Assignment China -- new USCI documentary

The USC US-China Institute screens a segment from its current documentary project on how China has been covered by journalists working for American news organizations.

Building on the overwhelmingly positive response to Election ’08 and the Challenge of China, the USC U.S.-China Institute has launched a new multimedia project exploring the work of China correspondents and the role they have played in shaping American perceptions of China and U.S. policy toward China.

As with The Challenge of China, USCI Senior Fellow Mike Chinoy serves as the lead reporter. Chinoy's widely known for his more than two decades of award-winning reporting from China for CNN. And again, USCI students handle the research, transcription, videography, and editing. Assignment China features interviews with journalists who were based in China and Hong Kong. It also includes interviews with scholars who have studied the work of these journalists and government officials who had to be mindful of how such reporting influenced public opinion and thereby affected their ability to make and implement policies. The documentary includes clips from contemporary coverage and the documentary website will include examples of the reporting discussed as well as additional photos and video.

This screening features a 35 minute segment of the documentary looking at the period 1979-1983, when the normalization of diplomatic relations allowed American reporters to return to China on a full-time basis. Correspondents talk about the excitement of the era and the challenges they faced. Major stories such as Deng Xiaoping's extraordinary 1979 visit to the US, the economic reforms he initiated, implementation of the birth control policy, and the flare up of political dissent are included. Richard Bernstein (Time), Graham Earnshaw (Reuters), Sandy Gilmour (NBC), Jim Laurie (ABC), Liu Heung-shing (AP), Melinda Liu (Newsweek), Jay Mathews (Washington Post), Linda Mathews (Los Angeles Times), John Roderick (AP), and Yao Wei (Chinese Foreign Ministry) are among those featured.

RSVP appreciated but not required: uschina@usc.edu or 213-821-4382.