Budding Journalists Advised To be Professional In Their Duty

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 26 (Bernama) -- It is not worth for budding journalists to do something in an underhanded or unprofessional way just to get the glory for 24 hours, said Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) editor-in-chief Yong Soo Heong. "Trust is very important and journalists not only need to gain trust from their news sources and audience, but also their peers. "In our profession, capability, trust, credibility and integrity are very precious commodities. We must earn the trust of our news sources and audience with our ability to be trustworthy and credible in the way we present our news stories." Yong said this in his speech at the closing of the International Journalism Fellowship (IJF), which was read out by T. Selva, chief news editor of The Star, here, Friday. He said today, journalists faced many challenges including information on the social media network but added that professional journalists needed not fear of their role being taken over by citizen journalists as they had the upper hand in conveying the truth. "We need to step up and go the extra mile to get good stories and let our work reflect our professionalism. "Yes, we need scoops in order to prove our worth but we have to do it in an above-board manner," he said. The fellowship organised by the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) has been an eye opener for Alvine Kapitako from Namibia. The 26-year-old who works for the New Era newspaper based in the capital city of Windhoek, said the fellowship had opened her mind to other aspects of journalism. Apart from basic journalism, the four-week programme which began on Nov 1, exposed participants to broadcast journalism, multimedia journalism, media ethics and law, religion reporting, content gathering and photojournalism. Kapitako said religion reporting was her favourite workshop during the fellowship and she learned a lot about other religions. Another participant, George Putong, 26, from the Philippines said the fellowship exposed him to more than just journalism as he made many new friends from different countries as well. Putong who works for broadcast station ABS-CBN, said the fellowship had reignited his passion for journalism. -- BERNAMA