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Which "student journalists" from universities are taking action in pandemic reporting?

By Zhao Xuan, Huang Xiaoyun, and Zhao Jiaxin      March 13th, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In mid-January, Huang Wen had already returned to her home in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. The winter vacation began, and if there were no surprises, this year's Spring Festival would be no different from previous ones, with visits to relatives and friends. Unexpectedly, a sudden epidemic appeared in front of her, breaking the life trajectory of everyone - the Spring Festival was extended, work and school were suspended, and people were not even allowed to leave their homes.

Like many others, Huang Wen constantly refreshed various news and reports about COVID-19 on her phone day and night. This student from the School of Journalism and Communication at NJU thought, "I must do something."

On January 25th, a teacher from the school answered the WeChat group.

"In special times, let's use our professional skills to do something meaningful."

Under the call of six teachers from the school, an epidemic observation record covering the whole country began, and a stream of new forces flowed into the endless news sea.

 

"Participate in the event Instead of being a cold bystander"

"This pandemic is really too big, affecting the lives of every one of us, so we hope that our classmates can pick up their pens and record such a special moment." When asked about the initial intention of launching the "NJU Student Epidemic Observation" series of reports, Professor Bai Jing from the School of Journalism and Communication at NJU explained that this activity was initiated by teachers Zhou Haiyan and Wang Chenyao, and four teachers who taught writing courses subsequently joined to form the guidance team.

At first, more than 30 students participated in "epidemic observation," mainly Hubei students, including students from the School of Journalism and Communication and other schools. As the epidemic expanded across the country, the guiding teachers mobilized more students to join through their class groups, and it quickly grew to more than 180 people.

Editor's note:

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, student journalists who were unable to go to the frontlines of news reporting have been recording the details of their surroundings in their own ways. Student media from universities such as Nanjing University (NJU), Renmin University of China (RUC), Fudan University, and Shenzhen University have been continuously updating their "epidemic observations," using big data research methods to uncover the real individuals behind the statistics, and documenting the daily joys and sorrows of humanity with care. Journalism students from news schools are also expressing their "presence" through their writing as interns in the media.

As time rolls on, the wheels of time keep turning. In the construction of collective memory of the COVID-19 virus, what we can do is not only experience and remember but also record this significant event. Up to now, Guhe Media from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) has released 14 reports covering fields such as the lockdown in Hubei, medical treatment, volunteers, overseas Chinese, and employment for university students. Today, we focus on the story behind the production of news content, which is also the story of the new sprouts that are growing in the future news industry.

Editor's note:

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, student journalists who were unable to go to the frontlines of news reporting have been recording the details of their surroundings in their own ways. Student media from universities such as Nanjing University (NJU), Renmin University of China (RUC), Fudan University, and Shenzhen University have been continuously updating their "epidemic observations," using big data research methods to uncover the real individuals behind the statistics, and documenting the daily joys and sorrows of humanity with care. Journalism students from news schools are also expressing their "presence" through their writing as interns in the media.

As time rolls on, the wheels of time keep turning. In the construction of collective memory of the COVID-19 virus, what we can do is not only experience and remember but also record this significant event. Up to now, Guhe Media from Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) has released 14 reports covering fields such as the lockdown in Hubei, medical treatment, volunteers, overseas Chinese, and employment for university students. Today, we focus on the story behind the production of news content, which is also the story of the new sprouts that are growing in the future news industry.

Even during the Chinese New Year period, the online topic selection meeting is held at 10 a.m. every morning as scheduled, with six teachers taking turns to host and each teacher responsible for a selected topic, communicating and guiding students. From January 26th until now, 1-2 articles are published daily without interruption.​The WeChat public account "RUC News Workshop" operated by the School of Journalism and Communication of RUC is also doing what they are good at during the epidemic.​

Photo provided by interviewee

The WeChat public account "RUC News Workshop" operated by the School of Journalism and Communication of RUC is also doing what they are good at during the epidemic.​"

We cannot go to the front line for interviews and investigations, but we are the School of Journalism and Communication of RUC, good at data and news research. We can research epidemic reporting, provide more valuable academic references for everyone, produce news works with

Photo provided by interviewee

information increment, and not bring information redundancy to this special period of information explosion," said Fang Jie, the guidance teacher of RUC News Workshop.​

 

Different from the continuous release of articles in the "NJU Students' Epidemic Observation" series, RUC News Workshop publishes irregularly, with submissions from the epidemic area, as well as translations and recommendations. The most important ones are the original data news articles produced by the editorial department, including the "viral" article "Observations on 2286 Pneumonia Reports: Who Speaks in the News?" (referred to as "Speakers" below).​

Photo provided by interviewee

During the epidemic, the number of news reports surged, but the teachers and students at the News Workshop found that the "sources" of some reports were problematic and did not fully follow the norms and conventions of news writing.

