Secondary school students journey through time with ST180 exhibition

Ayden Lim, 12, associates The Straits Times with fond memories of reading newspapers with his grandfather.

- Joyce Lee

Ayden Lim, 12, associates The Straits Times with fond memories of reading newspapers with his grandfather. But until recently, he did not know the national broadsheet was "very old." After learning more about its long history, he now "appreciates how ST keeps the memories" of the nation's past.

Ayden was one of 23 Secondary 1 students from Bartley Secondary who toured ST's 180th anniversary exhibition Heartbeats And Headlines: 180 Years Of Telling The Singapore Story on Aug 15.

Guided by ST's editor of newsroom insights Diane Leow, they learnt about ST's role in documenting key events in Singapore's history and gained insights into how the newsroom works.

The interactive experience also gave them a peek at how ST has adapted from a traditional print paper to a multimedia platform, keeping pace with the digital revolution.

Since news happens at all hours of the day, journalists may be called on at any time to cover breaking stories.

Despite the rise of automation, Ms Leow emphasised that human presence remains necessary to research, check and produce news reports.