USM, UUM, UniMAP Students Gain Hands-on Media Experience Through HAWANA Tour

GEORGE TOWN, Nov 14 (Bernama) -- The Hawana 2024 Campus Tour for the Northern Zone has given a real and clear picture to communication and media students there on the world of journalism in line with the increasingly changing media reporting patterns in this country.

The average student, who attended the sharing session that touched on the guide to producing effective media content and the importance of fact-checking for authentic information, admitted that the Hawana Tour programme provided them with very useful exposure to the stark realities of journalism on the move.

A communications student from USM, Shennaz Begum Mohamed Hassan, 21, said the topics covered in the programme held at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang today were something new that she had never heard of.

“Through the Mobile Journalism (MoJo) session, we (students) had the opportunity to get tips and tricks in recording interesting visuals using smartphones from instructors in the industry.

“When learning in class, the teaching process is more theoretical while today's session is more hands-on from the industry,” she told Bernama after attending the programme.

Another communications student from the Universiti of Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Siti Sarah Mohamed, 22, said the information shared through the programme was very effective and helped deepen her knowledge in the field.

Siti Sarah said she had gained useful information such as knowledge in MoJo and fact-checking in news reports that she could put into practice in the future.

“As we know, the media industry is always developing and students also need to quickly adapt to changes in our industry, so I think this kind of programme is very useful for us to know more about the work of media practitioners,” she said.

Meanwhile, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) student Dea Vanessa Mohamaad Rohaizan, 20, said she and her friends who participated in the programme appreciated the MoJo session which they had never been exposed to before.

“The session on MoJo was something new for me and today I learned a lot about it, such as how to produce content, find useful content in producing news and how to present a video to the audience in a more interesting way,” she said.

She also expressed her appreciation to the Ministry of Communications and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) for the donation of high-capacity computer sets and smart televisions which she was sure would be helpful for students of the university.

More than 500 students and lecturers from USM, UUM and UniMAP participated in the Hawana 2024 Campus Tour programme in the Northern Zone organised by the Hawana Secretariat through Bernama in collaboration with USM’s School of Communication.

The programme featured, among others, the MoJo course conducted by Bernama’s Digital Media Desk senior reporter Syed Iylia Hariz Al-Qadri, who exposed participants to the use of the latest devices and applications in news reporting.

There was also a fact-checking segment by the editor of Mycheck Malaysia and Bernama’s Data Journalism Unit, Sakina Mohamed, as well as the ‘Klik dengan Bijak’ lecture by the Penang Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

At the event, Bernama Chief Executive Officer Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin, who is also chairman of the Hawana 2024 Working Committee, presented the donation of a high-capacity computer set and a smart television to each of the three public universities.

Also present were USM Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Rahman Mohamed and Bernama Editor-in-Chief Arul Rajoo Durar Raj, who is also Hawana 2024 project director.

The Hawana 2024 Campus Tour covers Sarawak, Sabah, as well as the Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern zones in the Peninsular, with the next destination being the Southern Zone on Dec 4, to be held at Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) Alor Gajah Campus in Melaka.

Organised by the Ministry of Communications, Bernama is the implementing agency for Hawana 2024.

-- BERNAMA