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June 14, 2007
U of I Journalism Students Go "Beyond the
Great Wall"
Read their blog from the trip
Ten University of Illinois journalism
students in Nancy Benson’s international reporting class
will take listeners inside China with a two-hour
documentary, Beyond the Great Wall, airing on WILL-AM
at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 28.
The students climbed the Great Wall, walked along Shanghai’s
Bund and visited the Forbidden City. But the students’
primary mission in China was gathering information for radio
stories on how the
Chinese economy and culture reach and touch central
Illinois. WILL-AM 580 news director Tom Rogers, who
accompanied the students to China with Benson and is doing
final editing on the documentary, said the students went
beyond tourist spots to report stories that took a
unvarnished look at the country that is preparing to host
the Olympics in 2008.
The student journalists adapted well to a reporting in a
country where they didn’t speak the language and
transportation was a challenge, he said. “These students had
a lot of previous experience, although this was the first
shot at foreign reporting for most of them,” he said.
Although one student reporter was told by a source that her
journalistic activities had been monitored by the
government, the students found more openness than they
expected.
Benson, an associate professor and a veteran of foreign
reporting, said she and the students were surprised to get
as much cooperation as they did from all levels of society.
“We didn’t think we would be able to get much official
comment from the government,” she said. But several students
were able to interview government officials on subjects like
air pollution and environmental problems. Ted Land, for
instance, reporting on electronic waste such as old
computers and TVs in the city of Taizhou, was able to find
an environmental protection official for that region willing
to talk about the problem, she said.
Language was the most difficult barrier for the students,
said Benson. The students were assisted by untrained Chinese
student translators, who summarized instead of translating
every comment. “You miss a lot of the subtle meaning if you
just hear a summary,” she said.
WILL’s John Paul, a graduate student in the College of
Communications, was part of the class, reporting a story on
U.S. companies doing business in China, including
Caterpillar, Littelfuse of Des Plaines and Cim-Tek of Bement.
“You don’t realize how hard it is to set up and interview,
get to your location and do an interview when you don’t know
the language,” he said. He was also shooting video for
WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire that he’ll turn into a story for next
year’s show.
In other stories:
• Michael Koliska talks with soybean farmers in both China
and Illinois and investigates the current soybean trade’s
effects;
• Sam Unger examines China’s battle against air pollution,
including its potential impact on the 2008 Olympics;
• Maria Ines Zamudio looks back at the 1989 Tiananmen Square
protests and contrasts them with students’ political
aspirations today;
• Lauren Thorbjornsen looks into China’s construction boom
and the plight of migrant workers who are providing much of
the manpower.
• Elizabeth Murray investigates China’s “one child” policy,
its effect on the role of women and its impact on caring for
the elderly;
• Elizabeth Reising takes a look at Beijing’s preparations
for next year’s Olympics and how Chicago might learn from
the experience;
• Christine Won explores how the Internet is changing daily
life in China – and how some Internet users are becoming
addicted;
• Julian Scharman tours Motorola’s largest Chinese factory
and considers the impact of the cell phone on workers and
users alike.
You can read a first-person account of the students’ trip,
and view their video and photos, on their
Destination China blog.
Contact:
Mary Barrineau
WILL AM-FM-TV
Public
Information Coordinator
217-244-5080
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