October 2015
Journalism for Development, an NGO affiliated to the Mongolian Mining Journal, has been organizing training courses for local (meaning aimag-based) journalists since 2010. This year we decided to organize these events on a zonal basis, as this would make it possible for many more journalists from neighbouring aimags to participate in any one course. Our final goal is to create a nationwide pool of professionally competent journalists who can write articles and produce TV programmes on mining based on their in-depth knowledge and understanding of the sector.
Flow of informed and unbiased news becomes all the more important as local citizens get more say on how mining-related work should take place in their area. The State policy on the mining sector adopted last year is categorical that local citizens must have access to much more information on all such work, ongoing or planned. It also gives them a strong voice in final grant of any kind of licence, and also the authority to monitor how their share of the tax and other revenues from mining is spent at the aimag or soum level. (Changes made in the tax laws this spring stipulate that 30 percent of all royalty fees will go to local governments.)
Apart from this, the mining ministry plans to offer a model agreement between local communities and mining companies only after wide-ranging public discussion of its draft provisions. A proposed model mining development agreement may also be offered for public discussion before it is approved.
Exploration licences, provisionally allocated for the western aimags and now under, again provisional, allocation for the eastern aimags, will become valid only after they are formally approved by local CRKs. This is a laudable move in theory, but in reality, citizens are not very active participants in self-governance, and theviews of a few leaders are deciding the fate of the exploration licences. If this continues, vested interests may very well nullify local citizens’ expectations to benefit from expansion of mining sector, as also create problems forinvestors.
In this situation, local journalists have a very important role to play in both building public awareness and in disseminating, in the best professional way, understanding of the mining sector among local citizens so that they can be independent and responsible contributors to the decision making process. The job of journalists would be to show and analyse how the government’s decisions, the mining companies’ plans and operations, and citizens’ interests impact one another and should be productively linked.
The main goal of the Local News Network project of the Mongolian Mining Journal is to achieve this. We greatly appreciate the support we have been receiving from GIZ IMRI (Initiative of Mineral Resources Integration) and the MEITI Secretariat.
We must also thank all the 47 journalists who participated in the North and Western regional trainings. Of them, 8 are taking part in a competition announced by us. They are N.Oyumaa, Editor of the Selenge News; Ts. Undarmaa, of Mandal Television, Mandal soum, Selenge aimag; L.Gantsolmon, at www.erdenettimes.mn, Erdenet city, Orkhon aimag; B.Gantuya, of UES Television, Orkhon aimag; J.Khongorbaatar and Ts.Uuganbaatar, both of TBS Television, Tuv aimag; T.Sanaadagva, Editor of Bayankhongor Today, Bayankhongor aimag; and J.Saruul, of the Khovd’s Mirror.
These 8 represent both seniors in journalism and those with less experience. Their entries, on a subject related to the mining sector, for the Mongolian Mining Journal Prize will be judged by a committee of independent arbiters. The winner will be announced in Ulaanbaatar on 10 November. A special merit of their efforts is that they all work in difficult conditions, and all the entries, not just the winning ones, will be presented on nationwide television, newspapers and news websites.
Detailed terms of the competition and criteria of judgement can be found in the Mongolian section of this issue of the Mongolian Mining Journal. The fairness and reliability of the process to select the winner(s) in any contest run by MMJ has been well established in the five years of the annual Mining Journal Awards. We have no doubt that the evaluating points on each entry will be of great help in any future training for media persons.
The Local News Network project will be implemented for three years and members of the faculty of Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering at the University of British Columbia in Canada will be teaching local journalists and joining them on trips to mine sites, as our project expands.