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SOPA 2015 - Didi Kirsten Tatlow Fish don't know they are in water

  • 2015-10-12
  • 2015-10-12

By Catherine Chen "In this highly controlled, intense, Communist-Party-ruling China, anyone trying to get ‘inside' are automatically perceived as troublemakers." It is what Didi Kirsten Tatlow has learned from her 10 years' experience as a foreign correspondent in China. Although faced with great obstacles, the New York Times reporter never gives up her right to show the world what is inside the country where freedom of press is largely restrained. Why can't a Chinese man talk about it Speaking at the first sharing session of the HKBU-SOPA Award Winners Forum, Ms Tatlow addressed the dilemma of "inside" and "outside" when reporting in mainland China. Ms Tatlow said as a foreign journalist, she has been denied access to information frequently. Many government officials and other sources in China believe she does not understand the situation and should not be covering about that. "Only insiders are allowed to talk about the business," she said. Ms Tatlow said she had been told that "only Chinese women are allowed to talk about the situation of Chinese women," a view she deemed "ridiculous." "Why can't a Chinese man talk about it?" I'll do this because it's truth "Fish don't know they are in water," Ms Tatlow said. "The situation is about how we take a lot of things for granted." Mainland state media have been accusing their foreign counterparts of selectively reporting on the negative side of China. Ms Tatlow disagrees. "I'll do this because it's truth," she said. But different interpretations can occur as a result of different personal views. In a documentary titled Who is Xi, Ms Tatlow described China's president Xi Jinping as someone "who has removed or has been trying to remove a lot of corruptions from the system that is really threatening to people's well-being and livelihoods." Some of her …

A journalist who draws a lot, writes a little

  • 2015-01-10
  • 2015-01-10

Mr Steve Sack talks about his 33 year career as an editorial cartoonist

Pulitzer winners worried about high-tech surveillance

  • 2015-01-10
  • 2015-01-10

A man in a suit is checking the stock lines on his phone; a group of school boys are huddling around a tablet playing an online game; a Filipino domestic helper is sharing interesting stories of her day with friends thousands of miles away at home through Bluetooth earphones.

The 6th Pulitzer Prize Winners Workshop

  • 2015-01-10
  • 2015-01-10

The Workshop was launched in 2006 by the university's Department of Journalism. It aims to advance journalistic education in Hong Kong and the Greater China Region. The workshop offers a week-long series of intellectual activities, including open lectures, forum and seminars. This year, the theme of the forum is "The Public's Right to Know Versus National Security."

[SOPA Series-Mr Michael Forsythe] "Privilege" and "responsibility" of investigative reporting in China

  • 2013-11-15
  • 2013-11-15

Doing investigative reporting in China was both a "privilege" for and the "responsibility" of foreign reporters, said Mr Michael Forsythe, Hong Kong correspondent specialised in covering the Communist state for Bloomberg News.

[SOPA series - Mr Ernest Chi ]Investigation in the light and dark

  • 2013-11-15
  • 2013-11-15

"Investigation in the light and dark"  The Society of Publishers in Asia, which is also known as SOPA, presented this year's award, under the topic: Investigative Reporting in Asia. One of the HKBU-SOPA Award Winners, Mr. Ernest Chi, Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Investigative Team Leader of Ming Pao shared his experience in doing the investigative reports on the illegal structure controversy concerning Chief Executive candidates Henry Tang and C.Y. Leung, shared their awarded pieces and participated in lectures and discussions last week. Being the only awarded Chinese editor in this year's Excellence in Investigative Reporting 2013, Mr. Chi, starts his sharing by introducing different investigative reports done by Ming Pao in past few years.  They have reported on the rigged purchases of Henderson Land's luxurious residential, privatization plan of PCCW, vote rigging in the district council election, the death of Li Wang-yang and the abused entertainment funds usage of the ex-chief of ICAC Timothy Tong during his term of office.  The piece that has created the biggest controversy and impact in the society should be the investigative report on the illegal structures of the Chief Executive election candidates in 2012. According to Mr. Chi, "it is common to find illegal structures in the city. But standing on the moral high ground, Chief Executive candidates should defense the law, and they failed to do so." An estate reporter in Mr. Chi's investigation team knew from an architect that there were some illegal basements in villas located in Kowloon Tong. And the villa of Chief Executive candidates Henry Tang, located on York Road was one of them. His team tried to track down all the sources to proof the illegal basement's existence. Since Mr. Tang's cellar was used to store wine, they had planed to send bottles of wine as a gift to …

[SOPA Series - Jamil Anderlini] Bo trial is Communist Party's means to consolidate power: journalist

