Assignment: China -- new documentary from USCI

The USC US-China Institute's new documentary series looks at how correspondents for American news organizations have covered China.

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.

Assignment: China features interviews with journalists who were based in China and Hong Kong as well as 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.

This screening features our segment Opening Up on the 1979-1983 period, 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. Richard Bernstein (Time), Fox Butterfield (NY Times), 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.

Assignment: China reporter Mike Chinoy (USCI senior fellow and former CNN Beijing bureau chief ) will introduce the film and take questions afterwards.

This screening is sponsored by the US-China Institute and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.