Set up in 2003, The Straits Times Media Club is an initiative by The Straits Times to give secondary school students a basic grounding in the fundamentals of newspaper journalism.
Officially recognised by the Ministry of Education as a Co-Curricular Activity (CCA), membership to the Media Club is open to all schools that subscribe to more than 500 copies of IN, a weekly student newspaper which is bundled together with Monday editions of The Straits Times.
The ST Media Club conducts monthly workshops for students from more than 70 subscribing schools on the elements of journalism.
These sessions are held at the SPH auditorium and helmed by ST editors, journalists and photographers who provide students with useful tips on how to write news reports, conduct interviews, take good news photos and design pages.
The workshops also occasionally feature mock press events so that students get a chance to write for their own school newspaper. Past speakers include paraplegic athlete William Tan, film-maker and cartoonist Colin Goh, Campus Superstar champion, Ng Chee Yang and national football captain Aide Iskandar.
In addition to the monthly workshops, the Media Club also hosts two media camps annually.
Held during the June and December school holidays, the three-day non-residential camps give students the opportunity to see how The Straits Times is created in the newsroom, attend workshops on writing, layout, design and photography and visit the Company’s printing presses at work in Jurong.
Apart from teaching students about journalism, the ST Media Club has helped to foster the birth of many school newsletters such as The Pei Hwa Times of Pei Hwa Secondary School.
The Media Club also organises an annual The Straits Times National School Newspaper Competition for these school newsletter teams, giving them the chance to compete with one another to produce the best student newspaper within 24 hours.
How to Join
The Straits Times Media Club sessions are for members only.
To be a member, get your school to subscribe to IN - a weekly supplement targetted at secondary school students, published every Monday.
Interested to know more, call Elsie Ch'ng at 6319 1016. |
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