Confab promotes online journalism to schools

ASPIRING young journalists from Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan recently attended a three-day Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC) in Tagaytay City and learned to use an online platform for publishing campus papers online.

The conference aimed to promote digital literacy through campus journalism. It was spearheaded by the Department of Education, in partnership with Smart Communications Inc., which developed the online platform as part of its online campus journalism program.

During the training, Prof. Allen V. del Carmen, editor of Visayan Daily Star-StarLife, compared and contrasted print and online media, underscoring the advantages of the latter, especially in this digital age.

This was followed by a lecture and workshop on journ.ph, the online platform developed by Smart that enables schools to publish their campus news and features for free. Each publication was given a demo account to be able to access the site and upload their campus stories on the platform. After the workshop, the teacher-advisers and student writers were able to view their articles online via journ.ph.

The conference aimed to identify the student writers who will participate in the annual National Schools Press Conference (NSPC)—the highest journalism competition in elementary and high schools in the Philippines.