Journalism Workshop

Journalism Workshop

I came to class just in time at 12.30pm. I went in and my eyes was fixed to a particular person. She was distinctive in class. A person that grabbed my attention. Her command of English was superb that kept me awed. Her smile reminded me of a person that I've seen before in television. Let's not keep the suspense to myself.

She is Suzanne Jung, the news anchor of Primetime morning! I can't believe it. I'm seeing her in class for real! I always see her in the morning news and now she's in class to facilitate the workshop? This is awesome!

She introduced herself in the beginning and started talking. I noticed something about news anchors. They don't like to be in a situation where they is dead silence. When nobody seems to reply to her questions, (we were shy) she talks and talks alot. This amazed me. I've never seen a person who can talk so much and still catches my attention.

Firstly, we were introduced with the organisational structure of the industry, starting from general manager down to video editors. Our first group activity was to choose 10 most important stories of the day and put it in order for a newscast. It was great, RP PBL made me a confident speaker. I tried my best to reason out why my group chose a certain news to be put in what order of the list.

Secondly, the class was taught the basics of writing. We were taught to avoid long and mundane sentences. She taught us the "3S" It means Simple, short and sweet. Short sentences will keep the audience attentive to messages sent and that they will not lose focus.

She told us to minimise the usage of adjectives and adverbs. For example, the "beautiful girl." The word "beautiful' is subjective and does not relay a factual account. News report must be factual. A better word would be, the size 2 build girl or the 1.56m girl. This information is factual and will never go wrong.

Lastly, we sat facing her and "bombarded" her with questions about her job. She used to work in Korean English Broadcast Station named "Arirang" She came to CNA about 4 years ago. She told us that having degrees especially in Political Science have an advantage in the industry. Her works starts at 2am in the morning and may end at about 11pm in the evening. That's the 'glamour" of her work. Her work is physically and mentally challenging. We were so engrossed listening to her. I can't wait for tomorrows lesson. I shall end here for now.