Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific

18/06/2026

A key goal in Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific engagements with media professionals is to provide access to CJT expertise to wider journalism communities, especially those who use national and local languages.
Vantha Phoung, who participated in our recent program on tackling and , has done this by presenting the framework in . He breaks down the process and explains how it can be applied practically.
The DFJ provided him awareness to assess his exposure threat. Soon after returning from the program, Vantha began to reassess some of the images available on his Facebook profile. He removed some of them that he deemed were inappropriate for an account where he shared his reporting as well. He said that given the wide use of social media, such images can be used out of context and weaponised to harm his credibility.
Cait McMahon Kimina LyallAmantha Perera UNESCO Bangkok

01/06/2026

The acronym may sound like boring technical jargon, but it is an ugly beast. It is spreading its tentacles across the Asia Pacific at an alarming rate. Given our dependence on social media for personal and professional interactions, this threat is going to keep increasing.

At the Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific, combatting digital hate and harm is one of our key focus areas. We have a network of 15 senior journalists spread through region who function as community leads on TFGBV and hate speech. Our latest work is working with a cohort of 14 journalists from the Mekong region to build skills at community level in the region.

CJT partnership with is an essential component of taking this work wider. We have joined hands and combined our strengths to ensure that the media community in Southeast Asia gets world class expertise to combat TFGBV and hate speech.

Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall Amantha Perera

The Centre for Journalism and Trauma Asia Pacific convened Southeast Asian journalists to address online harassment and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

28/05/2026

❌ APPLY NOW ❌ Applications close TODAY COB - Friday May 29 2026
▪️All expenses paid training and $3000 story creation grants available
Calling all Australia based content producers and journalists interested in crafting more informed and nuanced stories when reporting on children in the 0-5 years of life, and issues around those years - the developing brain, care giving and parenting, trauma exposure, social and emotional development and more - applications are open for our collaboration with The Global Center for Journalism and Trauma training and story-writing grant program.
More details here https://lnkd.in/gwWj5s54 Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall Global Center for Journalism and Trauma

27/05/2026

❌ APPLY NOW ❌ Applications close Friday May 29 2026
▪️All expenses paid training and $3000 story creation grants available
Calling all Australia based content producers and journalists interested in crafting more informed and nuanced stories when reporting on children in the 0-5 years of life, and issues around those years - the developing brain, care giving and parenting, trauma exposure, social and emotional development and more - applications are open for our collaboration with The Global Center for Journalism and Trauma training and story-writing grant program.
More details here https://lnkd.in/gwWj5s54

26/05/2026

❌ FINAL 2 Days - APPLY NOW ❌

Applications are open until May 29 - all expenses paid training and $3000 story creation grants available

Calling all Australia based content producers and journalists interested in crafting more informed and nuanced stories when reporting on children in the 0-5 years of life, and issues around those years - the developing brain, care giving and parenting, trauma exposure, social and emotional development and more - applications are open for our collaboration with The Global Center for Journalism and Trauma training and story-writing grant program. More details here https://lnkd.in/gwWj5s54

Cait McMahon Global Center for Journalism and Trauma Kimina Lyall

25/05/2026

It is a nice feeling once in awhile to see your work highlighted in the media. Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific UNESCO Bangkok four-day in-person workshop for journalists from the Mekong Region on pushing back against Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence ( ) and was featured in Thai media last week.
It is encouraging to see our week highlighted in vernacular media because one of our key aims is to take these skills on digital safety to communities working in those languages. In the third phase of this program we will work collaboratively with the fellows from , and to develop outputs which can act as resource hubs for their communities. 🤞
This work is part of CJT's wider hashtag campaign with to build awareness on digital skills in the region.

Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall Amantha Perera

14/05/2026

This week began with an all-time high for all of us the Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific. We concluded a four-day in-person workshop in Bangkok for journalists from the Mekong Region on a fellowship on pushing back against Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence ( ) and .
Thirteen journalists came together for the program and now will begin developing outputs ranging from podcasts to digital scrapbooks. These participant-developed resources will help us take this awareness further infield in to journalism communities working in native languages and living far from urban centres.
The workshop was the crucial second step in a the three-tiered approach CJT adapted for this work. In the last four months we have worked with this cohort virtually to provide foundational awareness on TFGBV and Hate Speech. In Bangkok we were able to conduct hands-on work with the group to build on that knowledge, provide experts inputs on areas like the concept and awareness of digital exposure and moral distress. A major focus of this in-person work was to contextualise exposure, impact and preventative measures in order to make them applicable at ground-level from Phnom Penh to Yangon.
As one participant told us at the end, “journalists represent the unheard and unseen, they must be protected at all costs —it gives hope to people”. When a journalist working under repressive conditions tell us that our work gives then hope, that is the best compliment we can get.
The travel circumstances endured by some of our participants give a taste of what it is like to work in areas where they come from. One had endured strict immigration measures and extended processing including answering a series of long questions at immigration. Another was turned back twice, once close to midnight by gun wielding security forces for lack of documents.
This work is vital because the first bouts between information and fake content now takes place online. Critical voices, especially those from minority groups are targeted so that they can be shut down quickly.
“To be honest, I first thought that this workshop might be not very interesting as I have some knowledge on GBV. However, it blew my mind after learning new and interesting ideas and listening other journalists’ experiences. It was fascinating,” one participant told us at the end of the program.
This work would not have possible without UNESCO funding support via the program, and which provided free workspace, logistical and communication support,
Together we stand stronger Not Alone, Not Silenced.

