By Lou Yi
Senior Writer, Caijing magazine
Beijing, China
Hosted by The Philadelphia Inquirer
Helen Baldwin Fellow

Michael Jordan plays basketball, Celine Dion sings, I talk and write.

I know I talk and write well in Chinese in China, but how about in English in America?

That is why I am here. During the past five months with The Philadelphia Inquirer, I worked for city desk, business desk and online desk. I wrote stories on different topics, blogged on cultural differences and shot video.

First, the fellowship reinforced fundamental principles of journalism that we observed in Caijing's newsroom in Beijing, where I work. Those are: accuracy first, never being tired of digging another layer of truth, avoiding conflict of interest with sources, balanced story telling. I am reassured that Caijing follows the universal journalistic rules. It is very important for me and my newsroom to know that we are on the right track so that we are more confident in our future.

I learned a lot about storytelling. As a business reporter I always try to explain the puzzle of money clearly and in a way that is easily understood. But I found people here pay a lot of attention to how to entice readers into a story.

The first month at The Inquirer I published a story on the front page of the Sunday paper, with two other reporters. The story was about Asian Americans’ mental health problems and was published around the time of the shootings at Virginia Tech. I interviewed five people in two hours, including a patient, a social worker, and three doctors. After the story was published, everyone in the newsroom, including the editor of The Inquirer, congratulated me. The metro editor even wrote a letter to thank me. What surprised me is that what they liked most is the easiest job I did—interviewing the patient—they liked it because it provided an anecdote to open the story for readers.

After that I often used interesting details in my stories. In the story about the renovation of a Chinese gate, I mentioned the difficulty of finding pig’s blood, the material for painting. I received a lot of calls and emails from my readers about where we can find pig’s blood. The detail really helps to intrigue readers.

I also learned from the Poynter Institute how to write a better story through the effective cooperation between editors and reporters. That is exactly what our Chinese newsroom needs. An imbalanced working relationship dominated by editors is not a constructive one in the long run.

Though magazines and newspapers have different working styles, I believe that the core idea of working should be the same: all reporters have potential and the editor should maximize their capabilities by encouraging them, challenging them and working with them.

However, the biggest shock is the American newspaper industry itself. Confronted with the challenge from the Internet, it is losing circulation and advertisement revenue. Newspapers are being sold from one publisher to another, usually followed by layoffs.

The picture of the Chinese newspaper industry is very different. The arena is not full. Newspapers are dying and resurrecting everyday. Our magazine, for example, enjoys a very healthy financial condition and is always recruiting new staff. But what will happen if the growing industry faces the same competitor, the Internet? This question was always in my mind when I observed the struggles of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

With a new investor and a new editor, The Inquirer is fighting to survive, to regain its splendor. They work through three ways: focus on local news, strengthen online news, and invest in marketing and high technology.

I found that the key strategy is to embrace the Internet, which means the newspaper should change their main arena from print to website, and try to present stories visually and interact with readers in a more creative way.

Besides talking with the staff at the Inquirer, I also interviewed senior editors from The Washington Post and The New York Times.

We discussed their vision for their websites, and the daily operation of their websites, especially about how they deal with new content like blogs and video.

Though all these newspapers realize their future is on the web and are trying hard, they have different experiences, especially on blogging and video. Some are very successful while others are not. The key is how much money, time and staff they would like to invest on the website. For example, successful blogs are often done by teamwork with reporters and editors while unsuccessful blogs are usually done by reporters who work on their own.

At The Inquirer, I also did online news reporting. I set up a blog, shot video for my stories, and worked for one month with the online desk. I learned how to tell stories visually and how to start and nurture a blog. I began to understand the difference between online reporting and print reporting.

I realize the gap between the American newspaper industry and Chinese. The development of American news websites enjoyed three advantages: funding, high technology, and the most important, experienced journalists who could provide reliable information. That is why high standard professional journalism training will never become obsolete even if print media could be.

The gap means potential. I believe, to journalists, China is the land of opportunities. There are always interesting stories to report, great historic moments to record, and opportunities for journalists to make a difference by telling the truth. As a magazine, Caijing has longer, more in depth stories. However, I still think we can learn from American newspapers to make our website more interesting by providing more pictures and video. I also think we can provide more background information in the unlimited space of the Internet. And our website could be more helpful to web-users if we provide more links to information mentioned in our stories.

All these have to be done through working with the whole newsroom. Actually, both my Caijing colleagues and I have already benefitted from the fellowship since my first day at the Inquirer. Before I left China, I talked with management and editors at every desk in my newsroom. I asked them what they wanted to learn and set up my Inquirer training plan according to their needs.

After reviewing my training plan, my Philadelphia Inquirer mentor helped me to arrange meetings with management and editors with every desk there. During the five months, I wrote biweekly reports to Caijing editors about my interviews, observations and work at the Inquirer. Because I learned on behalf of them, they are eager to read my reports.

I never lost connection with my newsroom when I worked at The Inquirer. As a veteran reporter at large, I am familiar with every desk in my newsroom and keep good relationships with them. I still provided suggestions to them on trade reporting and even went to Washington twice to meet our U.S. correspondent. For me it is normal to talk with colleagues about how to improve our reporting and they take my suggestions seriously.

I also contributed to Caijing’s website. I started a column there, based on these interviews. The column, named “Observing American Media,” introduces the transformation of American newspapers to my Chinese readers, using multimedia content including stories, pictures and video. I am the first one in my newsroom to start a column. After me all the reporters abroad began to share their experience. However, I am the only one who keeps writing every week and the first one who shoots video.

By writing inside reports and public columns, I have become an expert of online reporting in my newsroom and even in China. I just published a story about multimedia reporting in China’s Journalist, a publication on journalism in China.

I am happy to witness the rapid progress of Caijing.com.cn. There are more pictures, news packages and even video on the website. Five months ago there were no pictures, no graphics, and no advertisements at all.

I will continue my column after the fellowship.

I will also hold workshops to discuss what we can learn from American media on online reporting and other important issues. I will discuss with my colleagues my own experience and also invite journalists from other Chinese publications.

The third thing I’d like to do is to work with other reporters to add value to their story by bringing more online content, for example, to make videos and slideshows for their stories. I would like to hold their hands and introduce them to the technology.

Above all, what I learned here is far beyond my expectation in the beginning. I achieved my goals of my training plan and also shared all the knowledge with my colleagues.

When I got the AFPF fellowship, I became one of the few Chinese journalists who have worked in the States for both Chinese and American publication. Now I become one of the first Chinese print reporters who shoot video and write a blog for both Chinese and American publication.

I got the opportunity because of the support from AFPF, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Caijing magazine. What is more, I got the opportunity because I am standing in a turning point of newspaper industry in China and United States. Usually, you have to work for a long time to be a magazine reporter in the States. But I began my career as a magazine reporter in China. Usually you have to learn to shoot before you become a cameraman at a TV station, but I shot video the first minute I got my camcorder at the Inquirer.

It is not only an opportunity for me. To present your story in a multi-layered, multi-media way, is the destiny of all the journalists in the two countries.

Let’s say:
Michael Jordan plays basketball, Celine Dion sings, I talk, write and shoot. Thanks to AFPF.