Angela Doland

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A world-class international journalism degree – in the heart of Asia

Admissions – Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (PDipJ)

Admissions – MPhil / PhD

Please note that the application deadline for the main round of MPhil / Ph.D admissions for the 2013-14 academic year is December 1, 2012.

Hammer will discuss issues such as internet freedom, the use of social media as a tool for public diplomacy and other subjects.

Mike Hammer

Hammer earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and master’s degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and from the National War College at the National Defense University. He grew up in Latin America, living in Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil.

Date: Friday, September 14, 2012
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Lecture with Q & A)
Venue: T4, Meng Wah Complex
Registration not required.

Zhang Qianye receives her award

The awards cover traditional and new media in the region, and encompass a wide range of categories. JMSC alumni won more awards this year than ever before.

Zhang Qianye (MJ 2012), a reporter on Mainland China for Yazhou Zhoukan, won an award for Excellence in Reporting Breaking News.

“I felt really inspired by winning the award in my first year working in the Hong Kong media,” said Zhang. “It’s made me even more enthusiastic about the future.”

“Knowing that so many alumni won SOPA awards, I wrote on my Facebook page: ‘Proud of the JMSC’!” she said.

Another winner was Stuart Biggs (MJ 2004), a reporter at Bloomberg, who also won an award for Excellence in Reporting Breaking News.  Biggs and Helen Luk (MJ 2002), who writes for A Plus Magazine, each received an honorable mention for Excellence in Business Reporting.

Olga Wong (MPhil 2005), who writes for the South China Morning Post, received an honorable mention for Excellence in Reporting Breaking News, while Zhou Ping (MJ 2011), a reporter for the Financial Times, received an honorable mention for Excellence in Human Rights Reporting.

Annie Zhang (MJ 2006), a reporter for iSun Affairs, rounded out the JMSC winners with an honorable mention for Excellence in Investigative Reporting.

The JMSC was the administrator of the event. This year’s Head of Judges was Rusty Todd, Visiting Professor and Head of Business Journalism at the JMSC.

“This was a tough year to judge because of the generally high quality of entrants,” Todd said. “The Japanese tsunami and nuclear accident, and the deaths of Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong-il brought many news organisations the opportunity to do their best work. I think journalism in Asia is as good as anywhere in the world.”

Todd also noted the obstacles that reporters in Asia face in producing quality journalism. 

“Freedom of speech and the press is problematic in many parts of Asia,” he said. ”The SOPA Awards are one way we can recognise the importance of both. By standing together to recognise quality journalism, we make it more difficult to suppress that kind of reporting. The awards also give journalists another way to compete with each other — and competition makes for quality.”

Dan Hallin

Health and medicine are major subjects in the news, and the media play a central role in circulating medical information and establishing the cultural meaning of medicine. However, there has been relatively little scholarly attention to health and medical reporting.

Hallin proposes a framework in which health and medical journalism plays an active role in helping societies construct medical knowledge and culture.

He has written many books on the media, some of which are considered  among the most influential works in comparative media research in recent decades. His topics include media and politics, media and war, media and public health, the history of journalistic professionalism, and comparative media systems, particularly in Europe and Latin America.

Date: Friday, 20 April 2012
Time: 12-1pm
Venue: Shum Wai Yau Reading Room, Eliot Hall, The University of Hong Kong (see map)

For more information on the JMSC Media Research Seminar series, please click here.

Full-time / Part-time / PDipJ

Admissions briefing sessions:

Monday, Jan 16, 5:30PM @ T6, Meng Wah Complex, University of Hong Kong.

Master of Journalism Open Week (Jan 16-19, 2012) Registration Form

Eliot Hall

A world-class international journalism degree – in the heart of Asia

Admissions – Master of Journalism (MJ)

The Master of Journalism course is a one year full-time or a two year part-time course. Students address the core skills of journalism – reporting and writing, television and video production, media law and ethics and multiple-media online journalism. They also have the opportunity to take elective courses in a broad range of subjects from business and finance to public health to digital media and to undergo short-term internships.

