Twenty-five staff members from five SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia completed the Training on the Basics of News Writing for Newsletter Publication and Website Updating on 1-2 April 2014 in Bogor, Indonesia.  The training was organized by SEAMEO BIOTROP as part of SEAMEO Mentoring Program.

In general, the training was aimed to provide the participants with the basic concepts and processes in news writing and eventually develop the skill towards promoting activities in newsletters and websites of their respective Centres.  Specifically at the end of the training, the participants were expected to be able to: (1) organize information to write a news article; (2) select the appropriate type of news lead to use that would highlight the most important information in writing a news article; and (3) write at least one news article.

The training consisted of lecture-discussions and exercises on the following:  Overview on News and News Writing, Types of News Stories, Overview and Tips on Writing the News Lead, Steps in Writing News Story, Structures of News Story, Tips on Writing the News Body, and Tips in Writing News Headline. Dr. Jess C. Fernandez, SEAMEO BIOTROP Deputy Director for Program, coordinated the training and also served as the resource person.

Nineteen news articles were produced by the participants i.e., 13 from BIOTROP, 2 each from QITEP in Language and RECFON, and 1 each from QITEP in Math and QITEP in Science.

The participants were:

Ms. Endang Nilla, Ms. Auberta Farica, and Mr. Naftali Yushistira from SEAMEO QITEP in Language

Ms. Lely Dian Puspita and Mrs. Rizky Nurmaya Oktarina from SEAMEO QITEP in Math

Mr. Firman and Ms. Dian Indriany from SEAMEO QITEP in Science

Mrs. Rosita and Mrs. Rindrawati from SEAMEO RECFON

Mr. Slamet Widodo , Mr. Jonner Situmorang, Mrs. Maya Masita  Novianti, Mrs. Erina Sulistiani, Ms. Ryna Mardiyana Siahaan, Mrs. Anidah, Mr. Saeful Bahri, Ms. Dewi Rahmawati, Mr. Yadi Supriyadi, Mrs. Yunita, Ms. Indah Wahyuni, Mrs. Ine Heryanti, Mrs. Dewanti Pratiwi, Mrs. Risa Rosita, Ms. Woro Kanti, Mr. Asep Saefudin from SEAMEO BIOTROP