By Husain Wahab & Wan Eizzul
GOMBAK, 26 November 2014: The trip to BERNAMA, an event organised by IIUM Radio (IIUM.fm) was aimed for the crew members to experience the reality of work in a news agency and also to give them an opportunity to improve their skills in conducting radio progammes.
This programme was designed for IIUM.fm crew to learn from BERNAMA regarding news gathering and news flow from the news agency through television, online newspaper and radio. A total of 30 students and one IIUM lecturer participated in the study visit.
The journey to BERNAMA took us about one hour and the crew arrived at around 4.00 p.m. We were welcome by one BERNAMA staff named Wan Norazween Wan Su and she became our tour guide for the visit.
We started by visiting the Editorial Department on the first floor where news gathering and editing take place before being aired or sent to the media. We were briefed by the Deputy Editor, Ahmad Fuad Yahya on news gathering, editing and news sourcing.
According to Fuad, more than 200 reporters around Malaysia are working everyday on 24-hour basis to get the latest news. He also told us  to become a reporter in BERNAMA, he or she has to sit for written test, followed by attending an interview session.
After the session in the Editorial Department, we proceeded to BERNAMA TV on the third floor accompanied by Ravichandran Rajamanickam, a news reader. During the visit we were exposed to how news broadcast was conducted live at 4:30 p.m.
During the question and answer session, Ravichandran stressed that the reporters are the ones who are  the master of the event during the interview session, even though the guest is the Prime Minister. He added the reporters need to be honest in reporting the news because news reported could affect the credibility of the organisation.
At around 5.00 p.m, we proceeded to the last destination which is BERNAMA Radio24 located on 13th floor. BERNAMA Radio24 is the radio aired on 93.9 fm 24 hours a day and provide news within and outside the country.
According to head of programming, Mr Hakimi Mohd Zain , BERNAMA Radio24 collaborated with Indonesia news agency ANTARA in getting the news on Indonesia-Malaysia.
Mr Hakimi said that in operating radio interview, it is not limited to interview in the conti only, they also made interview via telephone  and also outdoor. Sometimes they need to record the interview first before broadcasting it, the reason is to filter whether the statement would touch on certain sensitivity issue or not.
The journey to BERNAMA ended at 5.30 p.m full of enjoyment and excitement.
œI felt the trip to news agency like BERNAMA should be done frequently because it is really beneficial. This is where the crew members could get to know the reality of work situation and gain good exposure on media. Hence, providing rooms for wider discussion with BERNAMA to increase our knowledge on the working of the media, said Zaid Taufik, one of the crew members.***
Photos by Naim Fadil