The past two weeks have seen me doing something interesting and relevant to my internship here. I proposed a story idea to Metro editor: the acupuncture and Chinese medicine in Minnesota. I'm glad that she gave me the go-ahead. I interviewed head of an acupuncture academy, its doctors in the clinic affiliated to the academy, some patients and students studying there. I was surprised that there are two such academies in Minnesota, which altegether churn out about 60 graduates every year, and some Americans like to receive acupuncture and Chinese medicine treatment, citing its effectiveness.
I've finished the story, which, if published, would be the longest one, if not the most interesting. I'v not had any feedback from the editor, but to me, it's a good opportunity to learn doing interviews (such as how to protect privacy of those patients and make them willing to share their stories with me), how to organize the materials I've got from the interviews, and how to structure the story, making it interesting.
Before writing, the editor gave me some tips as how to organize the story. They are good, but it turned out that I used my way of starting and telling the story, because I think mine is more relevant based on my interviews.
The process of doing the story helps me in structuring a feature story.
A by-product of the interviews is that I met a Chinese Qi-gong practioner, who introduced his clients to me. We had pleasant talks on Chinese culture, Chinese medicine, and its difference with the western medicine.
On Saturday (Aug 29) I visited the Minnesota State Fair, the major annual local event, where there were a variety of shows, food, exhibitions, markets, parade ... everything. It lasts until the Labor Day.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
The past two weeks (Aug 01 - 15)
In early August, I wrote a short story on Minnesota's economy based on an index compiled by a university professor. It's published monthly and this time, it shows the Minnesota economic recovery is faring well, although it's still a long way ahead. It's like in China Daily where I have done numerous such index stories - analyze the index, contact experts for comment, rush to write it and submit it to the editor. This time, the editor reminded me of not using the word "crisis" to depict the US economy. Rather, it should be called recession or slowdown or meltdown or whatsoever. But not a crisis.
I had a chance to visit a friend of my friend Jerry in St Paul in the second week. Jerry's friend (a Chinese and a PhD in economics) runs a Chinese acupuncture and medicine institute, which has six clinics and enrol about 120 students in its four-year program. Most of them are young Americans. I was interested why Americans could be interested in such a mysterious science that has often been criticized of being unscientific.
I talked with the metro editor and decided to do interviews that could possibly lead to a story. I'll start it next week.
And the past two weeks were all about how to handle stories.
I had a chance to visit a friend of my friend Jerry in St Paul in the second week. Jerry's friend (a Chinese and a PhD in economics) runs a Chinese acupuncture and medicine institute, which has six clinics and enrol about 120 students in its four-year program. Most of them are young Americans. I was interested why Americans could be interested in such a mysterious science that has often been criticized of being unscientific.
I talked with the metro editor and decided to do interviews that could possibly lead to a story. I'll start it next week.
And the past two weeks were all about how to handle stories.
Friday, July 31, 2009
The past two weeks till July 31
It is said no one can predict what happens tomorrow. But I think I can - for one thing only.
I'll update my blog today, or I'll lose some 33 dollars tomorrow. :-)
Right after returning from Florida, I was asked to write a short story. It's a routine story on Minnesota's export decline in the first quarter. I did it routinely.
One small tip for my training plan may be that I learned from the editor that I need to add some background information to the story. I know that, but sometimes I forget to do it, which is unforgivable.
So I added a small paragraph about Minnesota exporters' performance last year to provide a context and comparison for the readers.
After the story got published, I got a message from my China Daily editor that I should fly to Washington D.C. to cover the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. I asked for a leave from Katie and my host newspaper editor and flew to the D.C. It's a two-day event, but I've been there earlier to attend some pre-dialogue seminars as a preparation for the coverage of the formal meeting.
During the event, I published several pieces both for the newpaper and the website (some under the name of Bao Daozu, which literally means "reporting team" - we had three reporters, including me, in D.C this time). The real challenge is to rush to write stories within a short time. And it once again reminded me of the need to get knowledge of necessary background information before you start to write any story.
