KUCHING: Members of the media fraternity here gained insights into writing impactful business stories at a business writing workshop today.
The workshop was conducted by veteran business journalist, Datuk Yoo Soo Heong, who is also the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) president.
Yong, 70, who has accumulated extensive experience in his work throughout his five decades career in journalism has vast experience in business writing.
The former Malaysian National News Agency (BERNAMA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and editor-in-chief also played an instrumental role in developing the agency’s editorial style guide to ensure consistent, high-quality reporting.
The workshop, organised by Pertubuhan Wartawan Bebas Kuching (PEWARTA), covered topics such as on how to become a better business journalist, producing engaging stories from annual reports of public-listed companies and writing persuasive corporate proposals for the corporate sector.
Meanwhile, there was also a panel discussion at the workshop featuring Deputy State Secretary Datuk Seri Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel, Supreme Consolidated Resources Bhd’s Executive Chairman, Datuk Richard Wee and Yong.
The session was moderated by Kuching Divisional Journalists Association (KDJA) President and business writer, Ronnie Teo.
Among the topics discussed at the panel discussion were Sarawak’s Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, green economy and the future of Sarawak’s economy.
Earlier, PEWARTA President, Peter Sibon, expressed gratitude and delight over the encouraging response for the workshop, which saw nearly 40 participants.
“We believe it is timely for us to conduct such a workshop to empower local journalists to have the know-how and skills on how to write good business stories.
“As Sarawak’s economy and businesses are growing, there’s an increasing need for more coverage and publicity and we want to prepare the journalists with the right skills and knowledge for them when they are reporting business news and writing business stories,” he said.
PEWARTA Business Writing Workshop organising chairman Adrian Lim expressed satisfaction that the workshop had achieved its objective.
He hoped that there will be more such workshops to be conducted in the future so that journalists will be able to upgrade their skills and have more accuracy in business reporting.
“We definitely hope that there will be more to come as business reporting is a niche segment which requires certain knowledge and skills to attract readers, especially investors, corporates and stakeholders at large,” he said.
