RGE Group, the $15 billion family of natural resources-based manufacturing companies headed by Indonesian philanthropist and entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto, recently hosted its third annual Journalism Workshop. For the five-day 2014 event, RGE collaborated with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Press Holdings, and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Participants included top-level executives and editorial staff from leading publications in the region.
The news professionals were able to gather information about current topics in their field from fellow media professionals and professors, and to practice expanding their own journalistic skills.
RGE executives present were able to focus extensively on the state of the global forestry products market and to give attendees a sense of the problems and opportunities their industry faces. In addition, they discussed Mr. Tanoto’s comprehensive business philosophy of three-fold good, which involves placing equal focus on the best interests of the company, its surrounding community, and the country as a whole. In addition, because the nonprofit Tanoto Foundation emphasizes similar ethics, RGE staff also discussed how the foundation has concentrated on community-building efforts through public education, entrepreneurship training, and infrastructure support.
In addition to its goal of promoting journalistic excellence and ethics through dialogue, the workshop offered participants the chance to tour the state-of-the-art offices of Singapore Press Holdings, publisher of leading brands such as The Straits Times, The Business Times, and close to 20 other newspapers and more than 100 magazines. Another special tour involved a visit to Gardens by the Bay, Singapore’s model of a tropical garden environment. The small nation has worked to make Gardens by the Bay a premier attraction that epitomizes the identity of Singapore as a destination “Garden City.” Created less than a decade ago, Gardens by the Bay is the result of an international competition among design firms to produce a venue that would showcase Singapore’s leadership in 21st century public horticultural design.
Watch RGE Journalism Workshop Video: