Ainaru, 22 April 2026 (Media Democracia) – The IX Constitutional Government provided budget support of $200,000 to the Press Council to facilitate investigative journalism training for 20 journalists from various media outlets in Timor-Leste, held at Hotel Sara, Maubesi Administrative Post, Ainaro Municipality.
This investigative training aims to increase professional capacity and reinforce the media’s role in the democratic process.
According to the Executive Director of the Press Council, António Dias, this training is to facilitate Journalists capacity in the investigative area.
“We all know that our Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão sees that there is a need to provide training for our journalists, it’s not that Timor-Leste’s journalists don’t know anything, but because in the current situation, the state has a little money to facilitate you all to improve the quality of information.” said the Executive Director of KI, Antonio Dias, at the investigative training in Sara Hall, Maubesi Vila, Ainaro Municipality on Monday (20/04/2026).
According to him, he knows that the quality of the press in Timor-Leste will be an issue everyone talks about. Often the Prime Minister himself speaks about it, and it’s the public’s choice.
“So with all these issues, we are now in Maubesi together with trainer Baskoro giving you this topic to start the training, with funds coming from the Government for Investigative Journalism Training. We all know that anyone with a phone can become a journalist, so the difference is between journalists holding a phone and us doing investigative work. Our curiosity is the highest quality value in journalism, so with the courage that the trainer gives you transform that courage into your daily work to make your news become hard facts.” he said.
He asked the journalists participating in this training to make good use of it during the five days.
“You who are taking this training will share what you have learned with your other colleagues and transform it into your work, then with your courage, and with the spirit of journalism and the ethics that you learn, produce journalistic works that have a big impact on our society.” he said.
This investigative training is facilitated by Indonesian trainer Baskoro from Tempo Media for five days.
In the same place, Press Council Counselor Juaquim De Fatima Coutinho urged journalists to take advantage of this investigative training to better elevate their work.
“I ask colleagues, some from Dili, some from the municipalities, and journalist colleagues in Maubesi to make good use of this training so that when you return from here and do coverage, it must be deep and investigative.” said the KI Counselor.
When the Press Council met with Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, he demanded that investigative training be facilitated for journalists to further deepen their knowledge for coverage.
“I hope that with this training, it can further increase your knowledge so that you can carry out work in your media.” he said.
Meanwhile, this training is one part of other upcoming trainings to execute the subsidy budget support from Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão totaling US$200,000.00 to the Press Council in the 2026 General State Budget (OJE).
During the discussion and presentation of the Press Council’s budget for fiscal year 2026 at the Budget Review Committee (CRO) several months ago, the media regulatory organ in Timor-Leste presented its budget plan totaling US$600,000.00. But PM Xanana considered it very important to increase the capacity of Timorese journalists in investigative reporting, so PM Xanana decided to allocate a subsidy budget from the Prime Minister’s Office totaling US$200,000.00 to the Press Council to manage in order to facilitate investigative journalism training for all Timorese journalists.
The investigative journalism training in Maubisse with the theme “Uncovering the Truth: Strengthening Investigative Journalism and Strengthening the Media’s Watchdog Role” will end on April 25, 2026.
The 20 journalists attending the training in Maubisse are composed of Media Rafa & NTV, Rttl ep, STL, Hatutan, Dili Post, Loluwari, Radio Racom Maulok, Media Lian Orluli, Radio Komunidade Komoro, Radio Maubesi, SapnewsTL, Media Mudansa, Media Democracia, Radio Liberdade, and Media DFM.
Meanwhile, this training is organized by the Press Council (KI) for five days, from the 20th to the 24th, and the trainer is Lestantya R. Baskoro, a senior journalist in Indonesia.
Report By: Tomás dos Santos
Photo By: Tomás dos Santos