PJF@HKBU, School of Communication

Interview with Laura Zhou, HKBU Professional Journalism Fellow

12/15/2022

1. Laura Zhou, a senior reporter for the South China Morning Post in Beijing, is in the first batch of HKBU Professional Journalism Fellowship.

Laura Zhou wakes up at 8 am, makes a simple breakfast in her dormitory, eats quickly, puts on a hoodie, barely puts on any make-up, carries her laptop and steps into the classroom at HKBU before 9:30 am, and starts listening to the lectures. At noon, she usually has lunch at the school cafeteria Café de Coral. After lunch, she goes back to her dormitory for a short break or stays in the university library to look for books and read, and then goes to her classes in the afternoon, which would end at 6:30 pm.

This is a typical day in the life of Laura Zhou from Monday to Friday, during her HKBU Professional Journalism Fellowship. Being a senior reporter for the South China Morning Post in Beijing, she arrived in Hong Kong from Beijing upon completing her last story before leaving the editorial for a semester-long study at HKBU beginning in September this year.

Adapting to campus life takes time

Zhou said it took her nearly a month to adapt to student life. Before her first class, she didn't even know what she should bring with her. "I had a nice notebook with me, and when I arrived in the classroom, I found that everyone was using their laptops, so I brought my laptop too since then.”

Although Zhou is only a visiting fellow, she has her own student e-mail and receives promotional emails about events on campus, just like other students. Once she saw the information about a workshop on mental health and wanted to sign up for it. She was initially turned down by the organizer on the grounds that she was not a current student, but she sent an email stating that she’s in the first batch of the HKBU professional Journalism Fellows, which is the same as being a student, and was able to attend the event at the end. "People all over the world have been isolated for a long time because of COVID-19, and they may have some mental health problems, so it was very meaningful to participate in this workshop,” Zhou said.

Having been away from school for more than a decade, Zhou switched from her busy work mode to student mode for the first time. She admitted that she just "couldn't slow down". "I thought it was easy to take a break, but it turned out it was not the case. I still used to browse Twitter and come up with story ideas, thinking that I could write this and that, and then I send the story ideas to my editor, but no one got back to me. Until then, I realized that I'm a student now. "

Taking nine courses in one semester may also explain why Zhou "couldn't slow down". It could be also challenging despite the fact that she only needs to sit in on classes. The courses she chose were mostly about China's development and international relations, such as "Urban Development in China", "International Trade and Finance in China", "Japanese Government and Politics" and "Colonialism and Modern Asia". At the South China Morning Post, Zhou covers China’s diplomatic relations, writes about international leaders, and often goes on overseas reporting trips before the pandemic, so it makes sense that those courses were selected.

2. Laura Zhou often looks for books and reads in HKBU library.

As a reporter, Zhou often covers Sino-Japanese relations, but she believes that may be due to the relatively conservative nature of the Japanese people, "it is difficult to find Japanese experts to interview". "It is probably because they do not speak English very well and they are less likely to express their opinions," she said. In the course on "Japanese Government and Politics", she was introduced to the history of the Japanese government and political parties, and was guided to analyze and understand why the Japanese government or opposition parties acted in the way they did. "As I know very little about Japanese politics, this course could be very helpful to me in the future," she added.

Novel course inspires new ideas for news reporting

Zhou has written about the debate on kimchi's origins in China and South Korea in a feature story. A course that uses food as a point of departure to reveal the notions and meanings of taste, environment, and technology and their relationships from an interdisciplinary approach helped her develop a new understanding of the kimchi controversies. "I didn't realize it was about nationalism," she said. "kimchi is also a part of identity, and the food is passed down from generation to generation as a symbol of national identity." Since this course ends right at dinner time, Zhou always walks to Kowloon City near the university to explore the food and experience the culture of different countries, given that food is the lens of culture.

3. Laura Zhou in the HKBU student cafeteria.

News is first and foremost about "newness". It’s not only about conveying new information, but also about new perspectives, according to Zhou. Looking at issues from the perspective of food is a new inspiration for her. “For instance, what is unique about my reporting that differs from those of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or Financial Times when covering the news that all media outlets will cover, such as Joe Biden's meeting with Xi Jinping?" After a semester of study, she has gained a fresh way of thinking when she revisits current issues such as the US-China trade war and so on.

In Zhou’s opinion, a journalist writing a story is not merely reporting on a single event, it may be closely linked to events in other countries or regions, or involve different areas of knowledge. "Even if it is a local story, it has to do with many other things, such as Sino-US relations and the war between Russia and Ukraine," she continued. Therefore, despite journalists' growing need for knowledge, and their increasing workload, they face a big obstacle: it is difficult to spend so much time learning!

"It takes time to learn anything, but what we usually do is figure something out in about two hours, which is very superficial; I've been given three and a half months to study, and I can now read the books I didn't have time to read before in the evenings without worrying about what I'm going to write tomorrow,” Zhou said with a smile.

The process of "encouraging and being encouraged"

The last time Zhou covered news abroad was in Myanmar before the outbreak of COVID-19. As soon as she arrived at HKBU, she borrowed several books on Myanmar from the university library. In addition to being interested in those books, she hopes to introduce readers to this relatively unknown country afterwards. Zhou describes her visit to HKBU as a "recharge", and she believes her reporting will be of "better quality" after she finishes the recharge.

The life of a fellow, of course, is not only about listening to lectures and reading books. Zhou has been invited to share the experience of her journalism career and news reporting with HKBU students and faculty members in a number of classes and seminars. During this period, she feels that she has experienced the process of "encouraging and being encouraged". "When I shared and exchanged ideas with them, I found my news reports were impactful and they liked them so that I felt encouraged; When they asked me questions, I shared my opinions and encouraged them." It is also encouraging for Zhou to see that many veteran journalists who had been in the industry for 20 to 30 years are still passionate about nurturing the younger generation of journalists at HKBU.

According to a recent survey of university graduates released by a US job search website, journalism is "the most regretted" major, with 87% of respondents saying they regret it and would choose another major, while "Computer Science and Information technology" is "the least regretted". It is interesting to note that Zhou majored in Computer Science for her undergraduate degree and switched to Media Studies for her Master's degree, before embarking on a career as a journalist after graduation. She pointed out that the profession of journalism is still vital to both society and the public today.

"Without journalists, we would not know what was going on, from the timing of a typhoon to whether the government is abusing its financial resources," Zhou said. "It is almost impossible to imagine what the world would be like without journalism." She disagrees with the saying "journalism is dead" and believes that journalists and journalism students are "different from other people" because, in their role, they must follow media ethics and pursue the truth, both of which are the core values of journalism.

"There are certain jobs that must be done by people and cannot be replaced by others,” Zhou said of the journalistic profession at the end of the interview.