Vietnam Financial Newswriting Bootcamp
Course members take to the road
The rice crisis was festering by early April. Food shortages caused riots in Haiti. Vietnam, India, China and Egypt banned foreign sales as the price of rice soared. In Bangladesh the Army sold discounted rice from trucks. African countries bought whatever rice they could find in the international market.
Against this backdrop, 15 Vietnamese reporters from television and text converged on the Hanoi training centre of Vietnam's national television service VTV for a Financial Newswriting Bootcamp, which teaches reporters the economic and financial content knowledge they need to write well about the biggest stories in their country and in the world.
The week-long course opened with ceremonies conducted by VTV, host of the Reuters Foundation, and an assignment for a feature on the global rice crisis. The group worked from 0830 until about 1830 each day learning to report on businesses, governments, economies and markets, the global credit crisis and big, breaking commodity stories.
Reporters on the course were Nguyen Quang Sang (VTV), Vu Minh Huong (VTV), Nguyen Thi Thu Huong (VTV), Nguyen Hoai Linh (VTV), Le Huong (VTV), Hoang Thi Thu Trang (VTV), Nguyen Ngoc Phuong (VTV), Nguyen Hoang Duong (VCTV), Nguyen Xuan Hung (VCTV), Nguyen Nhu Mai (VNA), Vo Chau Thuy Trieu (Saigon Times Group), Le Hong Bao Tram (Business Review), Hoang Lien Huong (VIR), Nguyen Ba Vinh Bao (Thanh Nien Daily) and Tran Le Thuy (Tuoi Tre Daily).
Course director Toni Reinhold, an editor-in-charge from Reuters America, and copy critic Phil Smith, Southeast Asia editor, swapped roles from time to time during the course, which ended on April 11 with "commodity day" and a sack of coffee for each reporter who completed the rice feature. Reuters Hanoi Bureau Chief Grant McCool and VTV training directors were among dignitaries at closing ceremonies, where certificates were presented to the reporters.
We have since sent reports about the country and region to reporters from the course. One wrote back: "Two days after the course I wrote a report about Vietnam's rice crisis at the moment ... the course helped me so much in doing my report."
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