I'll update my blog today, or I'll lose some 33 dollars tomorrow. :-)
Right after returning from Florida, I was asked to write a short story. It's a routine story on Minnesota's export decline in the first quarter. I did it routinely.
One small tip for my training plan may be that I learned from the editor that I need to add some background information to the story. I know that, but sometimes I forget to do it, which is unforgivable.
So I added a small paragraph about Minnesota exporters' performance last year to provide a context and comparison for the readers.
After the story got published, I got a message from my China Daily editor that I should fly to Washington D.C. to cover the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue. I asked for a leave from Katie and my host newspaper editor and flew to the D.C. It's a two-day event, but I've been there earlier to attend some pre-dialogue seminars as a preparation for the coverage of the formal meeting.
During the event, I published several pieces both for the newpaper and the website (some under the name of Bao Daozu, which literally means "reporting team" - we had three reporters, including me, in D.C this time). The real challenge is to rush to write stories within a short time. And it once again reminded me of the need to get knowledge of necessary background information before you start to write any story.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The past two weeks (till July 15)
The past week at Poynter is so interesting that I almost forget what I did in the first week (forgive me).
In early July, I published a very short story on an economic index indicating the bottoming out of the mid-American economy. It has become a routine job for me, since I've done a similar one when the monthly index came out in early June. Not much to learn from it, also because it's too short. No space for me to write more and think more.
Before I left for Poynter, as usual, I read the newspapers, both print and online, when I had nothing to do. What I have focused was the Xinjiang incident in China, where the Uighurs and Han people were involved in mass killing. I read various reports from US publications to see from what angle they have tackled the topic and whether they have been "balanced" and "unbiased'. It's very important not for that I want to criticize them for alleged "bias" or "imbalance", but to learn from them how to avoid any problems in my future writing when it comes to such topics as Sino-US relations.
I found that many reports simply were technically flawed by quoting only one side and ignoring the other. Sometimes they quote the underquoted side simply to rebutt it by following it with more quotes from the opposite side. It's not only a bias; it's a purposeful technical crafting so as to achieve a result tilted towards one side.
Reflecting on my own writing in the past, I also made the same "mistake". Indeed, I made similar "mistakes". For example, I sometimes quoted those, although unconsciously, who support China's policies more than those who support US policies when reporting Sino-US economic relations.
Journalism would not promote peace, or virtually anything, in this world if journalists are biased by their own stances.
The reflection is good for both my training goal of business story writing and multimedia reporting, because without being balanced and unbiased, one could neither do good business stories nor quality multimedia reporting. While they try to grasp sophisticated, state-of-the-art techniques and tools, journalists sometimes simply ignore some basic and core values of journalism.
In early July, I published a very short story on an economic index indicating the bottoming out of the mid-American economy. It has become a routine job for me, since I've done a similar one when the monthly index came out in early June. Not much to learn from it, also because it's too short. No space for me to write more and think more.
Before I left for Poynter, as usual, I read the newspapers, both print and online, when I had nothing to do. What I have focused was the Xinjiang incident in China, where the Uighurs and Han people were involved in mass killing. I read various reports from US publications to see from what angle they have tackled the topic and whether they have been "balanced" and "unbiased'. It's very important not for that I want to criticize them for alleged "bias" or "imbalance", but to learn from them how to avoid any problems in my future writing when it comes to such topics as Sino-US relations.
I found that many reports simply were technically flawed by quoting only one side and ignoring the other. Sometimes they quote the underquoted side simply to rebutt it by following it with more quotes from the opposite side. It's not only a bias; it's a purposeful technical crafting so as to achieve a result tilted towards one side.
Reflecting on my own writing in the past, I also made the same "mistake". Indeed, I made similar "mistakes". For example, I sometimes quoted those, although unconsciously, who support China's policies more than those who support US policies when reporting Sino-US economic relations.
Journalism would not promote peace, or virtually anything, in this world if journalists are biased by their own stances.
