June 20, 2010
Reported by Chen Wei-chien
Written by Lydia Ma

Are you frustrated at the excess of negative coverage in mainstream media? Well, stop complaining and do something about it! Take out your camera and head outdoors to write your own news articles. In this age of internet technology, everyone can be a prime reporter and photographer.

Aware of these trends and needs, Changhua Presbytery invited Chou Chih-tsun from Public Television Services (Channel 13) media planning department to coach interested members into becoming good reporters. The seminar was held at He-Mei Presbyterian Church and co- sponsored by the presbytery's mass communication and church & society committees.

Chou gave the audience a few tips on how to become a reporter by listing the characteristics of a good reporter, training the audience to determine a story's "news-worthiness," and giving a computer tutorial on page layout and editing.

In reality, Public Television Services created a site as early as 2007 for the public to freely post stories. Upon registration, anyone from the public can receive tutorials on how to write articles and post their own news stories on the website. The majority of items posted are local news and the site has already attracted more than 3 thousand member writers.

According to Changhua Presbytery, this is the first time it has held such a seminar. The goal of the seminar is to encourage and train church members to fulfill their civic duties and obligations to society, and equip them with skills to speak out for justice.

Chen Jiun-hong, a church elder who signed up for this seminar, reported that participants learned how to do better video recordings and recognize the news-worthiness of everyday events. Such training helped them look at the world from a different perspective and pick out events or stories that may impact their community most.

Taiwan Church News