Jasper Wong, Asia Pacific campus recruiter for Bloomberg, and Hwee Ann Tan, Bloomberg Hong Kong bureau chief, will describe the service’s ten-week internship programme. The programme, which gives print news interns experience in reporting and writing, will run from June until August this summer.

Successful applicants will work with Bloomberg’s 1,800 print journalists in 153 news bureaus around the world to contribute to coverage of financial markets, companies, economies and governments.  They will  produce breaking news stories under deadline pressure.

The internships are open to both bachelor’s and master’s students.

Date: Friday, February 10
Time: 3-5pm
Venue: Theatre 1 (T1) Meng Wah Building

About the film:

February marks the 40th anniversary of U.S. President Richard Nixon’s visit to China, an historic event that reshaped the global balance of power and opened the door to the establishment of relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.

It was also a milestone in the history of journalism.

Since the founding of the PRC, Beijing had barred virtually all U.S. reporters from China. For the Nixon trip, however, the Chinese government accepted nearly 100 overseas journalists and allowed the most dramatic events – Nixon’s arrival in Beijing, Zhou Enlai’s welcoming banquet, visits to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City – to be televised live.

While the outlines of the Nixon trip are familiar, the behind-the-scenes story of how that momentous event was covered is much less well-known.

Assignment: China offers remarkable and previously unreleased footage of the Nixon visit, interviews with Chinese officials, people who worked for Nixon, as well as many of the journalists who accompanied the president.

Reported and narrated by Mike Chinoy, the film offers a fascinating and previously untold perspective on one of the most important historical moments of the 20th century.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with:

Mike Chinoy, Producer, Assignment: China; former CNN Senior Asia Correspondent and Beijing Bureau Chief
Frank Ching, Author, TV anchor and former Wall Street Journal correspondent who opened the WSJ’s Beijing bureau in 1979
Chen Jian, Michael J. Zak Professor of History for US-China Relations, Cornell University; Distinguished Visiting Research Professor, History Department, The University of Hong Kong
Jim Laurie, former ABC News Asia bureau chief, who in 1981 opened the first American TV network bureau in Beijing
Ying Chan, Professor and Director, Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong (moderator)

Date: Monday, February 13, 2012
Time: 6 -8 pm
Venue: Wang Gungwu Lecture Hall, The University of Hong Kong (Map)
All are welcome. No registration required.

In a seminar called Framing of ‘heroes’ in time of crisis: a narrative analysis of Japanese and Western media on Fukushima, Kajimoto will explore the media representations of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, a group often dubbed as the “Fukushima 50″ by English-language media.

He will discuss how different cultural meanings of ‘heroes’ create characterizations adopted by both journalists and their audiences.

Masato Kajimoto came to Hong Kong to work as a reporter and editor for CNN in 2001. He then moved into a career in teaching and media research, joining the JMSC as a teaching consultant in 2010. He is currently studying for a Ph.D. in sociology (media anthropology) at HKU.

Date: Friday, February 10, 2012
Time: Noon -1 pm
Venue: Shum Wai Yau Reading Room, Eliot Hall, The University of Hong Kong

For more information on the JMSC Media research seminar series, please visit:  http://jmsc.hku.hk/2011/04/media-research-seminars/

Funding two scholarships for the coming academic year

The scholarships are designed to teach journalism to computer scientists and specialists in related disciplines who are interested in pursuing a media-related career, and in developing digital journalism tools for newsgathering, storytelling, data analysis and data visualisation.

“As technology develops at break-neck speed, the industry needs developers and programmers who are knowledgeable about journalism,” said Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC.  “We need them  to  help develop new ways of telling stories, analyze massive amounts of data and develop web and mobile applications for news delivery.”

As part of the programme, successful candidates will participate in JMSC data journalism research projects.

The scholarships will cover full tuition for the 2012-13 academic year, and will be awarded on the basis of academic merit or outstanding experience.  “We are grateful for the support from Google, which helps the JMSC advance the frontiers of journalism education,” Professor Chan said.

Applicants should have at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information science, information engineering or a related discipline, and must demonstrate competency in computational problem solving, computer programming and database management.

Applicants with knowledge of data mining, data visualisation and digital storytelling will have a definite advantage. Those with innovative ideas or entrepreneurial talents are particularly encouraged to apply.

Scholarship holders will study the core and elective courses offered by the JMSC and  may also take elective courses offered by the Faculty of Engineering’s Electronic Commerce and Internet Computing Programme.

The application deadline is March 31, 2012.

For further information, visit http://jmsc.hku.hk/mjadmissions.

To apply for a scholarship, please contact Jason Hui at 2219-4113 or e-mail jmscmj@hku.hk.

