China's economic rise is one of the most dramatic and complex stories of our time. Reporting on the rapid and sweeping changes underway in there and what those changes mean for the Chinese and everybody else is a great challenge. One reporter who does this consistently well is Marketplace’s Rob Schmitz. He’s helped us understand a wide range of stories from currency debates and stimulus spending to inflation worries and how families seek to prepare their children to compete in the global economy. In March he generated a lot of discussion by reporting that a widely heard and discussed report about conditions at FoxConn factories turning out Apple and other products had been fabricated. His report led to an unprecedented retraction of Mike Daisey’s story by This American Life.
Schmitz joined Marketplace in 2010. Prior to that, he was the Los Angeles bureau chief for KQED’s The California Report. He’s also reported for KPCC (89.3), and as a reporter for Minnespota Public Radio. Prior to his radio career, Schmitz lived and worked in China; first as a teacher in the Peace Corps, then as a freelance print and video journalist.
Sample pieces:
In China, concerns grow over environmental costs of Apple products, November 28, 2011
Chinese students, too qualified to be true?, November 9, 2011
Chinese press comes down hard on alleged Apple pollution, September 21, 2011
This presentation was given on April 17, 2012 at USC. Click on the play button below to see the presentation..
This video is also available on the USCI YouTube Channel.