UNESCO Bangkok Amantha Perera Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall

10/05/2026

When harm is just a phone ping away
We got the opportunity to commemorate where it really matters, in the company of a group of courageous journalists resisting some of the most brutal repressive measures.
This group of journalists from the Mekong region came together at the second stage of Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific(CJT) fellowship on pushing back against Technology Facilitated Gender Based Violence ( ) and . The cohort was selected after a rigorous application process for this UNESCO funded project. They hail from countries like , and which, according to the latest , are among the worst places to be a journalist.
Participants spoke of how the online and hybrid workspace is being manipulated to weaponize TFGBV and Hate Speech to shut down critical voices. Content primed to harm and censor journalists are manufactured and deployed using . accounts numbering into thousands line up to spew the hate at every given opportunity. This hate is ramped up and amplified at scale to drive the fear of violent repression deep. Wherever and whenever a phone pings in these countries, the threat will reach the journalists, it is just that simple.
The project has a tripartite aim: to enable the participants to develop skills to deploy individualised , to develop a curated tipsheet resource informed by CJT expertise but importantly contextualised through the lived-experiences of the fellows and generate video narratives of their lived histories.
It was a humbling experience to be in the same room with these journalists. The current global press freedom searchlight moves hastily over this region. The brutal repression these journalists endures every day has sometimes become a footnote, or a prop when circumstances provide the opportunity.
They need more honest support than that. CJT will continue to work with these communities in a sustained effort and will bring them into CJT Asia Pacific-wide network of alumni of fellows, researchers, senior media professionals, academics and well-wishers.
This is also the first time that CJT has worked with Vero . Without the support of Brian E. Griffin, Agnes Alpuerto, Marinel M., Fam and Ching we would have been handclapped to get this logistical jigsaw in place. This program is part of CJT and Vero campaign promoting stronger professional skills against TFGBV and Hate Speech across the region.
The same is true of the help given by UNESCO Bangkok Jo Hironaka and Joseph Hincks.
Our biggest thank-you is reserved for the fellows, some of whom have braved increased scrutiny by taking part in this program.
Together we stand stronger Not Alone, Not Silenced.
Amantha Perera Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall Hinako Sugiyama 杉山日那子

02/05/2026

If I am honest, I cannot go back home!
In some parts of the world where I work, truth is a dangerous commodity, fatal even. You pay with your life in your pursuit.
On it is an honour and privilege to stand in solidarity with all journalists and media professionals across the world in our unyielding dedication to telling the truth.
This cannot be truer with our colleagues in the Asia Pacific Region who face up to some of the most repressive and dangerous media environments. They work in circumstances where for some of them there is no guarantee that they would return home safely when they step out for work. Still, they persevere.
It becomes worse, their lives become footnotes in narratives which forget them when others take over. Their stories are often abused and used as props without any duty of care.
“If I am honest, I cannot go back home,” a young journalist living in exile told me last week. Home beacons across the border but crossing that would mean putting herself directly in harm’s way. Her decision is to sacrifice her home for the sake of her craft.
Another told me that he is constantly under surveillance and harassed online. Arrested twice, he knows what it is like to be held in detention. It is hell.
This week, I will join my Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific colleagues Cait McMahon and Kimina Lyall as part of an innovative program to help colleagues in the Mekong Region develop skills to push back against technology facilitated gender based violence and hate speech. Funded through a UNESCO Bangkok IPDC grant, this work is urgently needed.
“The risks include constant online monitoring, coordinated harassment campaigns, in some cases, authorities and their supporters attempt to intimidate journalists by arresting or threatening relatives. To give you an idea how bad the situation is, three of the countries where fellows originate from rank between 166 and 174 in the latest World Press Freedom rankings. In some parts of the world, the price you pay for that is death.

Amantha Perera

09/04/2026

📌 Funded training and story-writing grants - applications now open
Centre for Journalism & Trauma Asia Pacific(CJT) and the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma (GCJT) are inviting applications from Australia-based journalists and content creators from all media forms for the Early Childhood Journalism Initiative 2026-27.
This pioneering program will provide fellows with the skills and knowledge to report on children, care-givers and early childhood years in a more informed and nuanced way and transform that awareness into funded ethical journalism projects.
The program includes a fully-funded three day in-person training with national and international experts in Melbourne in November 2026 and a $3000 story-writing grant and mentorship for a reporting project. Journalists must have at least 3 years experience.
▪️Website announcement: https://journalismandtrauma.org/early-childhood-reporting
▪️Application form: https://gcjt.submittable.com/submit/353538/early-childhood-reporting-institute-melbourne-australia

For further information please contact [email protected]

Cait McMahon Kimina Lyall Amantha Perera

Trauma training for journalists and newsrooms. Committed to ethical and safe journalism.