By Azanis Shahila
GOMBAK, 2 December 2016: Students of the Kulliyyah of Human Sciences had the opportunity to bring back the nostalgic feeling of reading mainstream newspapers following a ‘Newspaper Day’ held at HS Square yesterday in an effort to instil reading culture.
Organised by the Principles & Practices of Managerial Communication class in collaboration with Communication Students Association (COSA), the event was held with an objective to expose IIUM students to the world of printing and traditional media which have been overlooked by many, following development of new media and growth of social media.
The event was basically aimed at promoting Malaysia’s local newspapers and cultivate the culture of reading newspapers among the younger generation, according to the organisers.
The programme began at 9 a.m. with the official launching by the Head of Department of Communication, Dr. Zeti Azreen Ahmad. There were a total of seven booths allocated at HS Square consisting of six booths that represented six newspaper companies in Malaysia and one booth dedicated to the IIUM’s online newspaper, IIUMToday.
“Newspaper Day is a very good initiative, where students not only learn how to organise events, yet there’s so much to learn about the respective newspapers, in terms of history of their establishment, challenges and achievements that tend to expand students’ knowledge of the newspaper industry,” said Dr. Zeti.
The activities displayed and programmes held included games from students, photo booth, news reading corner, an exhibition about their respective newspapers, public speaking corner and special performances from IIUM student’s band, ‘The Prism’.
All the events and performances that had been held received support and applause from the crowd which contributed to the event become alive filled with excitement.
The event also drew visits from the media organisers such as from the Utusan Melayu and Malay Mail groups. They arrived to see the booths that represent their respective newspaper organisations and to get a first hand look at what have been exhibited by the students on that day.
The event’s programme manager, Nur Solihah Muzafar said, “I hope this event has given us useful platform as students of Principles & Practices of Managerial Communication class (PPMC) to acquire additional knowledge about the newspaper industry, their organisational structure and management style, besides gaining experience on organising the event.”
“The intended attitude of the students will not simply change because of this event alone. If we want to change the attitude and behaviour of the students towards reading newspapers, perhaps it requires a more aggressive and continuous campaign,” Dr. Zeti stressed.
Meanwhile, Nabilahuda Mohd Hisham, a student from the Kulliyyah of Language and Management, who took her time to visit the booths with her friends from her kulliyyah, said,“I love to read more about local newspapers in Malaysia, and I imagine this event should be a great opportunity to make people, especially youngsters, to study more about the printed newspapers instead of just going online, to find out more about the history of the newspaper establishment itself.” ***