JEDDAH, 8 August 2003 — A group of Filipino students toured Arab News on an educational field trip yesterday.
The students, from Al-Hekma International School and the International Philippine School in Jeddah (IPSJ), were given an insight into news gathering by senior staff at the newspaper.
The Filipino students, principal and teachers said they found the trip very stimulating. “It was a very timely undertaking by Arab News,” said Mohamed Isa Carlos De Leon, principal, IPSJ.
Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled A. Al-Maeena and reporter Essam Al-Ghalib were at hand to take questions from the students. One junior student, Stan Lee Young of Al-Hekma International School, asked what made a story front-page news.
“The news has to arouse the interest of the readers, it has to be important to the region and to people concerned about the news. Remember it’s people who make news,” Al-Maeena said.
The students also asked Al-Ghalib about his experiences as a reporter and his coverage for Arab News during the war on Iraq.
“It was a learning experience,” Al-Ghalib said.
Nathaniel Mounayer, a student of IPSJ, asked Al-Ghalib if he could recommend a career as a reporter.
Al-Ghalib said being a reporter was a good career choice. “It’s not like an ordinary job where you clock eight hours in the office; there is variety in this job and you get to meet a lot of important people.”
But he said there was a downside as well. “Being a reporter means you have to be open to a lot of criticism, whether constructive or destructive, and there is the pressure of deadlines,” he added.
Al-Maeena rounded up the trip with advice to aspiring journalists. “It is very important to this profession, apart from having language skills, that you take a keen interest in life and read a lot. Another important trait is to develop the art of listening.”
He said the final product was not made by one person alone, but by the joint effort of a team.
