Fresh JMSC Grads Parlay Newly Minted Skills and Internships into Jobs

Vicky Kung (BJ, 2013) reporting for TVB Pearl.

Several newly minted graduates from the Journalism and Media Studies Centre have parlayed the skills and internship experiences they acquired during their studies into jobs at media organisations in Hong Kong.

Vicky Kung (BJ, 2013) has landed a job reporting for TVB Pearl. She says the job includes everything she ever learned at the JMSC.

“The TV News Writing class helped me out a lot,” Kung said. “For my first assignment at TVB, which occurred on my very first day of work, I was sent out to cover and write a story on the differences in rally numbers obtained for the July 1st protest. The process was basically putting what [Lecturer] Matt Walsh taught in the class – to write pieces that are short, conversational, and easily understood – into practice.”

Yannie Chan (BJ, 2013) got a job reporting for HK Magazine after she had interned with the organisation during her second year in the BJ programme. She writes news features and articles for the magazine and contributes to its Last Week in Reality section, which collects and summarizes the most unusual news stories from the previous week.

“When it comes to writing news features, it’s important to know your way around the government and official documents,” said Chan, one of four BJs graduating with first-class honours this year. “[Journalism professor] Pui-king Chan’s course on Public Affairs Reporting taught me how to access documents, get relevant information from different departments, and how to contact government officials.”

“More importantly,” Chan said, “at the JMSC I’ve learned to respect journalism. I’ve got to know experienced and intelligent professors that I look up to and also fellow journalists that are so awesome and smart. They are so passionate about the issues they care about and it’s motivated me to do the same.”

A story Chan co-wrote on emergency services in Hong Kong appeared on the cover of HK Magazine last month.

Other graduates who have found positions in Hong Kong include Stephanie Ip (MJ, 2013), who covers entertainment television news for the Associated Press; Nicholas Leung (BJ, 2013), who works for HKTV as a part-time reporter; and James Chan (BJ, 2013), who is also graduating with honours, and who turned internships with CNN and RTHK into part-time work with both organisations. Chan is currently a studio technician for CNN and a reporter for RTHK.