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Lee Becker, Peiqin Chen, Kent Middleton, Bing Hong, Hong Liu, Jian Yang, Tudor Vlad, and Hugh Martin |
Four Journalists and Journalism Educators Visited U.S. as Part of Month-Long U.S. Tour
Two journalism educators and two journalists from Shanghai, touring the United States on a four-week trip, visited the University of Georgia April 4 to learn about journalism education in the United States.
The four Chinese visitors were participants in a U.S. State Department sponsored project, called "Journalism in the United States." The purpose of the trip was to provide the participants an understanding of aspects of the U.S. media, including journalism education.
The two journalism educators were Peiqin Chen, a lecturer in the College of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University and Bing Hong, a lecturer at the School of Journalism in Fudan University. The journalists were Hong Liu, director of the international news department of the Shanghai Morning Post, and Jian Yang, deputy director of the world news department of Jie Fang Daily.
The four were welcomed to the University of Georgia by Dr. Lee B. Becker and other staff of the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research. The Cox Center, a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, organized the visit.
Dr. Becker, director the Cox Center, and Dr. Tudor Vlad, visiting research scientist in the Cox Center from Romania, gave the Shanghai visitors an overview of journalism education in the United States, drawing on research the Cox Center conducts as part of the Annual Surveys of Journalism & Mass Communication.
The Shanghai group then visited a class on magazine editing, a class on magazine management, a class on broadcast media program management, and a class on research methods in telecommunications. In each case, the journalists and journalism educators observed the work of the instructors and students and listened in on classroom discussions.
One spirited discussion focused on coverage in the U.S. media of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
Following a lunch at the faculty club with Dr. Kent Middleton, head of the journalism department, and Dr. Hugh Martin, faculty member in the journalism department, as well as Drs. Becker and Vlad, the four Shanghai visitors toured the facilities of the Grady College and the campus of the University of Georgia.
Prior to the visit to the University of Georgia, the group visited media and universities in Washington, D.C., and New York. After Georgia, the group continued its tour in Florida, Missouri and Texas.
The Cox Center conducted workshops for journalists in Shanghai and Beijing in May of 2001 on techniques for covering international trade and business. The Center hosted a group of Chinese city managers in 2000 for a workshop on press-government conflicts.
