Six Australian journalists murdered by Indonesian troops during their invasion of East Timor will be memorialised on the 40th anniversary of their deaths with a scholarship for East Timorese reporters.
The Balibo Five - reporter Greg Shackleton, camera operator Gary Cunningham, sound recordist Tony Stewart of the Seven Network, and reporter Malcolm Rennie and camera operator Brian Peters from the Nine Network - were killed as they witnesses an Indonesian incursion in the town of Balibo on October 16, 1975.
The sixth, Roger East, a freelance reporter working for Australian Associated Press and Reuters, was executed in Dili on December 8, 1975.
No one has been brought to justice for their murder.
The Media Arts and Entertainment Alliance will use the 40th anniversary of the Balibo killings to launch the Balibo Five-Roger East Scholarship, which MEAA chief executive Paul Murphy says will fund travel, study and living expenses in Australia for East Timorese journalists.
He said the scholarships would include short courses at major journalism schools, and work placements in newsrooms in Australia.
"We believe a practical program like this is the most appropriate way for our union to honour and commemorate the Balibo Five and Roger East," Mr Murphy said.
"A little over a decade since East Timor became an independent sovereign state, press freedom is still fragile and there are few formal structures to develop journalism skills."
Ceremonies for the six slain reporters will be held on Friday at the War Correspondents' Memorial in Canberra at 6am, and at the St Kilda Botanical Gardens in Melbourne at 3pm.
