Australian volunteers help broadcast games to the world

Australian volunteers in Papua New Guinea are working behind the scenes to help local media cover the Pacific Games.

With nearly 50 years of broadcast and journalism experience between them, Joanna Lester and Barry Minster are sharing their skills with the games media contingent through the Australian Volunteers for International Development program, an Australian Government initiative.

Joanna is based with the Pacific Games Press Operations Team, helping run a news service which is sharing photos and information on the games with local, national and international media.

“We have been pairing up more experienced reporters with journalism students from the University of PNG to cover events,” Joanna says.

“It’s a good chance for journalism students and journalists in general to learn how big events operate, gain skills in interviewing athletes and improve their writing.”

Joanna, an experienced journalist, has worked at Olympic News Services at the London 2012 Games, the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, and the Nanjing 2014 Youth Games and as a reporter at other major international sporting events.

Fellow volunteer Barry is working with EMTV as part of the national television station’s host broadcast contingent.

The EMTV staff are joined by camera crews from different Pacific countries who are assigned games events and then pool their footage to be broadcast to 25 million people across the region.

“What we’re trying to do with the EMTV staff is to give them an experience of broadcasting live events,” Barry says.

Currently based at Sir John Guise Stadium where crews are filming all the athletics action, Barry has been advising producers on the best way to run an outside broadcast, from camera positioning to logistics troubleshooting.

The Victorian man has more than 40 years’ experience in television broadcasting. He has previously covered the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 and London 2012 and the World Cup Soccer in South Korea.

The Australian Volunteers for International Development program is an Australian Government initiative. Learn more about the program here. You can follow all of the Pacific Games action on the Facebook or via the Pacific Games website.