Campus journalism goes digital

THE future of campus journalism is digital and it’s here right now.

This was the message presented to more than 1,500 high school paper editors, advisers and communication arts supervisors of the Department of Education (DepEd) as they attended the journ.ph plenary session of the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) supported by Smart Communications.

The session was the highlight of the longest running national campus journalism event of DepEd.

The journ.ph plenary session included lectures on digital literacy by Darwin Flores of Smart, online publishing by Roby Alampay of TV5 and Max Limpag of Sun.Star Cebu.

Journ.ph is the online campus journalism program of Smart introduced three years ago to tertiary schools and later implemented as a pilot program in the secondary level in Western Visayas, in partnership with the Philippine Information Agency. Under the program, school publications are given trainings and access to a free online platform (journ.ph).

This year, the program will be expanded to include more schools with the introduction of the program in the ranks of the NSPC, particularly in keeping with the conference theme, “Promoting digital literacy through campus journalism,” said Ramon R. Isberto, public affairs group head of Smart.

Flores, in his talk, emphasized the need for student editors to ”understand, evaluate, use, analyze, create and communicate information using the digital technology, which he said, allows the utilization of smaller, faster and cheaper devices that contains more massive amounts of data.

Limpag underscored the value of good and readable design through the blend of aesthetics and context in online reporting, which Alampay shared as he showcased the value of attractive visuals taking the place of words in TV5’s InterAksyon.com. The InterAksyon editor-in-chief reiterated the value of interactive strategies to capture and sustain reader attention in online journalism.

Advisers and editors were encouraged to sign up for prospective membership in the program.

The NSPC is the annual gathering of about 5,000 campus journalists and advisers held to recognize outstanding group and individual performers in campus journalism from all over the country.