PEARL WORLD YOUTH NEWS REPORTER CERTIFICATION COURSE IN INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM REMINDER

Yesterday, I checked all IV-Sir Isaac Newton accounts, and I found out that Rafael Alfred Costuna Montalvo, Mark Elfren Araño Zuño, Venus Riparip Casabon, and Sandi Vinluan Valdez did not make any entry of the three assignments for the Pearl World Youth News Reporter Certification Course in International Journalism. Reynerson Kumipang Concepcion made Assignment No. 2 but did not make Assignments 1 and 2.

I am reminding the above mentioned students to accomplish the required assignments. These are not only class requirements but also requirements for clearance. I am posting them here.


ASSIGNMENT NO. 1

Please read the following article. Answer the following in not more than 50 words.

Do you think the story is balanced? If you think it is, point out the two most important sides without which the news story would not have been balanced.

You can submit your answer by clicking on "start or edit my journal entry" at the bottom of the page.


RICH CAN PAY POOR TO CUT CARBON
By Roger Harrabin, BBC News environment analyst

Rich nations should be absolved from the need to cut emissions if they pay developing countries to do it on their behalf, a senior UN official has said.

The controversial suggestion from Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), has angered environmental groups.

They say climate change will not be solved unless rich and poor nations both cut emissions together.

But Mr de Boer said the challenge was so great that action was needed now.


Carbon credits

The UN's binding global climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, currently requires industrialised nations to reduce the majority of emissions themselves.

But Mr de Boer said this was illogical, adding that the scale of the problem facing the world meant that countries should be allowed to invest in emission cuts wherever in the world it was cheapest.

"We have been reducing emissions and making energy use more efficient in industrialised countries for a long time," he told BBC News.

"So it is quite expensive in these nations to reduce emissions any more.

"But in developing nations, less has been done to reduce emissions and less has been done to address energy efficiency," Mr de Boer observed.

"So it actually becomes economically quite attractive for a company, for example in the UK, that has a target to achieve this goal by reducing emissions in China."

Mr de Boer's views were personal ones, he said, and not those of the UNFCCC. He added that rich nations should be able to buy their way out of 100% of their responsibilities - though he doubted that any country would want to do so.

Green groups said the proposal was against the spirit of the UN, which agreed that wealthy countries - who were responsible for climate change - should do most to cure it.

Mike Childs from Friends of the Earth said: "This proposal simply won't deliver the cuts we need in time. The scientists are telling us that we need to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) by 50-80% by 2050.

"Unless rich countries start to wean themselves off fossil fuels right away this won't happen."

Doug Parr of Greenpeace was equally critical of Mr de Boer's suggestion.

"The current trading system is not delivering emissions reductions as it is," he said. "Expanding it like this to give rich countries a completely free hand will simply not work."

But Mr de Boer further explained: "The atmosphere does not care where emissions are reduced as long as they are reduced.

"Most of the cheapest emissions reduction possibilities are in developing countries. The carbon market can be used to catalyse these. So in terms of the maximum result at the lowest possible cost, it does not matter where emissions are reduced.

"Rich countries have the responsibility to take the lead by substantially reducing emissions at home."

Rich countries that reduced emissions at home were investing in their own clean energy future, rather than someone else's, he added.


ASSIGNMENT NO. 2

Based on the principles and tools of journalism that you've read about, write a news story on any topic. The article should not exceed 500 words. At the end of the article, tell us whether it's a hard news or a feature story, and why.

Keep in mind that PEARL aims to provide a unique youth perspective through your stories. When you select story ideas, think about what interests you, and what young people like you would be interested in reading about.

Find new ideas and angles to issues that people don’t know about. If you rely on the news media or websites as your sources, your story will not be original. This will lead to a story that's already been reported and discussed in the media.

You will play a very important role as a youth reporter representing your country in this global project. When you look at local issues and specific ideas that come from your communities, you will automatically find original ideas.


ASSIGNMENT NO. 3

Here’s your last assignment!

This is an imaginary situation. Explain what you would do in not more than 50 words.

Your uncle owns a company that sells computer games and he is about to launch a new game in the market. Would you write a news story about this? Why/why not?