Ge Shurun, who is responsible for writing, recalled, "Actually, readers have been leaving us messages urging us to publish analytical works, and we also hope to write a more substantial article."

Therefore, on January 27th, guidance teacher Fang Jie proposed the possibility of doing an "analysis of the sources of news reports" in the group chat. Once the idea was proposed, the students could not wait to sign up and join in.

On the second day, all the tasks of news crawling, encoding, analysis, visualization, and writing were delegated, and the team officially began the coding table production for the reporting analysis. The coding table determined the foundation of the entire reporting analysis, which was the first and most critical step. After three intense days of deliberation, on the evening of January 30th, the team confirmed the coding scheme with Professor Fang Jie.

The students responsible for news crawling and encoding encountered challenges they had never faced before in content analysis. Lin Zilu, who was responsible for news crawling in "Speakers," explained to Guhe Media, "The spider always reported errors when crawling the news, and we found that the reason was that the link to the article was invalid."

 

"On the morning of February 2nd, my senior sister in charge of Jiemian news told me that they had discovered that 70 or 80 articles were missing overnight," Lin Zilu recalled. To ensure efficiency, all encoding elements were organized in the form of reporting links, without retaining the original text. In this situation, the only solution was to speed up the encoding process to ensure completion before the phenomenon occurred again.

At this point, the professor urged everyone in the group to quickly conduct "emergency encoding." Members worked overnight on February 2nd, encoding and crawling simultaneously. On the evening of February 2nd, Lin Zilu and the team submitted more than 2,200 original coding elements to the coding team.

In addition to this, completing articles for each news sector was also a challenge for every team member. "In fact, we were confused at first when we received the data analysis. We didn't know what the data represented and could only keep asking the data analysis team," said Wang Yixi, a Ph.D. student in the journalism department of RUC, who was responsible for writing with her partner Ge Shurun. Previously, they discussed and wrote articles face-to-face, but this time, to ensure quality and progress, Wang Yixi jokingly said that they can only "co-write" at home through online communication.

Wang Yixi shared a screenshot of their conversation on WeChat moments

Photo of previous editors of RUC News Square (partial) (Interviewee-supplied image)

"This is an article on WeChat, and nobody will read it if we write everything according to the structure of a thesis, including a literature review, etc. We need to present our viewpoints in advance," overturning her previous habit of following the structure of a thesis. When it comes to internet communication, Wang Yixi admires her partner Ge Shuran, who is still an undergraduate student. "Ge Shuran is very good at internet communication, and the 'annual golden sentence' at the end was written by her."

After the article was published, the newsroom received over 100 comments. Everyone's concern for the media deeply touched Wang Yixi. "Media bashing has been going on for a long time, but many people are still concerned about the media and indeed believe that the media has a significant role in society and that it is a 'responsible journalism'."

Looking back on the experience of participating in the report production, Lin Zilu also expressed to Guhe Media, "When I was doing this report, although I felt very small, after all, I was in my familiar field and used a certain way to 'record' the reporters of this pandemic, which is also a tribute to them. I feel that I am participating in this event, rather than just a cold bystander."

"But what about those who couldn't handle it?"

Whether it's professional media or self-media, many people worked tirelessly over the New Year to report on the epidemic. In the chat group of RUC News Square, they were already in a "preparation state".

However, they did not expect that the idea of making the article "Speakers" would give birth to the best result in the history of RUC News Square.

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"I guessed it would be around 40,000 to 50,000 clicks because that's our best result, but I didn't expect it to be so high," said Ge Shurun, who knows the process of article analysis is complex. She did not expect that such a more "academic paper-style" report would achieve a reading volume of 200,000, "because it is a rather boring article."

