BERNAMA JOURNALISTS BENEFIT FROM US SPEAKER PROGRAMME

BY TENGKU NOOR SHAMSIAH TENGKU ABDULLAH

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) -- Ten journalists from the Malaysian
National News Agency (Bernama) attended a three-day course in Narrative
Journalism conducted by Associate Professor Janet E. Steele from George
Washington University, United States.

The course which ended Wednesday was organised by the Bernama Centre For
Excellence, in collaboration with the United States Embassy here.

In her talks, Steele, who is attached to the university's School of Media
and Public Affairs, focused on how print journalists could compete with the
electronic media by engaging readers with stories that are more in-depth, better
written and analytical.

Steele, who has written a book, "Wars Within: The Story of "Tempo", an
Independent Magazine in Soeharto's Indonesia" has been a familiar figure among
Malaysian and Indonesian media.

Meanwhile, the embassy's information officer Tina Malone said Steele has
worked for long in the region and was well-known to the media fraternity here
and Indonesia.

"We brought Steele this summer to spend time with Bernama reporters to work
on feature writing skills. I was made to understand that the three-day session
was quite successful," she told Bernama after the certificate presentation here
Wednesday.

"We are very happy that the US Speaker Programme was able to facilitate the
training session," Malone said.

Also present at the function were Bernama Editor-In-Chief Yong Soo
Heong and Deputy Editor in-Chief Salbiah Said.

-- BERNAMA