The reflection is good for both my training goal of business story writing and multimedia reporting, because without being balanced and unbiased, one could neither do good business stories nor quality multimedia reporting. While they try to grasp sophisticated, state-of-the-art techniques and tools, journalists sometimes simply ignore some basic and core values of journalism.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Journalism and human nature
1. I'm all for a free press; it's the damned newspapers I can't stand. - Tom Stoppard
2. Western journalism is western; universal journalism exists only in theory. It is in reality very often distorted when people try to practice it.
3. When it comes to international journalism, journalism sometimes is but a tool to demonize countries which those who own the media dislike or want to collapse.
4. If communism is a devil (it is, isn't it?!), there's a bigger, much powerful devil in the west called journalism.
5. Human beings (including me) are fundamentally bound and guided by their bias no matter how democratic or open-minded they claim to be.
6. Borders exist also in the MIND (not only the eyes) of human beings.
7. Men are born equal, in theory; they are born different, in reality. DIFFERENCE: We must respect it instead of trying to eliminate it.
2. Western journalism is western; universal journalism exists only in theory. It is in reality very often distorted when people try to practice it.
3. When it comes to international journalism, journalism sometimes is but a tool to demonize countries which those who own the media dislike or want to collapse.
4. If communism is a devil (it is, isn't it?!), there's a bigger, much powerful devil in the west called journalism.
5. Human beings (including me) are fundamentally bound and guided by their bias no matter how democratic or open-minded they claim to be.
6. Borders exist also in the MIND (not only the eyes) of human beings.
7. Men are born equal, in theory; they are born different, in reality. DIFFERENCE: We must respect it instead of trying to eliminate it.
Monday, June 29, 2009
The past two weeks (June 14 - 28)
The past two weeks are interesting, but not much related to my training plan.
I had a chance to do a story on the local income statistics release in the early days of the first week. The procedure of doing stories here is similar with what I'm used to back home (interviewing researchers or professors and putting together the most useful information in a logical way), but due to my English listening problems, it's a bit challenging for me to communicate with economics professors through phone. The most difficult part, as always, is writing, which is no longer one with straightforward lead after the Internet rises nowadays. It took me two hours but I still failed to figure out an acceptable featurish lead. I felt ashamed (also, of course, guilty, in Gary's words). I had no way out and finally submitted my version to the editor, who made an eight-word lead for me. It's good, at least to me, not only for its succinctness, but its being meaningful. It may be the shortest lead under my byline: The first quarter wasn't kind to Minnesota's wallet (http://www.twincities.com/ci_12625456?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com).
The rest of the two weeks have gone as usual, with me reading the pioneer press newspaper trying to find out interest and thought-provoking stuff, discussing such topics as Iran with my colleages and reading books. I happened to buy a book called Bias, an old book by Bernard Goldberg published in early 2000s on liberal bias in the US media. I've glanced through some chapters and found it interesting and provocative.
I had a chance to do a story on the local income statistics release in the early days of the first week. The procedure of doing stories here is similar with what I'm used to back home (interviewing researchers or professors and putting together the most useful information in a logical way), but due to my English listening problems, it's a bit challenging for me to communicate with economics professors through phone. The most difficult part, as always, is writing, which is no longer one with straightforward lead after the Internet rises nowadays. It took me two hours but I still failed to figure out an acceptable featurish lead. I felt ashamed (also, of course, guilty, in Gary's words). I had no way out and finally submitted my version to the editor, who made an eight-word lead for me. It's good, at least to me, not only for its succinctness, but its being meaningful. It may be the shortest lead under my byline: The first quarter wasn't kind to Minnesota's wallet (http://www.twincities.com/ci_12625456?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com).
The rest of the two weeks have gone as usual, with me reading the pioneer press newspaper trying to find out interest and thought-provoking stuff, discussing such topics as Iran with my colleages and reading books. I happened to buy a book called Bias, an old book by Bernard Goldberg published in early 2000s on liberal bias in the US media. I've glanced through some chapters and found it interesting and provocative.
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