It was back to the classroom for senior officers of the Fiji Prisons and Corrections Sevice to learn important skills in dealing with the media.

The three-day workshop which was conducted in conjuction with the Pacific Islands News Association and the RFMF media cell is part of an effort to give better understanding of the role of the media and to empower the officers to deal confidently with them.

"As the Corrections Service is getting alot of public profile through its engagements and visibility,especially with the Yellow Ribbon Project,it is incumbent that the senior officers are able to put the visions and philosophies of its intiatives to the public coherently and accurately," said course coordinator,Major Ned Taito of the RFMF.

Attending the course were the Assistannt Commissioner,Supervisor Headquarters,Supervisors,Officers in charge or institutions in South Eastern and Southern divisions,staff officers and participants from the RFMF and the Fiji Police Force.A total of 18 officers undertook the course.

Topics covered under the course include history of the media,understanding the working of the media, interviewing skills, media handling, types of media relations, writing media releases and a review of the Yellow Ribbon Project media strategy. The participants also took a tour to familiarise themselves with the operations of media organisationssuch as Communications Fiji Ltd, Fiji Broadcasting Commission, Fiji Television, MaiTV, The Fiji Times, Fiji Sun and Fiji Television Unit of the Ministry of the Information.

At the radio stations and at the Fiji Television Unit, the participants gained valuable live interview experience, some of which came out as news items in the evening news.

Resourse people included the senior journalism lecturer at University of the South Pacific, Shailendra Singh, Pacific Islands News Association journalism trainer, Makereta Komai, Principal Information Officer, Pene Nonu of the Ministry of Information, editor in chief of the Fiji Times, Netani Rika, and editor of the Fiji Sun, Leone Cabenatabua.

It is anticipated that a Media Relations Manual for the Corrections Service would emerge out of the workshop which was conducted between May 12-14

www.corrections.org.fj