Click for Radio 1's schedule

The University of Hong Kong, the JMSC’s parent institution, is one of five institutions cooperating with RTHK on the project.

The others are Chu Hai College of Higher Education, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and Hong Kong Baptist University.

Students will apply the skills learned from the JMSC’s Radio News and Online Journalism courses to produce five-minute segments for broadcast during RTHK Radio 1′s morning Talkabout show and its evening Phone Openline Openview.

The collaboration will last for eight weeks from February 13 to April 6. The JMSC’s pre-recorded packages will run each Wednesday.

The JMSC has picked 12 students — six BJs, five MJs and one BA — for the production team.

MJ Chloe Deng is one: “The project is a great way to learn radio news production and also to work in a real environment. I hope to obtain the practical skills used in this sector, such as planning, interviewing and dealing with sound bites and effects. I also see it as an opportunity to find out whether I am suitable for radio,” she said.

Students will attend a series of training workshops run by Rachel Li, Edmund Siu and Kevin Lau to prepare them for the project

Li is a veteran news broadcaster and a senior consultant for Breakthrough, a non-profit making Christian organisation that provides cultural and educational services for young people.  Siu is a producer at Now Sports,  and Lau is an online producer and tutor at the JMSC.

Sylvia Chan (MJ 2007)

The bilingual (English and Chinese) volume will be published by Muse Books in Hong Kong.

Chan, a Hong Kong native, studied at the JMSC in 2006-2007. After graduating from the JMSC, she worked as a reporter at the trade publication Cargonews Asia for half a year and then joined Muse Magazine, a leading arts and culture magazine based in Hong Kong, as a staff writer.

In 2010, she returned to academia, taking a master’s in Histories and Theories of Architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

“Writing In(to) Architecture is actually my thesis for the MA course,” said Chan.

“The book is about the evolution of architectural journalism in China from 1949, when the PRC was established, until the present,” she said.  “In a nutshell, the book explores the relationship between journalism and the actual design and construction.”

She said she was interested in exploring how the general public can influence architectural design by contributing to the discourse on architecture.  Architectural writing provides a platform for the general public to participate in debates on architecture, which are otherwise dominated by architectural professionals, she said.

Chan found her studies at the JMSC useful when it came to researching and authoring first her thesis and then her book.

“My studies at the JMSC deeply reinforced my research and writing skills, which have been extremely valuable both within and outside the realm of journalism.”

“The literary journalism course offered by the JMSC was certainly a source of inspiration for my book. Through the course, I realised how texts could simultaneously document and provide alternative lenses to look at social phenomena.”

She currently works as a communications officer at an international research-based architectural firm. She is responsible for promoting the firm in Asia and also serves as a researcher on architectural phenomena.

That’s according to Lauren Dockett, JMSC teaching assistant and internship consultant.

Dockett, who joined the JMSC staff in September 2011, hails from New York, where she’s seen a rapid decline in the traditional newspaper industry over the last decade.

“In the US, the situation for newspapers is dire,” said Dockett. “We’ve lost a third of all newspaper jobs in the last 10 years. That’s tens of thousands of jobs. Some analysts believe that only the really big papers like the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Washington Post are going to survive.”

“Regional dailies that are surviving have become very thin papers run on a much reduced staff,” she continued. “Hiring is a real problem for recent graduates who have their heart set on being an old school print reporter. It’s really very tough.”

Since her arrival at the JMSC, Dockett has been organising internships and fielding job announcements for alumni. She’s been impressed with the number of opportunities available for students to gain work experience in Asia, and for the higher number and quality of the jobs available to recent graduates. Dockett says this reflects a better job market for journalism graduates in the region.

“The Pew Research Centre (an American think tank) looks at the state of the media every year,” said Dockett. “Usually it looks at the States but last year it had a more global perspective when it looked at newspapers. It found that the U.S. and European markets are still faltering but that Asia — especially countries like India and China — is doing much better.”

“I find Hong Kong surprising in that it has so many newspapers,” she said. “For some populations, reading a paper still has cachet. And there is evidence that countries with growing literacy rates and middle classes are supporting newspapers. I also think that Asia at large is doing better than America or Europe because there are fewer people with online access. In the U.S. now, people tend to get their news from television and online.”

This is good news for journalists wishing to embark on a career in print in Asia. However, it’s also a sign of the times that students should make sure they have a rounded set of skills so that they can branch into online and broadcast journalism should they need to or want to.

The JMSC offers instruction in a broad range of practical and theoretical journalism subjects, including online journalism and broadcast journalism.

