took off with the students attending interactive presentations about basics on photography, article writing and videography. Knowing that they were to be in the field in the following days the students also began doing research on the topics they were going to report about mainly Dwejra and what attracts tourists. A journalist first and foremost needs to be well informed on the topic to be reported. Another area covered was ethics, how to approach people for an interview, manners, data protection issues, copyright laws and permissions required.

At the MTA Gozo Office in Independence Square, Ms Christine Vella, Senior Head at the Gozo Office, gave the students an overview of the main functions of MTA. Besides the tourist information office which is open to the public seven days a week including public holidays with an average of 55,000 visitors a year, the office takes care of marketing Gozo to attract more tourists, licensing and quality assurance /enforcement. MTA uses a budget of 31 million Euros per year marketing the Maltese Islands all over the world. Around 600 journalists coming from various countries are hosted in order to produce features about the Maltese Islands in their countries. The students had the opportunity to accompany three Russian journalists on such an endeavour. Besides observing them whilst they were filming at the Citadel and in a local farm, they also took the opportunity to ask them about their way of life, working hours and conditions, how they managed to get to their current job working with a TV station, difficulties they encounter and what they like about their job.
Ms Ruth Vella explained that all catering and hosting establishmens need to have licences to operate in order to guarantee good standards to clients. The office also receives complaints by tourists when standards are not met. Mr Ivan Bonnici, Enforcement Officer very kindly invited the students to accompany him onsite at Dwejra for inspections. The students witnessed an inspection of a scuba diving group. Mr Bonnici gave details of what needs to be checked, safety measures which need to be taken and standards expected as regards expertise of instructors, licences, etc. He also checked that all buses arriving with tourists were accompanied by a licensed guide, asking to see their identity tags, explaining the reasons why these checks need to be made.
Whilst at Dwejra the students visited the Dwejra tower from where they could take some good shots for their features and gather information about Dwejra as a Marine Protected Area and Natura 200 site from Mr Mario Gauci. They then embarked on making interviews to tourists and locals and gathering material to be able later have a go at writing an article for the news paper or making a short video report.
The last day of job shadowing was spent producing reports and features on the material collected and the experience. The students were at all times accompanied by Ms Marvic Refalo, teacher providing support for the EkoSkola, YRE and LEAF programmes in all schools in Gozo.
Students: Adem Abuhishmeh, Darren Bezzina, Owen Camilleri, Sean Grech