• Learn more about the MJ programme and application process

• MJ Admissions FAQs

• Download MJ programme brochure (PDF)

Admissions – Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (PDipJ)

The Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism course is a part-time course over one or two years. Students learn the core skills of journalism – reporting and writing, television and video production, media law and ethics and multiple-media online journalism. Students also have the opportunity to take elective courses in a broad range of subjects from business and finance to public health to digital media and to undergo short-term internships.

• Learn more about the PDipJ programme and application process

Admissions – MPhil / PhD

Please note that the application deadline for the main round of MPhil / Ph.D admissions for the 2012-13 academic year is December 1, 2011.

• Guide to MPhil and Ph.D Admissions

Evelyn Ho (MJ 2012)

Ho’s article was about Hillary Clinton’s forthcoming visit to Myanmar in early December and what it means.

Originally written as an assignment for JMSC 6048 International News, a class taught by Assistant Professor Thomas Abraham, Director of the JMSC’s Public Health Media Project, it was published on Abraham’s newly-established class website, World Watch.

It was then picked up by the ISEAS website.

“My focus was on a recent statement made by White House official, Ben Rhodes, that Clinton’s visit would not automatically be translated into the lifting of economic sanctions imposed on the country (Myanmar),” said Ho.

“I highlighted the small, progressive and shrewd steps that Myanmar has taken in recent months to court the favour of the world’s biggest power,” she said.

“I also referred to an article by an expert from Georgetown University, which suggested some reasons for Myanmar’s transformation. In addition, I quoted the views of an expert from the ISEAS about his views that any political reform in Myanmar would have to stem from the country itself, independent of any other external push and pull factors.”

It was this quote by Dr. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Fellow of Regional Strategic and Political Studies and Lead Researcher for Political and Strategic Affairs of the ASEAN Studies Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, that caught the attention of the ISEAS.

Ho was required to write four stories for Professor Abraham’s class.

“I chose to work on Myanmar because it is a country I know so little of but am intrigued by,” she said.

“I also wanted to have a series of four articles on how the Myanmar government has been carrying out political reforms, how it is reinventing itself to become a credible chair of ASEAN in 2014 and a responsible member of the global community, and to examine if its political reforms can be sustained.”

The article on Clinton’s visit was the third in her series.

When the report was published on the JMSC’s World Watch site, Ho informed Dr Chachavalpongpun.

The ISEAS picked up on it and posted her report on its website.

“I am thrilled because the ISEAS is a well-regarded regional research centre on socio-economic and political trends in Southeast Asia,” said Ho. “To have my news report posted on the website could only mean that Dr Chachavalpongpun was happy with how he was quoted in my article and that I can look forward to more insights from him for my final analytical piece on Myanmar.”

Ho has been particularly pleased with Abraham’s class this semester.

“I have a lot to thank Thomas Abraham for,” she said. ” He is an extremely good tutor who helps students get to the crux of the news in double-quick time.  He is also an excellent editor who is able to highlight discrepancies and any incoherence in our reports.”

“I think the World Watch website is a testimony to how he has helped me and my course-mates grow from having near zero-journalistic skills to be able to put up articles fit for publication.”

Award-winning photographer Michael Coyne will hold a photography workshop and a public talk in Hong Kong .

Photography Course: Beyond Basic Photography
Dates: Friday–Sunday, Dec 2-4, 2011 (3 mornings)
Time: 10am – 1pm
Venue: Foundation Chamber, Eliot Hall, The University of Hong Kong
Tuition fee: HK$3,500 ($2,800 for HKU Alumni)

Syllabus: please see here.

This course explores different photographic techniques, purposes and outcomes. It will enable you to identify good techniques and minimize bad photography.. Students will learn how to produce effective portraits, which illuminate the subjects’ personality as well as their appearance. By the end of the course you will be able to effectively tell a story or illustrate an issue through photography.

REGISTER NOW. Space is limited
Register here.
Register here with discount, if you are a HKU alumni.  Reference number is required.

This workshop is part of the JMSC’s Photojournalism @ HKU year-long series, which includes masters lectures, public courses and an exhibition of works by JMSC students at the Fringe Club. For details, visit http://jmsc.hku.hk/photojournalism

Enquiries: Kylie Chan at kyliec@hku.hk or 2219-4416