The scholarships are either full, half or quarter and come from donors including the South China Morning Post-Wah Kiu Yat Po Scholarship Fund, the William F. Woo Memorial Journalism Education Fund, Frank Proctor of Muse Magazine, the Hong Kong University Graduate Association  Journalism Fund and the JMSC Journalist Grant Scheme. In addition to raising capital for scholarships, the JMSC manages the funds that are awarded.

This year’s recipients include Sanday Chongo Kabange of Zambia, Connie Tse Cho Yi and Ellen Cheung Oi Lun of Hong Kong, Yu Xinyan from the mainland, and Paola Barisani of Italy.

Kabange worked as a media professional prior to coming to the JMSC.

Sanday Chongo Kabange (MJ 2012)

He worked for Voice of America, Africa News, Wage Indicator Foundation and Wren Media doing a variety of media work including corporate communications, basic training and consultancy.

He came to the JMSC to earn a Master of Journalism degree  thanks to an SCMP Wah Kiu Yat Po Scholarship.

“This scholarship has enabled me participate in one of the most extensive and highly recognised journalism programmes worldwide,” he said.

“I doubt I would have managed to support myself to the end of the course if I had not been offered it. Therefore, it has contributed to re-shaping the course of my future and career.”

Kabange says he hopes to work in Hong Kong upon graduating and then return to Zambia to contribute to the development of the media in his native country.

Connie Tse came straight to the JMSC from her undergraduate studies in Comparative Literature and Politics at HKU.

Connie Tse Cho Yi (MJ 2012)

She received a full scholarship thanks to Frank Proctor, founder and publisher of Muse Magazine.

“Here at the JMSC, I have met many talented people from China, Singapore, Germany, Canada, Africa and other parts of the world,” said Tse. “We’ve become good friends and we help each other to learn. The teachers are very supportive to the students and we are like a big family. All these things wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of my donor.”

Tse hopes to work in video and multimedia journalism after she completes her master’s degree.

“The skills I have learned here are very practical: I can now film short videos, then edit and package them into complete news stories,” she said. “I am also learning to build websites and cover live stories online. These skills are an important asset to a young professional journalist in today’s digital era.”

Yu Xinyan came to the JMSC from Beijing Foreign Studies University.  She received a JMSC Journalist Grant Scheme Scholarship.

“The scholarship made it possible for me to be here,” she said. “I’ve been exposed to a lot of hands-on courses, teaching me not only to write but also to shoot videos and take photos. I’ve always wanted to become a journalist with a multimedia background. The JMSC has helped me make my first step.”

Yu hopes to work for an English-language news agency in Beijing once she has graduated. She said she’s extremely grateful for the financial help and has been pleased with the course.

“So far, I have particularly enjoyed Health and Medicine Reporting and Literary Journalism because they have helped me to expand my vision and specialise in certain areas,” she said.

Paola Barisani holds a degree in Communications from the University of Milan and a master’s degree in Global Media and Post-national Communication from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

Paola Barisan (MJ 2012)

The Italian student lived and worked in Japan and Vietnam for two years between her studies in Europe. She then returned to Italy to work in the communications sector, at the same time freelancing for an Italian regional magazine and working as an editor at Digicult, a magazine that specialises in art, digital culture and society.

Barisani received an SCMP Wah Kiu Yat Po Scholarship. She interned at the Cambodian newspaper, the Phnom Penh Post over the winter break, which cemented her desire to become a reporter, either in print or broadcast, after she completes her master’s degree at the JMSC.

“HKU is a great place to study journalism,” she said. “I feel like I am learning a lot and gaining practical skills, which is what I missed in my previous MA and BA. It has also given me the opportunity to follow an internship in a dynamic part of the world that I had never been to before.”

“If I am one step closer to my professional goals it is thanks to my scholarship providers,” Barisani said.

“Their generosity has inspired me to help others and give back to the community. I hope one day I will be able to help students achieve their goal as just as they have helped me.”

Ellen Cheung Oi Lun is  working as a research assistant while studying for her MJ.

Ellen Cheung Oi Lun (MJ 2012)

Cheung came to the JMSC after her BA honors degree in English Studies at HKU. She has also benefitted from an SCMP Wah Kiu Yat Po Scholarship.

“I want to thank my scholarship providers for their generosity in helping me pursue this degree,” said Cheung. “Without their support I would not have completed half of the programme.”

The new members of the teaching staff are Mike Meyer, Matt Walsh and Danny Gittings.

Meyer, who has won the Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing and the Whiting Writers’ Award for Nonfiction, will teach Literary Journalism.  He takes over from Gene Mustain, who retired last summer after a decade at the JMSC.

“In this course, we’ll examine how factual writing can grab and hold readers’ attention through the art of story-telling,” said Meyer. “We’ll do pen-in-hand, close readings of authors and their masterpieces of the genre, applying the lessons to our own journalism.”

