KORONADAL CITY, SOUTH COTABATO – The Department of Trade and Industry (Region 12) trained its information officers and members of its publicity and promotions team in basic news writing, social media management, and mobile photography in an effort to strengthen its bid to widen the public’s awareness of the agency’s programs and services.
The two-day training, which concluded last Friday, was attended by 21 associates of DTI 12 with information officers Danilo Doguiles and Oliver Ross Rivera of the Philippines Information Agency 12 as resource speakers.
Participants were trained and coached on how to write effective news reports, document events, programs, and projects, use mobile photography, prepare social media cards, and deal with media.
Opening the event, OIC Assistant Regional Director Rictoniel Reginio said that there is a need to write news and package media materials in order to make the public aware of the programs, services, and accomplishments of the agency, which will be shared to media outlets and posted on different platforms.
“We need to equip our information officers so we can effectively package our news reports and other publicity and promotion materials. By doing so, we can have wider public reach that will translate to more people aware of our programs and services,” said Reginio.
In a separate interview, Regional Director Flora Politud-Gabunales mentioned the importance of staying abreast of writing effective news reports and maximizing the use of social media as alternative outlets to traditional print broadsheets, radio, and television.
“With the advent of technology, the platform through which the general public learns about the news has shifted from traditional print broadsheets, radio, and television to the dominated media platform of social media. Our training will equip our information officers to create effective materials and maximize the use of social media,” said Politud-Gabunales. As a final part of the training program, participants were given practical exercises to further reinforce their newly acquired skills. These exercises included writing a news report and creating social media event and quote cards. ♦
Date of release: 30 April 2023