Forty secondary school students were picked from an animation competition to visit The Straits Times newsroom yesterday, to see what goes on behind the scenes in news production.
The students were drawn from among more than 300 participants of N.E.mation!, an annual inter-school digital animation competition which centres on total defence. They were selected as their story pitches for the competition focused on combating fake news as part of Singapore's digital defences.
The students were shown around the newspaper's video production and photo studio and its newsroom, with the final stop being Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) creative and content marketing unit Sweet. Content generators and animators from Sweet will be training the students in the art of animated storytelling throughout the competition.
Chiera Dione Benedicto Beltran, 15, a student from North Vista Secondary School, is eager to participate in the competition. "I take art classes, so while my animation may not be particularly good now, I'm definitely interested in learning more," she said.
The students also listened to presentations by journalists, including Mrs Rebecca Pazos, an ST interactive graphics journalist who gave a talk on how visuals have become integral to newsmaking. They saw how topics such as the gender pay gap and Malaysia's general election could be explained through visuals.
Ms Shefali Rekhi, the paper's Asia News Network editor, taught them how to identify fake news in the content they read, telling them: "Always think before you share."
They picked up tell-tale signs of fake websites and fake news - for example, websites with unusual URL addresses and articles that do not contain a multitude of sources.
Lee Zhe Feng, 14, a student from Maris Stella High School, can now better appreciate the news he reads and watches at home. "I got to see how much work was put into one headline: the information-gathering, people running around and fact-checking," he said.
The organiser of the competition is Nexus, the Ministry of Defence department responsible for total defence and national education.
The top 10 teams will each create an animated clip with the theme "Together We Keep Singapore Strong". The results will be known next February.