Mike Meyer

Meyer’s stories have appeared in Sports Illustrated, The New York Times Book Review, Time magazine, Smithsonian magazine, the Financial Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and many other publications.

In 2009, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship and residencies at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Centre for Scholars and Writers and the Rockefeller Foundation Centre in Bellagio, Italy.

Meyer is looking forward to teaching at the JMSC as an antidote to his recent work on a book about a rice farm in northeast China.

“I look forward to being home in Hong Kong, being on campus and being inspired by the writers we’ll be reading, and the stories we’ll be writing,” he said.

Matt Walsh, who will be teaching Television News Writing, is a seasoned broadcaster with 30 years in the industry. He started in radio in the United States, and transferred into television in 1992, working for CNN in Atlanta as editor, writer, producer and trainer for CNN staff and affiliate stations. In 1999, he moved to Hong Kong with CNN International’s expanding operation here.

Matt Walsh

In 2004, Walsh left CNN to launch Media Advisers Asia, Ltd, a training and consulting company.

He worked as an editor at Voice of America’s Hong Kong bureau from 2005-2008. He has also been a field producer for programmes that air on the Travel Channel and Discovery Channel and does voice over work for TV and radio commercials, documentaries, corporate videos and educational products.

He has conducted training workshops for broadcasters and journalists in 17 Asian countries and territories and also teaches media training workshops for corporate executives and spokespeople.

His course at the JMSC, he says, is “designed to be very practical so as to prepare students to hit the ground running in any news or documentary setting they may enter after their studies.”

“Really good writing for video remains a rarity, largely misunderstood. Students coming through this semester’s TV News Writing classes have a chance to get a leg up on others in the industry by learning the ‘best practice’ approaches we’ll discuss.”

Danny Gittings is an Assistant Professor and Senior Programme Director at HKU SPACE College of Humanities and Law, where he runs one of Hong Kong’s largest sub-degree law programmes and teaches a wide variety of law courses. He will teach Media Law at the JMSC.

Gittings is also a regular host of Radio Television Hong Kong’s Backchat phone-in show. He has interviewed a wide variety of leading figures in the local community, including Hong Kong ’s chief executive.

Prior to this, he was Deputy Editorial Page Editor of The Wall Street Journal Asia for five years, travelling widely in the region to cover major events.

Gittings is co-editor of Introduction to Crime, Law and Justice in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 2009) and a barrister in both London and Hong Kong.

Along with these new members, the JMSC welcomes back some familiar faces.

Rusty Todd returns as Visiting Professor and Director of Business Journalism. He will teach two courses: Interpreting and Using Business Journalism in a Global Era, and Global Financial Journalism.

Todd has a long background in Asian journalism.  He is currently is a professor specialising in Editing and Business Journalism at the University of Texas Journalism School.

Nancy Tong, an award-winning documentary film-maker and Visiting Associate Professor, returns to the JMSC from New York to teach Documentary Video Production.

This is the second year in a row that the JMSC has been chosen to administrate the awards, and the third time that Todd has led the judging panel.

SOPA is dedicated “preserving freedom of the press in the Asia region and to ensuring that independent, quality journalism is observed, encouraged and acknowledged.”

The JMSC has enjoyed a long partnership with the SOPA Awards and faculty members have served as Head of Judges since 2004.

“The mission of the JMSC is to pursue excellence in journalism and foster Asian voices in the international media,” said Professor Ying Chan, Director of the JMSC. “This aligns with the mission of SOPA and the search for editorial excellence of the SOPA Awards.”

Todd said that since 1999, the SOPA Awards have become “the equivalent of the Pulitzer Prizes in Asia.”

“The awards encourage and recognise courageous, high-quality journalism in the Asia-Pacific,” he said. “Recognising that kind of coverage helps keep journalism vibrant in a region where critical news coverage is badly needed. I’m always willing to help with the SOPA Awards because they are so important to journalism in this part of the world.”

SOPA’s Awards for Editorial Excellence recognise a range of skills, including Excellence in Investigative Reporting,  Reporting Breaking News, Business Reporting, Human Rights Reporting, Reporting on the Environment, Feature Writing and Opinion Writing.

Prizes are also awarded for News Photography, Feature Photography, Special Coverage, Editorial Cartooning, Information Graphics, Newspaper Design, Magazine Design, Multimedia News Presentation, The Scoop Award, and Journalist of the Year.

As Awards’ administrator, the JMSC’s duties include finalising the rules and entry requirements, establishing judging panels, managing hundreds of entries from all over Asia, and collecting and tabulating results.

Todd and his team are busy assembling the judging panels and receiving entries before the deadline of February 15, 2012. The Awards Ceremony will be held in June, at a date to be announced.

• The SOPA Website.