A six-year-old international exchange programme between AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre and Beijing-based ChinaDaily.com.cn, an English language news website, is in motion, with one of the latest New Zealand representatives arriving recently in Beijing.
The programme facilitates an annual exchange of two graduates from AUT University’s Asia Pacific journalism paper and working journalists from China Daily. While the journalism graduates work on an internship in the newsroom of China Daily, the China Daily representatives travel to New Zealand and attend postgraduate classes in journalism and digital media at the university's School of Communication Studies.
Chen Bei, the China Daily representative for 2011, is looking forward to brushing up on media and communication theory, as she says her academic background is in English language and literature, rather than journalism.
After having earned a Master’s degree in English literature from Yunnan University, Bei took on her current role as deputy editor-in-chief of a bilingual mobile newspaper at China Daily.
“The newspaper has 2 issues for each day: morning news and evening news. So my job includes deciding news subjects, editing bilingual news with my team, proofreading the newspaper and sending it to subscribers,” she says.
“The job at China Daily is the first and only one I’ve had since graduation. I didn’t approach journalism until I began work, so the stint at AUT is a great opportunity for me to supplement my knowledge in media.”
Mobile links
Bei says she also hopes to use her time in New Zealand to observe the link between journalism and technology in this part of the world, and hopes to be able to travel around the country during breaks in her study schedule.
“I hope I could learn about the development of online journalism and mobile journalism in New Zealand, that is, how reporters and editors make use of modern technology,” she says. “I wish I could travel around New Zealand, a naturally beautiful country, during the breaks.”
Kim Bowden, the first of two New Zealand participants to travel to China this year, has arrived in Beijing and settled in to her role as a copy editor in the online department.
“I have joined a crew of so-called foreign 'experts' in the China Daily’s online department, who polish the copy written by our Chinese colleagues prior to it going live,” she says.
“Sometimes it can be challenging trying to read through the Chinglish, as my local colleagues call it, to figure out what the journalist is actually wanting to say, whether it be because something was lost in translation, or an old-fashioned or literal term was used. Other times the copy is well-written in English, but the structure of the news story needs work.”
While primarily occupied as a copy editor, Bowden has been given a chance to write for China Daily, recently posting her first piece for the site – a commentary on the controversial topic of naming rights for university buildings.
Bowden describes Beijing as “a vibrant, exciting city” and says she has already managed to do some site-seeing, visiting the Great Wall and Forbidden City during her time off.
Bei will arrive in New Zealand for a 3 month stay in July while Bowden is set to return from China in August.
Kim Bowden's first article in China Daily's online edition.
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