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Photo of previous editors of RUC News Square (partial) (Interviewee-supplied image)

The coding column for the article "Speakers"

Although Wang Yixi had high hopes for this article, she was equally surprised by the reading volume. In addition to the detailed data in the article, she believes that this is a new type of report beyond routine reporting. "There are many 'new terms' in the article that people haven't seen before, which also brings new feelings to readers who are already familiar with routine reporting. It can also be considered that the times create heroes."

At the same time, the "NJU Student Epidemic Observation" series also harvested different stories through continuous writing.

As of March 7th, the "NJU Student Epidemic Observation" series has had 63 works, mostly in the first person narrative. In the beginning, they mainly showed the observations of students from Hubei, such as the first article in this series "Sealing off villages and roads: Epidemic observation from Jingshan, Jingmen." Later, as the epidemic expanded, the records were not limited to Hubei, and the content extended from personal experiences to the daily lives of personnel related to the epidemic, such as grassroots cadres and community workers. From the beginning of the year, various provinces, cities, and counties started traffic control and closed management of residential areas, to the resumption of work of enterprises after the New Year, many issues that society was concerned about were reflected in the "Epidemic Observation" series.

Under the serious and somewhat heavy topic, one article stands out as particularly different.

When Li Yaning saw her teacher's call for contributions in the group, she couldn't think of anything to write about for a while. After a while, she suddenly became spirited and said, "I went on a blind date with someone who returned from Wuhan."

So she began to look up the chat records with the date over the past month, starting from the New Year's Day message the date sent at midnight in 2020 and completed the article "I Went on a Blind Date with Someone Who Returned from Wuhan" (referred to as "Blind Date").

The article subtly reveals the everyday humor between the two.

When the date returned from Wuhan and invited her to meet for only five minutes, she firmly refused, "not even 0.1 seconds."

 

When the two saw each other through the fence during the period of closed management of the residential area, her friend exclaimed "romantic," but she said, "in fact, there is no fence at the next intersection, I'm just too lazy to walk.'"

The seemingly carefree atmosphere belies a sad undertone. Li Yaning’s blind date arrived in Wuhan without knowing the situation, and upon arriving near the Huanan Seafood Market, few people wore masks along the way. After returning home, he experienced symptoms of coughing, but fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

In the photo accompanying the article "Blind Date"

"But what about those who didn't make it?" she asked. If the information had been released promptly, her date would not have gone to Wuhan. "Actually, we don't need to do this at all."

However, Li Yaning also doubted herself, "Should I not have written such a cheerful article?" She felt a sense of guilt for trying to alleviate the pain.

Li Yaning explained to the Guhe reporter that she had just learned of the death of Dr. Li Wenliang at the time of publication, and felt very sad. Sometimes she even thought: in the face of this tragic epidemic, is it not appropriate to create such light-hearted content?

However, after the article was published, it unexpectedly gained attention from readers.

Huang Wen, the student in charge, explained that this report was not the main focus at the time, but was intended to help people temporarily escape the depression that had been building up due to the epidemic. However, it "unexpectedly went viral." Comments such as "Let them be together" kept pouring in, and many readers asked about the follow-up.

After the article was published, Li Yaning gradually accepted herself: "Life is like this, just because everyone is crying doesn't mean I can't write something humorous."

"It's strange, but I really don't have a moment of hesitation"

"What should we do?" This question was asked and acted upon by journalism students from Fudan University and Shenzhen University.

The platform for creation and publication relied upon by the students of the Fudan University School of Journalism is the Paimaihao "Multiple Laboratory," a data journalism team led by teachers Zhou Baohua, Xu Di, and Cui Di.

"The truth is sacred, and what we want to do is to approach it infinitely, helping the public to discern information." After selecting the topic, the teachers and students first discussed the encoding table and conducted encoding experiments. Although the teachers required that they not stay up late during this special period, "our enthusiasm always drove us to keep writing." The students were divided into encoding, analysis, and visualization groups: the encoding group worked from 7 pm until 4 am, and the analysis and visualization groups worked the next day. On February 7th and 17th, they respectively published two data journalism works from the perspectives of online medical treatment and information discernment.

