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ABC News takes first story from JMSC

ABC News in New York has accepted its first story from JMSC Master of Journalism student Lorea Solabarrieta.

ABC News in New York has accepted its first story from JMSC Master of Journalism student Lorea Solabarrieta.

White Collar Fight Nights looks at the tale of Hong Kong’s bankers that box and lawyers with a left hook — white collar workers who trade and do business all day then fight at night.

abchorizonal Lorea was struck by the story while doing Rob McBride’s Video News Production class last semester. She directed and produced the piece, visiting the gym where the hot shots train and cutting together interviews with fight footage. MJs Li Li and Cleo Chen helped Lorea with the camerawork.

“Hong Kong is a financially driven city. It’s interesting to find financial professionals who are doing something other than making money. I think ABC is interested because it’s a quirky, good news story about the recovery from the financial crisis. On top of this, it shows an expatriate view of Hong Kong that American audiences can identify with — the boxers are predominantly Caucasian men.”

The JMSC’s Director of Broadcasting, Jim Laurie, who worked at ABC for more than 20 years, knows the key to successful journalism is pitching to the audience.

“North Americans have a different view of Asians to us. If you ever get into this business, you’ll be doing the same thing — it’s all about doing stories that appeal to the target audience.”

Lorea is one of 12 students from the JMSC contributing to ABC News on Campus Programme as roving reporters. They have set up an on-campus bureau which is run by BJ student Liyi Chen and MJ student Zela Chin.

Lorea has a background in both finance and sport; she has a degree in Sport Science and English Literature from Loughborough University and she presents business and financial news for the English-language channel of the Japanese cable broadcaster, NHK World.

“Sport is a popular medium for television and has great visuals. I have a sports background so this is something that is close to my heart.”

She has just finished cutting the story from five minutes to the three minute piece ABC has requested. The original script was rewritten for ABC to have more of a human interest focus.

“I am elated that this is going to be shown on a major American network. It’s a first for me and has given me a lot of confidence as a video journalist. For me, being from Hong Kong, this is a real achievement. I’m really grateful to ABC for giving us this opportunity.”