Learning at the Deep End
Journalism students are getting hands-on training in the rough-and-tumble world of American broadcast journalism.
The Journalism and Media Studies Centre (JMSC) has linked up with ABC News, of the American Broadcasting Corporation, to provide content generated by students for broadcast in the US.
The initiative is part of the ABC News on Campus programme and HKU is the first university outside the US to be invited to join.
“This programme gives students a professional, real-life experience in dealing with one of the largest television news companies in the world,” the Director of the JMSC’s Broadcasting Programme, Jim Laurie, said. Mr Laurie worked for 21 years as a correspondent with ABC News.
“They have to pitch their stories in a way any professional journalist would,” he said, and produce it to ABC’s rigorous standards. “They also get to see that people in the US don’t look at the world as we do out here.”
Chen Liyi has had a taste of that in her first few weeks with the programme. She’s a third-year Journalism and Economics student and one of two co-ordinators in charge of staying in regular contact with ABC News’ New York office on students’ story proposals.
“You have to be very sensitive to the needs of an American audience,” she said. “It’s a different society and a different context. In the back of your mind, you have to think, this is not even remotely Asia. “When we’re looking for interview subjects, it’s better if they speak English; the audience isn’t going to relate very well to Chinesespeaking subjects. The stories we pitch also have to relate to the audience. Recently we had a story on the bird’s nest stadium in Beijing. The bird’s nest is iconic so people can relate to that. We have to find subjects they are familiar with.”
Twelve HKU undergraduate and graduate students are producing content and they were selected for their diverse backgrounds and potential. The students come from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore, the US, Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK and they have a wide range of experiences. For example, some have worked with media organizations, such as CNN, one student was formerly a professional footballer and another was a competitive swimmer and diver at university level.
Mr Laurie and his colleagues Rob McBride, Ng Ka-ho and Roy Ching are providing the students with guidance and technical support to help their pitches succeed. While the bird’s nest story is still in development, ABC News has already aired a student story about Hong Kong bankers who do business during the day and box with each other at night.
“My hat goes off to the kids who are doing it. They are basically using all their breaks to work on stories – Chinese New Year, reading week, semester breaks. I think what motivates them is the opportunity to be part of, and to be seen to be part of, a professional organization,” Mr Laurie said.
Liyi also finds it adds to her understanding of a free media. She has found ABC’s openness to proposals refreshing compared to the boundaries that would be laid down in her native Singapore. One of the reasons she came to Hong Kong and HKU was to see how a freer media operates and what the limits to free speech might be at both ends of the spectrum.
“Freedom is good but not all good, control is bad but not all bad. You can flip it around. That’s why I came here, to see all that. As a foreigner, I can stand back and take a look,” she said.
The ABC News programme is funded in part by a Teaching Development Grant. Mr Laurie said they also sought other co-production agreements with other international media organizations.