7/27/2019 FCC v HKSDC - SCMP Young Post

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journalists. She added that the

industry has survived the

introduction of many new

challenges before, and they hadnt

displaced journalists.

Allen and Egan were both

relentless in their speeches,

Allen saying that social media

was a huge challenge because it

was forcing traditional

journalism to evolve, and Egan

going so far as to define each

word of the motion to gain

support.

Lo and Edwards wrapped up

their respective teams

arguments, and a second vote

was taken. This time, the

proposition took 54 per cent ofvotes, and the opposition received

43 per cent.

The HKSDC team was surprised

by the outcome, mainly because

their opponents had so much more

life experience than they did.

So said of the FCC members:

They are all professionals who used

their past experience in the industry

as examples in their speeches, and

that made their arguments solid.

Top student debaters

from the Hong Kong

Schools Debating

Council (HKSDC)

challenged and

defeated Foreign Correspondents

Club (FCC) members last week.

The student team was formed by

Hongkongers at universities

overseas, Natalie So Tsz-ching,

James Lo Yuen-fai and Benjamin

Allen. The FCC team was made up of

SCMP business editor Nick Edwards,

Bloomberg reporter Rachel Evans

and barrister Kevin Egan.

Three weeks before the event,

the teams were given three motions

to prepare for; on the night, the

audience voted for the final motionfrom This house would restrict the

use of embedded war

correspondents and This house

believes that the growth of social

media is the single biggest challenge

facing journalism today. They

selected the latter.

The students lost the coin toss

and were given the affirmative side

of the debate. The teams then had

35 minutes for final preparation.

Edwards stated that social media is

a positive addition to journalism.

However, he stressed the

importance of accuracy in reporting,

concluding that this means people

trust journalists reports more.

Lo, the second speaker for the

proposition, disagreed with

Edwards line, saying the role of

journalists has changed due to the

rise of social media. Journalists, he

said, are now only amplifiers of

news, and their main duty is no

longer collecting original sources

and information.

Evans in turn explained that

social media is a very useful tool for

Rather than have a panel of

adjudicators, the debate was judged

by all the attendees, including other

HKSDC and FCC members. Before

the debate started, the audience

members voted to express their

view on the issue: 40 per cent

agreed with the motion, 39

per cent disagreed, and 21per

cent were undecided.

As the first speaker for

proposition, So didnt hold

back in her attack on the role

of the journalist when the

social media matures. She

gave examples of many

politicians, including former

Australia Prime Minister Kevin

Rudd and US President BarackObama, who are increasingly using

their Twitter accounts to

communicate with people directly,

rather than always sending out

information to mass media.

She also stated that there is a

growing trend for news of major

events to be first reported on social

media sites, rather than through

news agencies.

First speaker for the opposition

Natalie So (left) opens the debate; the teams (top): BenNatalie So, James Lo, Rachel Evans, Nick Edwards andKevin Egan; the audience votes (above). Photos: Paul Yeu

2 youngpost Thursday, September 26, 2013

feature debating

say itbarrister (n) motions (n) adjudicators (n)

accuracy (n) evolve (v) veterans (n)

Allen said their aim

to beat the veterans.

This was more abo

the debate an enjoyab

less about competition

about sharing with the

helping the Council me

learn from the debate,

It was nice to have thi

thats not the main poi

Edwards was gracio

It was encouraging to

passionate debate and

of it, and listen to very

with this level of opinio

journalism brings to th

said.

When I first starte

the field, there was no internet. Things have g

competitive for sure; t

the challenge of journa

remains.

He admitted, too, th

been at a disadvantage

start. Rachel and I hav

before, and Kevin did i

ago when he was at sc

Edwards said. We wer

world class debate tea

Schools team victoriou

Professional experience

not enough to challenge

student debating champions,

writes Kevin Kung

It wasencouragingto have sucha passionate

debateand to be apart of it

Debating HK today