 

The works submitted by the students of the Journalism Department of Shenzhen University's School of Communication were published in the "New War Epidemic" series in the school's "New Newspaper". "Our topics are viewed from the perspective of young people and students," said Liang Shanyin, the student leader. Currently, 73 students have participated in the "New War Epidemic" series, with a total of 27 articles published as of March 12, ranging from focusing on the situation in the epidemic area to social topics during the epidemic. "Shantou People Under the Epidemic" received high attention, with the reporter observing and portraying the truest picture of ordinary people in epidemic life.

In many of the reports that Liang Shanyin participated in editing and writing, there was a "special" interviewee. "He said that for more than 20 years, he has been interviewing others, and I am one of the few who interviewed him. He was happy that there was someone who could record him while he recorded others."

In the article "Shenzhen Journalist Li Jingchuan's Experience of the 'Jingzhou Battle'", Liang Shanyin recorded the moment when journalist Li Jingchuan was on the front line of the anti-epidemic battle in Hubei. "On the day I contacted him, he sent the article to Shenzhen at 2 a.m. and went for an interview at 7 a.m. the next morning. It was really hard."

"I admire their persistence," Liang Shanyin said after completing this article. "After working in the industry for twenty years, he can still maintain this original intention and interview and record the life around him. I think this kind of enthusiasm and persistence is difficult."

"I remember when we started our major courses in our sophomore year, a teacher asked us before class if any of us wanted to become journalists. But at that time, there were more than 50 students in our class, and only two brave students raised their hands." Liang Shanyin smiled shyly. "This may not be good to write out."

This is actually a reality that all major journalism schools can no longer avoid: the willingness of journalism students to enter the journalism industry is decreasing. Scholars such as Tao Jianjie mentioned in their paper "Transitional Occupations: Career Choices and Influential Factors of Undergraduate Journalism Students in the New Media Environment" that if the goal is to work in journalism, the employment rate of current journalism graduates is only 20%, or even lower.

Liang Shanyin is part of that 20%. But according to her observations, there are indeed many journalism students who came in with aspirations and ideals but gradually found that the field was not suitable for them or that there was a big gap between their ideal state and reality, and eventually chose to leave.

During this time, her firm belief in becoming a journalist began to shake. She found that the media's role was not as big as she had imagined, and in the face of lives lost during the epidemic, she felt deeply powerless. After several days of low emotions, Liang Shanyin began to rethink and gained a new understanding of this industry: although objective things are difficult to change, having an extra force is still good. "We just need to do what we should do," she said.

Among that 20%, there are also Zhang Jin and Chen Jing. When the epidemic broke out, they were both interning at professional media outlets.

Zhang Jin is a second-year graduate student in the School of Journalism and Communication at NJU and loves to write special features. In July last year, she rushed to the news scene to write a report on "Seven Quarantine Areas by the Xiangshui River," which won first prize in the Pengpai Journalism Non-fiction Writing Contest. After the outbreak of the pandemic, Zhang Jin, who was interning at "Mr. Fashion," had been wanting to go to Wuhan for an interview but was unable to. After contacting a group of volunteers in Wuhan online, she chose Huang Xiaomin, who organized a convoy to transport doctors, as the protagonist of her report. At the time, reports from the perspective of ordinary people were not common.

The article "The Wuhan Driver Who Volunteers to Transport Doctors" was published on the "Mr. Fashion" WeChat public account on February 4th. Huang Xiaomin told Zhang Jin that the "123 Convoy" had two meanings. One was that the convoy was established on January 23rd, and the other was that "123" in the Wuhan dialect sounds like "wide management," which is a self-deprecating humor of the Wuhan people. Huang Xiaomin said, "I am not as great and brave as everyone says. I just want to prove one thing: Wuhan people are not all deserters who spread the virus and flee outside, airdropping to various parts of the world. There are still many soldiers like us who don't even have weapons fighting desperately."

Two years ago, Zhang Jin switched from accounting to journalism and communication through graduate school exams, and she made it clear at the beginning of the school year that she wanted to be a journalist after graduation. This idea was born during her undergraduate internship, where she attracted more people to lend a helping hand by giving a voice to the weak and reporting their hardships. At that time, she felt the power of written communication.

The media industry has been undergoing turbulent changes and restructuring in recent years, but Zhang Jin has never wavered from her goal, "It's strange, but I really haven't had a moment of hesitation."

Chen Jing, a second-year graduate student in the Financial News program at the School of Communication and Design, SYSU, has a strong goal: "I have wanted to be a journalist since high school."

