ABC News: Luce China – Beijing December 5, 2007
Posted by cwslibrary in Beijing, China, Juniors, Luce, Mandarin, Summer 2008, broadcasting, communication, journalism, language skillls, media, research, sophomores.trackback
Intern in Beijing
Luce China – Beijing
Organization Description:
ABC News is responsible for all of the ABC Television Network’s news programming on a variety of platforms: television, radio and the Internet. With an average television and radio audience of 180 million people in a given month, ABC News far surpasses the competition. More than 2,300 affiliate stations broadcast ABC News Radio’s global news coverage. In addition, ABC News Now is a 24-hour news and information network currently available to more than 30 million users across cable, broadband, and mobile platforms. NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, provides live and packaged news, sports, and weather reports to 200 ABC affiliates, as well as more than 30 domestic and international clients.
Internship Description:
The intern must have an interest in covering the impact of the Olympic Games of China as she will be given serious and important tasks at ABC News including: researching story ideas, contacting possible interview subjects, writing articles for the ABC News website, transcribing interviews, and organizing and logging materials for the video tape library. Additionally the intern will have the opportunity to assist a producer and camera crew during filming assignments.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
| Logistical: Interest in China and its history, culture and politics Intermediate level or fluency in spoken Mandarin, ability to read (Chinese characters are an advantage, but not a requirement) Background in journalism and various forms of mass communication |
Personality: Responsible Independent Flexible Ability to Multi-task Ability to work under a deadline Team-player |
“My projects this summer were mainly for a series of shows that would air on World News Tonight with Charles Gibson, called “Small World”. My first task was to find a wedding. This wedding was to be a traditional Chinese wedding, to reflect China’s distinctive differences from the rest of the world. With the help of a fellow translator, we went in person to one wedding planning company after another, and found a company that was willing to consider our proposal. As the wedding project was mainly mine, it was thus my task to bring the producer and correspondent, both of whom did not speak English, to meet the wedding planner and negotiate a plan that would satisfy both parties. The wedding planner was worried we would interfere with his professional wedding videographer who would have the most access, and the ABC News crew wanted full access to the wedding couple during the entire process. My translating skills and negotiation skills were put to the maximum test, as I cajoled and soothed each party. Finally, I was able to work out a deal that ABC would have limited access to the wedding couple before the ceremony, but would be able to interview both the bride and groom.
This project, which occurred very early in the internship, taught me that I had still much to learn about the Chinese society. In American internships, most tasks are fairly straightforward. Even the more difficult tasks can be accomplished through pure hard work. However, the tasks set out for my internship hinted that hard work was not enough for working in a Chinese social environment. Instead, diplomacy was very much needed, especially working with common Chinese citizens. As a Chinese who is now an American citizen, socialize in many American thoughts and beliefs, it was very hard for me to adjust to such ways of thinking. At the same time, I also learned that in order to fulfill my goal of being a successful intern, I would need to be bold and make an effort to ask all potential interview subjects as many questions as possible, and find a way to convince them to let ABC interview them.”
“Similarly, as I learned more about ABC News, my goals changed. Initially, I just wanted to learn more about the news media industry. I wanted to know how the camera worked, what went on in the editing room, and just what exactly a producer did. But as time went on, I found myself drawn into the world of news media. A journalist had the power of the world in her hands, and had access to many realms that the common people did not. The Olympics brought new and exciting stories to report on, and I was there to assist the correspondent reporting these stories.”
ZhanTao
Class of 2010