KUCHING: Around 500 journalists from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore gathered at the Sarawak Media Conference (SMeC) 2024, which commenced today.
The two-day conference, held for the first time, was organised in conjunction with the National Journalists Day (Hawana).
A spokesperson from Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak said the conference themed "The Evolution of Media in the Digital Era", was organised by the Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) and the Kuching Division Journalists Association (KDJA), with the cooperation of Azam Sarawak and Business Events Sarawak.
According to the spokesperson, it is an initiative by the Sarawak government to enable media practitioners to convene and hear experts' perspectives on various topics, including challenges faced by today's media industry.
"This encompasses journalistic ethics, digital media trends and communication safety issues in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI)."
As a key collaborator, Azam Sarawak plays a pivotal role in ensuring the event's smooth operation.
The conference showcases a lineup of distinguished local and international speakers, including Professor Charlie Beckett from the London School of Economics and Political Science; Associate Professor Jaspal Kaur from Canterbury Christ Church University; and Media and Communications advisor/chief trainer Augustine Anthuvan from the Singapore Media Academy at Singapore Mediacorp.
Other speakers include the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Communication Security Centre chief Saidatul Ashikin Abu Hassan; Sarawak Deputy State Secretary (Operation) Datuk Hii Chang Kee; Munir Anaam from the Malaysian Press Institute; and Borneo Adventure managing director Philip Yong.