Veteran ST reporter is one of two recipients of journalism fellowship

A veteran Straits Times reporter is one of two recipients of a journalism fellowship under an agreement between the SPH Media Academy and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.

Ms Tham Yuen-C, 45, a senior political correspondent at ST's Singapore desk, and Mr Ng Soon Kiat, 34, associate digital content editor at Chinese-language broadsheet Lianhe Zaobao, will head to Britain to attend the three-month fellowship.

They will begin their stint in October.

Each year, about 30 journalists from around the world attend the Reuters Institute's fellowship programme.

The ST veteran reporter, who joined the paper 20 years ago, covers politics as well as issues of the day in the Singapore community.

She was previously an assistant political editor and was on beats including technology.

She said: "When I first joined the newsroom, online journalism was still in its infancy, and it was little more than uploading print stories onto a website. Today, the digital economy means that news is increasingly produced in instant and interactive formats.

"The fellowship will give me the opportunity to meet other journalists also dealing with these changes, and learn how to adapt my practice to better address the needs and preferences of our audiences."

Mr Paul Jacob, dean of the SPH Media Academy, said: "The fellowship is one of the world's leading programmes for practising senior journalists to take some time away from the daily pressures of deadlines to explore journalism in depth.

"It provides them with the opportunity to work on a project that is meaningful to them, and relevant to the newsrooms they represent and the wider media industry in which they work."