Journalism workshop for young journalists in the making

By Fadzly Basar

KUANTAN, 23 September 2018: Some 70 students from IIUM’s Centre for Foundation Studies received exposure in journalism through a programme ‘Journalism Workshop’ which was jointly organised by Economics Students Society (ECONSS) and Foundation Centre of Human Sciences Society (FOCHUSS) at Banquet Hall, Office of Campus Director, in IIUM Kuantan, on Saturday (22 September).

In this programme, five speakers and facilitators from IIUMToday conducted the course on basic principles of journalism such as writing techniques and ethics in journalism. IIUMToday is a news portal set up by Communication Department, KIRKHS, run by IIUM students and targeted at university students and academic institutions both in Malaysia and abroad.

Programme Manager, Dayini Izzati Sheik said this programme was aimed at encouraging the participants to express their opinion and ideas in the form of writing.

During the morning session, participants were introduced to the types of news and articles and they were guided to write news and stories of their own.  In the afternoon, facilitators explained on the importance for journalists to quote sources which are reliable and credible.

They were told to pay attention to accuracy of the sources so that their reporting and writing would maintain a certain standing in the eyes of the readers. They were also taught the right method to conduct interviews.

Students were all invited to be active participants of IIUMToday and to join its editorial team. The participants were very excited to join the programme as this has been organised for the first time at their centre.

ECONSS advisor, Fadzly Basar said: “The participants are aware of their role as students of Islamic university in spreading the dakwah in the form of writing especially during this challenging era. Dakwah is an art of spreading good message, if you know how to write well, your message could be convincing to the readers.”

According to Khairi Ahmad, who is FOCHUSS advisor, this kind of programme “should be conducted in the upcoming years to train students to be decent journalists who write based on facts”.

“This programme has encouraged the participants to spend their leisure time beneficially apart from acquiring certain skills in writing and exposure in journalism that might be useful for their future,” Khairi added. ***

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