AMIC News Letter

Asia Journalism Fellowship 2012 opens for applications

The fourth round of the Asia Journalism Fellowship will run from 27 February to 18 May 2012. The programme is accepting applications until 14 October 2011 from accomplished mid-career journalists.

The annual programme is an initiative of Temasek Foundation and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It brings journalists from across Asia to NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for three months.

Away from the deadline pressures of their jobs, Fellows pursue their intellectual interests in one of Asia's leading universities. The semi-structured programme is designed to sharpen professional skills and deepen understanding of trends in media and communication at a time of rapid and sweeping change.

It also provides access to key newsmakers in Singapore's public sector, business community and civil society, offering insights into the challenges faced by one of Asia's most cosmopolitan hub cities.

Applicants should have five years of experience and the potential to make a difference in their profession and their home country on their return. Journalists working in any news medium – newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the web – can apply. The programme is in English, but welcomes journalists from local-language media. Visit http://www.ajf.sg for details on how to apply or email applications@ajf.sg if you have queries.

Ramoji Academy of Film & Television (RAFT) is proud to introduce Mr. Robert McKee’s ‘Story Seminar’ to India. Mr. McKee is the preeminent authority on screenwriting in the world today, and the Story Seminar is easily the most influential writing class in Hollywood.

Alumni of his seminars have won 32 Oscars, 182 Emmy Awards, 21 Writers’ Guild Awards, 17 Directors’ Guild Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, the British Book of the Year Award, and many other awards.

Mr. McKee will present the much acclaimed 4-day seminar at Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City from 9th to 12th February 2012.

The Story Seminar is an intense, self-contained exercise in conveying an entire approach to story. From defining and describing the smallest of story elements to illuminating and illustrating the most abstruse of concepts, the seminar gives the attendee a 360-degree view of the theory, craft, and practice of writing. Emphasizing story design and story structure, Mr. McKee’s approach to story is the distillation of a lifetime of study of writing in cinema, literature, theatre, and television. The Story Seminar has frequently been described as being inspirational and transformative; it has also been referred to as a graduate course in screenwriting compressed into 4 days.

About Robert McKee

Mr. McKee is the author of the award-winning Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and The Principles of Screenwriting, which has, since publication, become an indispensible guide to writers in any medium. Many of Mr. McKee’s students are bestselling literary writers, journalists, advertising and PR professionals, executives, playwrights and others. The book and the Story Seminar have attracted praise from writers, actors, directors, and producers. Oscar Winning Screenwriter/Director Lawrence Kasden has described his seminar as being ‘…stimulating, innovative, and refreshingly practical.’ Two-time Oscar-winning writer Paul Haggis says: ‘Everything I know about story structure I learned from Robert McKee. End of story.’ Zak Penn, screenwriter of ‘X-Men’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’ puts it this way: ‘My advice is…take McKee’s class. It was essential to my success as a screenwriter.’

TUNZA International Children & Youth Conference

AMIC will be conducting two workshops on reporting the environment at the TUNZA International Children & Youth Conference in Bandung, Indonesia this September. The workshops will take place on 28th and 29th and will be targeted at youths and their primary influences. After the workshop youths will write feature stories to be assessed for publishing. Workshop will be facilitated by Milind Kokje, an experienced Indian journalist in covering environmental issues across the globe.

Latest issue of Asian Voices

Latest issue of Asian Voices brings you views on public service broadcasting in South Asia and creating a civic conscious society. This was produced based on the AMIC-UNESCO public service broadcasting colloquium held during the AMIC annual conference in Hyderabad. This programme can be used as resource material in media schools.
To listen the latest programme, please click here.

Interview: Media Neglect Migrant Workers’ Conditions

At the Global Media Forum in Bonn, in Germany recently, AMIC organised a workshop under the title: "Labour Migration and Hidden Issues : A Role for the Media". The workshop was moderated by AMIC's Dr Kalinga Seneviratne and he was interviewed after the event by Deutsch Welle Radio's Anke Rasper. He argued that remittances sent back by migrant workers make up a big share of some national economies – but many of those workers are exploited abroad and the media need to do more to expose these and keep the issue in the public agenda in both the sending and receiving countries. To listen to the interview or read its transcript visit here.

Overall Top Student Award from AIM-RMIT University for AMIC Staff

AMIC's Research Assistant Tharuka Prematillake was awarded the Overall Top Student Award for her outstanding academic performances in Bachelor of Communication (Mass Communication) programme by the RMIT University in Australia during her convocation in Singapore. While working full-time at AMIC she completed her RMIT programme offered at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) University. To pursue her studies at RMIT she was awarded the SIM Global Education Scholarship under academic and leadership excellence category. Tharuka has been working with AMIC since 2008 as a media research assistant and a project manager.

Announcement of Death

We are saddened to inform you about the death of Jaspal Singh, on September 12, 2011 in Singapore. He was only 38 years. Jaspal worked at AMIC for approximately 5 years as a Programme Development Executive before shifting to a new job in 2009. He was an integral part of AMIC and worked on a lot of crucial projects including the Asian Barometer Project, the Radio Asia Conference and the AMIC Young Communicators Network (AYCN). He will be missed. All of us at AMIC mourn this loss with his family and remember him as a valued and dedicated colleague. The Cremation will take place on 16th September (Friday) at Mandai Crematorium Hall 1, Singapore at 3.45pm.