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Journalism Program 2022
FNF SEEA Journalist Training Program 2022

“LGBTQ+ Life in Southeast and East Asia”
2.7 Minutes
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Our 2022 FNF SEEA Journalist Training Program is now open!

© Image from Slaytina taken from Pexel

Background

What does it feel like to live a queer life in Southeast and East Asia? From severe punishments 
and open homophobia in Indonesia, to the legalization of same-sex marriages in Taiwan, to 
the first Pride Parade in Thailand: the conditions in the societies that they live in are as varied 
as the people who feel part of the LGBTQ+ community. During the Covid pandemic, however, 
marginalized groups suffered even more. Many were defenseless against assault and 
domestic violence. In addition; increasing nationalism and pressure from right-wing religious 
groups and conservative institutions in some countries in Southeast and East Asia are 
increasingly restricting individual freedoms. 

Behind the headlines, various aspects of queer life - from discrimination and subliminal hostility to courageous activism to the celebration of pride - often remains untold. We want to support young journalists from Southeast and East Asia to shine a light on those powerful stories that remained untold. 

The Program

The participants will receive ONLINE trainings on investigative journalism and multimedia 
storytelling. They´ll have three months, from August to October 2022, to research a story. 
Applications from Teams of Writer and Photographer/Videographer are highly encouraged.

We offer:

  • Multiple training-sessions with high-profile journalists 
  • 2,000 Euro Honorarium for a  multimedia article (English) 
  • International recognition via publication of your article by FNF and possibly by other media channels
  • Networking with other young aspiring journalists 

We look for:

  • Freelance journalists from Southeast or East Asia, who have less than five years work- experience, solid journalism skills,  values journalistic ethics and standards, fluent in English, share FNF´s liberal values and are willing to deliver an investigative multimedia article. 

A look back: The 2021 FNF SEEA Journalist Training Program

In 2021, FNF SEEA supported four young female freelance journalists, who researched and 
delivered articles about "Business and Human Rights". FNF was able to recruit the renowned 
journalist Sheila Coronel as a trainer, who supported the journalists from the very start of their 
research until the completion of their work. All articles were published by FNF and by major 
media outlets, including Rappler and the South China Morning Post. One of the stories came 
in second place in the "Journalism for an Equitable Asia Award 2021" competition.


Click here for the full reports:

Testimonials

Marielle Lucenio:
"FNF’s Journalism Scholarship program opened a lot of opportunities for me especially in 
Southeast Asia from networks, projects, to awards. With the short time that I have spent under 
the wing of the organization, I have seen the value of my job and the importance of pursuing 
the truth. It also allowed me to be trained by and to meet and get to talk to several people I 
look up to in the industry. I must say, I owe much of my young career to the FNF training."


Geela Garcia:
"The FNF training programme was very helpful to me as an early-career freelance journalist. It 
gave me the opportunity to pursue stories I feel concerned about and the training sessions 
equipped me with learnings that helped me improve my research, reporting, and writing skills. 
It was also a great space to connect with fellow journalists around Southeast Asia." 

 

Please apply before July 24th 2022, by sending your CV, links to your previous work and a 
half-page pitch for your story to journalism.seea@freiheit.org.