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About 2,600 students and youngsters have taken part in a series of seminars and training programmes over the past two months to learn more about the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO).
The activities are part of the media education programme - Point@Media, jointly organised by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK)'s eTVonline, with the aim of training youngsters to analyse unhealthy media content with a critical mind and educate them to stay away from obscene and indecent information.
Organised for the third year, the education programme also featured a news reporting competition where participants had the chance to learn the bounds of news reporting under COIAO by having first-hand experience as a reporter.
This year's competition received an encouraging response with more than 500 students and youngsters from 85 schools participating. They will produce news reports in electronic or print format, according to the group in which they have enrolled.
A judging panel comprising university professors, media workers, and representatives from TELA and RTHK has been formed to judge the entries according to the accuracy, reporting techniques and compliance with COIAO.
Winners of the news reporting competition will be announced in an award presentation ceremony in March, 2007.
Under the programme, a series of talks and workshops were also organised to help the student participants learn more about the regulations under COIAO and facilitate direct exchanges between the youngsters and industry players.
During these events, experienced media practitioners had shared their experience and challenges as media workers; while representatives from academia and social service organisations talked on media ethics and moral standards.
Details of the programme are available at the Media Education Programme website: http://mediaed.etvonline.tv
Ends/Saturday, December 30, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:00
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