February 12, 2007

Express Yourself: Newsbreak Magazine Blogs

Newsbreak magazine at the Express Yourself! blogging and podcasting workshop

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF)’s Express Yourself! blogging and podcasting workshop has reached the ears of the media. Newsbreak magazine editors and staff spent 12 February 2007 at the Foundation’s office in Makati City learning the ins and outs of these new communication technologies. “This is a new beginning for us,” said Editor in Chief Marites D. Vitug. “We had our last print version early February, and we are now fully online.”

Problogger Abraham “Abe” Olandres and FNF Web Developer Narwin Espiritu familiarized the group with the basics of blogging. At the end of the day, the Newsbreak team added several new posts to their blog: Off Duty. Off Duty takes its readers behind the scenes of a media operation and into the daily lives of journalists.

“Since we started online, we’ve been getting a good response,” Vitug said. “This medium is really more intimate, and you can build a community,” she added. “In the future, we’ll gladly embrace new technology. We hope to expand and do podcasting and audio-video.”

FNF Manila Resident Representative Mr. Siegfried Herzog with Problogger Abe Olandres

“We are very happy to host this workshop,” Resident Representative Siegfried Herzog remarked. “The Friedrich Naumann Foundation in the Philippines has been focusing on popularizing the new opportunities which information and communication technologies entail for a broader enlightened democratic discourse.”

Newsbreak magazine is an independent media organization that aims to deepen democracy and strengthen institutions by holding public officials accountable through its investigative reporting.