May 4th, 2014 – Ciao from Perugia, Italy, where the 8th annual International Journalism Festival has just come to a close! The five-day, activity-filled festival drew thousands of journalists from all over the world to the quaint and quiet town of Perugia. Little is known about the main town of the Umbrian region, but on this special annual occasion, journalists flock here to network.
I am here now, overwhelmed by information and recovering from five days of back to back workshops and panel discussions.
Firstly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Sarawak Convention Bureau for giving journalists the opportunity to be rewarded for their hard work and talent through the Malaysia MICE Journalism Award (MMJA). As a recipient of the 2013 MMJA, I now have the chance to be here in Perugia, amongst thousands of international journalists, to be educated on all things journalism and to continue to nurture my talent.
Secondly, without the help of my editors and sub-editors, my layout designer and production team, I would not have this opportunity either. It is a team effort that should be acknowledged. Don’t worry – I bought the famous Perugina Baci chocolates for everyone!
Famous chocolate aside, this entire journey has been an eye-opener for me. Listening to Bloomberg, Reuters and News Corp journalists and personnel discuss the current state of affairs in their respective media companies felt like I was going behind the scenes of a live news report. Discussions carried out were frank and honest. Each panel discussion proved to be more compelling than the last.
Personally, my two favourite panel discussions were the ones on Buzzfeed and Amazon’s Kindle. The Buzzfeed discussion explored the future of an all-digital journalism platform – something that is very real and already happening. It is also a surreal experience meeting the editor of Buzzfeed – it was kind of a fan girl moment for me, as an avid reader of Buzzfeed articles.
Amazon’s Vice President for Kindle content led a panel discussion on self-publication and how journalists are turning to writing short non-fiction books, especially on current affairs. Most of the topics covered during the festival were outside-the-box topics and I think this is what real journalism is made of.
I am glad to have experienced this journalism festival and look forward to attending future journalism MICE events.
Thanks again to SCB for your support in getting me here. Arrivederci for now!
