Speeches
Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli BMM, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Home Affairs, at the Panasonic Kid Witness News Awards Ceremony on Friday, 20 November 2009, 2.30pm at STI Auditorium, Capital Tower
Mr Daniel Tan, Assistant Director, Panasonic Singapore,
Mr Eric Tan, Deputy Director, Community & Market Development, MDA,
Teachers and participating teams,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
A very good afternoon to all.
I am happy to join you once again at this year’s Panasonic Kid Witness News Awards. I was much impressed with the production standard and level of creativity of last year’s entries. Last year, I was impressed with the technical mastery of all the winning teams and the sense for proper video-presence of their presenters. I was also happy that a fair number of our heartland schools were finalists and had brushed up on their presentation skills for the competition. It showed up well when I spoke with them after the ceremony. I am looking forward to be impressed again!
Our students usually do well at the Kid Witness News Awards. In 2007, the team from Jurong Secondary School won top prize in the local awards and went on to win the Best Culture Award at the Asia Pacific regional round held in Singapore. I’m glad to learn that last year’s winner, the team from Sembawang Secondary School, won the Best Presentation Award at the regional competition held in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. These accomplishments are a testament of the high standard upheld by our young student journalists and filmmakers. I look forward to hearing good news about this year’s winner!
The well-known American filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick, once said, “The best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.” Nowadays, it is very easy for budding filmmakers to produce a movie or video, given the ease of access to high-quality but affordable digital cameras and sophisticated editing software. New media channels such as YouTube and Facebook make it a cinch to broadcast your works to hundreds of thousands, with a few clicks of the mouse.
In this day and age where almost anyone with a camera or computer can become a producer of content, the quality of content matters even more than ever. Your message must be clear in order to cut through the information clutter. When you have meaningful content, you will be able to reach out to your audience.
An Inconvenient Truth, the Academy Award winner for best documentary feature in 2007, is a good example of how a documentary with a clear message can make a major impact. Featuring former US Vice President, Al Gore, the documentary focuses on global warming and warns of the dangers of climate change which has reached near crisis level. While the green message is not a new one, it was given a fresh impetus by the film, which effectively raised international public awareness about climate change and brought people together to support the important environmental cause.
I understand the environment is one of the two themes for this year’s Kid Witness News, the other theme being My Country, My Culture, My Sport. While you may not have the luxury of having a heavyweight such as Al Gore feature in your documentary, I am certain your production would be equally heartfelt. I understand that many of you attended theory and practical workshops organised by Panasonic to learn how to plan and produce a video documentary. The story-telling skills you have picked up will enable you to present your ideas cohesively and compellingly, beyond the video medium.
The Interactive and Digital Media sector is set to become a key driver in positioning Singapore as a global media city, and there is a need to develop a critical mass of creative talent to drive and sustain the growth of the Interactive and Digital Media sector. MOE is investing in training and facilities to prepare our students for an increasingly e-savvy workforce, as well as to promote media literacy and familiarity with digital media tools to empower our students. With multimedia tools such as video cameras and Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, students now collaboratively review and create knowledge with peers within and beyond their classrooms.
Today, there are close to 2,000 students involved in school media clubs, compared to about 1,200 just two years ago. As the number continues to grow, we are seeing more opportunities for students to be involved in media production and journalism. For example, more than 200 students from 28 schools are involved in this year’s Kid Witness News competition in Singapore. And earlier this month, some 120 youth journalists, including 40 from Singapore, took part in the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Voices of the Future programme, where they interviewed economic and business leaders from the APEC economies, on issues such as free trade and the development of a sustainable economy. I urge the business sector to work with schools to create more such authentic learning opportunities for our students.
Indeed alternative media have proven to be viable media in providing information and news that the mainstream media may not or cannot cover. In this light, I have also asked the Ministry to explore plans to invite school media clubs to accompany our Singapore Schools Sports Council Sports Team to cover the ASEAN Schools Games Competition in Kuala Lumpur in July 2010. For the first time, we will send a student media team to create buzz for their fellow student sportsmen via the new media. I encourage schools to avail their students of this new learning opportunity.
In closing, I would like to congratulate Panasonic Singapore for successfully running the Kid Witness News programme for the sixth consecutive year. I also want to express my appreciation for the support of principals and teachers. As facilitators and mentors, you play a crucial role in motivating your students.
And to all participants, I wish you all the best and I look forward to seeing your works shortly.
Thank you.