China's media industry: past, present and future

• Source: Global Times
• [18:21 September 29 2009]
• Comments

Knowledge is a journalist’s tool

Before and right after the establishment of the PRC, journalists were mainly men. According to Yu, they were responsible for night shifts, and women were appointed to conduct interviews.

However, more women are now in the media industry, with journalism degrees and are usually very good at foreign languages.

He encourages the next generation of journalists to arm themselves with as much knowledge as possible about a wide range of topics.

“Every journalist had better have an encyclopedia at home,” Yu added. “Every time you approach a topic, you will have to learn a lot about it quickly. You must already know something about someone before you do an interview with him or her.

“I know this may be overwhelming for those who just graduated from college,” Yu continued, “as they must learn politics, policies, sociology, economics, diplomacy, all kinds of social sciences.”

And even though journalists work in specific departments, they should be relatively specialized in a field.

“Even if you are exclusively working for one team, you still have too much to learn,” Yu explained. “For those covering world news, a reporter should learn international relations, politics, world economy, cultures, and so forth.”