Timor Media - Interview with Jose Belo

46.3 Mb.  51 minutes


Jose Belo is a Timorese man who perhaps represents the highest
values of journalism. Active in the Timorese resistance movement
against the Indonesian occupation, he was a critical factor in
enabling those few independent Australian journalists who
contrived to work in Timor Leste (legendary journalists like John
Martinkus, Max Stahl, and others) to gather critical information
about the Indonesian occupation, and to get that information out.
 He was captured and tortured by the Indonesians 7 times,
continuing to work in Timor even though he had the opportunity to
live in exile in Australia.


After Timorese independence he became a journalist, still
maintaining a critical and independent attitude to successive
governments of Timor Leste. One year he was threatened with house
arrest when he accused a government minister of corruption. He is
currently the editor of "Tempo Semanal", a weekly publication
that is one of the most influential in the country, still
attacking the government on issues of corruption and misspending
of state finances. 


He was involved in the making of the film Balibo, and more
recently, the subject of a more recent film ('Breaking the news')
about to be released exposing the behaviour and role of some
foreign journalists working in Timor Leste whose ethical and
professional standards do not perhaps, match up to Jose's own.


In this interview he talks about his values as a journalist, why
he became a journalist, how he became a journalist, and the
values that inform his work.


Note: This is a raw, unedited sound file. The sound quality is
generally adequate for reproduction, but another shortened edited
and contextualised version of this interview will be posted soon.