  • 2013-11-15
  • 2013-11-15

Reporter: Lokie Wong & James Zhang  The trial of former Politburo member and Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai was a means through which the current leadership of the Chinese Communist Party consolidated its power, said award-winning journalist Mr Jamil Anderlini. The head of the Beijing Bureau of Financial Times made the remark at a sharing session with journalism students of Hong Kong Baptist University on November 7 as part of the first HKBU-SOPA Award Winners Forum. Mr Anderlinin won the Journalist of the Year award in 2010 and Excellence in Human Rights Reporting award in 2012. This year, he won the Excellence in Feature Writing award for his investigative story, Bo Xilai: Power, death and politics, which sheds light on the political scandals surrounding Bo's downfall. Speaking to a capacity crowd, the three-time SOPA Award winner started the sharing session with a reflection on the political significance of the trial of Bo and the hidden agenda of the Chinese government. The trial was "all part of a consolidation of power by the current leadership and the maintenance of the Communist Party's grip on power," he said. Although the verdict for Bo was pretty clear from the start, the government and party still went through great lengths to ensure that the public would view the trial as open and fair, said Mr Anderlini. The veteran journalist pointed out that there was a growing concern among the Chinese leadership over the legitimisation of its action. "It also showed how power is not institutionalized in China, especially during the transition of power," he said. Mr Anderlini suggested that although the trial was meant to create a sort of "new rule of law in China", it actually reduced legitimacy and people's trust in the government. "The system needs to legitimise its actions because there …

[SOPA Series -Thomas Fuller]An eye-opening assassination

  • 2013-11-15
  • 2013-11-15

A double award winning journalist speaks of lessons learned from witnessing death occur right before his eyes.

Baptist students receive journalistic acclaim at Campus News Award

  • 2013-10-14
  • 2013-10-14

  Journalism students at Hong Kong Baptist University scooped up an impressive five awards at the China Daily Hong Kong 2013 Campus Newspaper Award prize ceremony on September 28. Local academics and corporate executives gathered at HKBU's Lam Woo International Conference Centre for the annual event, in which winners from 12 universities in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and China competed for awards in 16 categories. Mr Zhou Li, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific was joined by Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun, director of Information Services, and Legislative Councillor Ms Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee to officiate at the award ceremony. "We hope that more people know about this event and we look forward to more support in promoting journalism education," said Zhou. Mr Brian Yap Ka-hei, a final-year international journalism student at Baptist, was named one of the award winners by a panel of 21 judges alongside Mr Alan Wong Sui-lun, a recent journalism graduate from the same university. Mr. Yap snapped up two awards for his feature story on the plight of the N-nothings group in Hong Kong published in The Young Reporter, an English-language magazine run by journalism students at Baptist. He described the newspaper award contest as "an esteemed recognition" for the works of aspiring journalists as well as a platform for prospective employers to meet their future staff." On the other hand, Mr Wong secured three prizes for his design of the Legco Losers Special as well as the March and December issues of The Young Reporter. "I am glad the efforts I put into the design of the publication, which I started from zero in the previous summer and completed just in time for the publication of our first issue, gained recognition from the competition's judging panel," said Wong. Together, they picked up five awards in …

The Young Reporter Won China Daily's 2013 Campus Newspaper Awards

  • 2013-09-28
  • 2013-09-28

Five heavyweights celebrating the awards given to The Young Reporter at 2013 Campus Newspaper Award organised by China Daily. They are: (from left to right) Mr Victor Fung, principal lecturer at our journalism department; Editor-in-Chief Brian Yap; Mr Michael Wong Wai-lun, JP, Director of Information Services at HKSAR government; former Editor-in-Chief Alan Wong; and our advisor plus veteran TYRer CK Lau.   Our Editor-in-Chief Brian Yap has received a merit of "Best in News Reporting" and of "Best in News Writing" on 2013 Campus Newspaper Award, organised by China Daily, for his feature on the city's "N-Nothing" class published in December issue last year. The awarded piece can be accessed here: http://tyr.journalism.hkbu.edu.hk/?p=179 Our former Editor-in-Chief Alan Wong has received a merit of "Best in News Page Design" on 2013 Campus Newspaper Award, organised by China Daily, for his layout design of the LegCo Losers Special published in November issue last year. He has also won the "Best in Overall Design" for our March issue that examined the effects of Individual Visit Scheme launched ten years ago. Profile of Mr Lau Kong-wah at: http://tyr.journalism.hkbu.edu.hk/?p=8. The feature on three independent LegCo election candidates at: http://tyr.journalism.hkbu.edu.hk/?p=13. The feature of defeated pan-democrats at: http://tyr.journalism.hkbu.edu.hk/?p=17. Digital version of our March issue at:http://issuu.com/alanwonge/docs/theyoungreportermarch.