China – Journalism in Action

BEIJING:

In the world of journalism, practice should never fall behind the theory. Despite a very enriching academic programme, students had a chance to get an insight of how the industry of the financial journalism works in reality. In the middle of the week in Beijing, students were invited by the British Council in China to the UK-China annual People to People Dialogue with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and British ministers and officials. This was followed by the British Council networking event where students met with British and Chinese students studying British businesses in China in a friendly atmosphere at Hotel Éclat.

At the end of the week, students visited the offices of the British Council, Cultural and Educational arm of the British Embassy, where they were learned about living and working in China and heard from Guardian correspondent Tania Branigan, herself a City graduate. Lastly, students took a little break from journalism and went to explore the beauty of Chinese landmarks such as the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall of China.

SHANGHAI:

Shanghai Media Group tour

Students visited the European Chamber of Commerce where they learnt about business in China, trade liberalization and recent developments such as the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. This was followed by a visit to Shanghai Media Group – a multimedia television and radio broadcasting, news and Internet company, as well as the second biggest media group in China. Thanks to Fudan’s media connections, students also saw the newsroom of Shanghai Daily, the largest English-language news portal in East China.

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Schooling in China

BEIJING

Tsinghua University

In April, 15 City Financial Journalism students travelled to China, first to Beijing and then to Shanghai. For the first week, students were based at Tsinghua University’s Global Business Journalism department in Beijing. The week started with lectures on understanding media policy and development by Min Hang, Director of the Global Business Journalism Program. Students also participated in the panel discussion with Tsinghua journalism students on business news data mining and analysis led by Lee Miller, Editor-at-Large for Bloomberg News.

Zhenzhi  Guo, PhD, Professor of Broadcasting History sparked students’ interest with a fascinating discussion of the difficulties faced by broadcasters relating to censorship and political interference. Qingan Zhou, Director of International Communication Program and an anchor at CCTV, provided an international perspective on public diplomacy and relations in China. The very productive week was topped off by a lecture on multi-media and how it has changed journalism in the USA, China and around the world.

Students heard from Rick Dunham, a veteran political journalist and one of America’s foremost authorities on the use of social media for journalism. During the whole week students were accompanied and lectured by top academics and experts in the industry who introduced them to a very different reporting and editorial culture.

SHANGHAI

Fudan University

On Sunday April 27, students moved to another cradle of the financial world – Shanghai. They were warmly welcome by Fudan University, one of the oldest and most selective universities in China. The programme was very vivid and business-like and students had lots of opportunities to see how the financial industry works from inside. 

They started with a lecture on Applied Media Management by Dr David Maguire, a former journalist at Shanghai Daily and former editor of Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong. Doug Young, Reuters Correspondent and author of “The Party Line: How the Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China”, took students through group exercises on how both Chinese and foreign media report financial news in China, and the challenges and restrictions of their reporting.