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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 curriculum, with instruction predominantly in English, is designed to produce graduates for all types of local, regional and international media, whether the graduates ultimately practice in English, Chinese, or some other language.

From day one, students develop convergent skills enabling them operate comfortably in all aspects of the industry, ranging from print, audio, video, multi-media to online journalism.

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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.”