Impressions of an ALA fellow By Cherelle Jackson I LIKED the 2007 ALA fellowship on Reporting Economic Affairs. For the first time in my life as a journalist, I was given the chance to examine the profession, passion and livelihood of journalism in all its glory and gory details.    The one event that stands out in my mind is the editors seminar at the Australian Financial Review office in Melbourne, where I was the only foreigner, under 30 and female in a room full of senior editors, columnists and passionate Journalists from The Age, Herald Sun, AFR, Crikey and Eureka Report.    The guest speaker was author and journalist Gideon Haigh. In his short address Haigh verbalised an in-depth critique of journalism in Australia, and one by one the gentlemen in the room stood up and expressed their dismay at the state of affairs in the media.    “Since when did we become journalists? We are news reporters. We are supposed to be out there reporting on the news, not be in the news,” one former AFR editor said.    According to Haigh, journalists have become so obsessed with themselves that the quality of journalism as degraded as a result.    “The writer has become more important than the story,” he said.    I agreed. The one thing that has stood out in the last six weeks of this APJC fellowship program (on Reporting Economic Affairs), is the media’s obsession with star journalists. It almost seemed the newspaper was a platform for journalists’ interests and personal perceptions instead of an avenue for information to the public.    It has in a sense lost its value as a balanced informant, therefore committing injustice to its readers who sadly have become complacent throughout the years and lapped up whatever the Journalists have dished out.    I have come at a time when Australian media is at the stage of self-examination if not self-loathing, an interesting state to be in.    So what are the lessons?    The fellowship has armed me with knowledge and skills to improve Newsline, the weekly publication of which I am editor.    I believe that the six weeks has given me the space to contemplate the future changes needed in Newsline.    The changes will include a change in layout, content presentation, structure of pages, masthead and overall focus of the newspaper.    Instead of one page known as “Business and Finance”, I will introduce a subsection lift-out to be called: “Samoa business weekly”.    The subsection will feature local and regional news stories, columns and features on business, finance and economics.    The section will examine not just the Samoan economy but the state of Pacific economy and international issues pertaining to Samoa and the region.    Other changes include the introduction of a propaganda cartoonist and columnists writing from Australia and New Zealand, and the decision to have our existing news team specialise in issue areas.    I will be implementing many more changes but that will be unveiled in due course.    Overall, the fellowship can only act as a motivation for great change, not just in Newsline but in the media scene in Samoa, as what we do will encourage improvements in other news media. Cherelle Jackson, editor of Newsline in Samoa, took part in the APJ/AusAID 2007 Reporting Economic Affairs program as an Australian Leadership Awards fellow.