As an intern for the business reporting group of Caijing Magazine, even though she was unable to go to the front line, Chen has been doing epidemic-related interviews and reporting. Every morning, she starts making phone calls for interviews and works until late at night. Outside the window, there are continuous firecrackers during the Spring Festival. On Chinese New Year's Eve, January 24th, the article "Chronicles of the First Day of Wuhan's 'Lockdown'" co-written by Chen Jing and other reporters was published on Caijing Magazine's public account "LatePost."

"During that time, I interviewed a hospital in Jingmen, Hubei Province, and only got the contact information of the publicity officer," recalled Chen Jing. When she talked to the officer about the shortage of medical supplies, he gave a very positive response, saying that he was still trying to obtain supplies and had confidence in fighting the epidemic.

Chen Jing asked, "I know that medical supplies are very scarce now, where does this confidence come from?"

The publicity officer's reaction caught her off guard, "and then he cried."

Unfortunately, this part of the content did not appear in the final version. When the issue of "journalistic ethics" from textbooks was brought to reality, she made her own answer, "how to write meaningful epidemic reports within a controllable range is quite difficult. In fact, many times, if our reporting can help those patients and doctors, it is our original intention."

The distinction between “student journalists” and “professional journalists” is not clear-cut

Rather than having an internship in the professional media, Gu Rui entered the journalism industry by chance.

Gu Rui is a third-year student in the Communication Department of the School of Communication and Design at SYSU. In early January, before the suspension of the China-Italy air route, she came to Trento University in Italy as an exchange student. Currently, Italy is also at the center of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with a cumulative total of confirmed cases surpassing ten thousand, and Gu Rui is a witness to it all.

On February 25th, Gu Rui responded to a commissioned article by Guhe Media and published "14 Days of Quarantine in Italy as a 'First-Level Possible Infected Person'," which expanded the scope of pandemic observation overseas for Guhe Media after "The Dilemma of a Chinese Family on the Edge of the Outbreak: Stuck in Japan."

Once the article was published, it received attention from various media outlets. Caixin Media invited Gu Rui to be a special correspondent to track and report on the pandemic in Italy. On March 8th, "Italy Implements Extreme Measures, Recreating the Wuhan Lockdown" was published on the Caixin website, and on March 9th, she was one of the authors of a special report in Caixin Weekly titled "COVID-19 Challenges the World."

"When I first started writing, I was a little dissatisfied, especially with their discrimination against Asians, which made me very uncomfortable," Gu Rui recorded her initial feelings in "14 Days of Quarantine in Italy as a 'First-Level Possible Infected Person'." There were offenses or "special attention" from staff and journalists, but "the process of writing the article was actually a review process, and I found that I received more goodwill and warmth during this process."

When she recalled all of this to Guhe Media, Gu Rui was deeply moved. "To be honest, when I read my first draft, I felt that much of it was an emotional outburst of my feelings, and if I really wanted to publish it, I needed more restraint and rationality, which once again made me feel that being a journalist really has a threshold!"

Although Gu Rui is not a professional journalist or even a journalism student, it is undeniable that, like many recorders during the pandemic, she has conveyed reliable information to the public.

"If professional journalists cannot constrain themselves according to professional requirements, they may not be considered a qualified journalist, but if a student can use professional requirements to constrain themselves and make their articles provide rich information to society, then they are also qualified journalists," said Fang Jie, the guiding teacher at the RUC News Workshop. In Fang Jie's eyes, "student journalists" and "professional journalists" are not so clear-cut, and an individual's journalistic professional ethics are more important.

"This is what we need to do, to help others in the way that we can," whether it's 20% or 80%, every interviewed university student "pro-journalist" expressed a similar sentiment during their interviews with Guhe Media.

In the era of new media, the number of content producers has increased, and becoming a witness is not difficult, but becoming a recorder still requires courage.

"You are one of the few people who have interviewed journalist Li Jingchuan, and this time, you have also been interviewed by us as a journalist." At the end of the interview, Guhe Media and Liang Shanyin discussed the transmission of their records.

"I am really excited, it turns out that our voices have also been heard. What we write and our opinions are also seen by someone!" she said.

"This is what we need to do, to help others in the way that we can," whether it's 20% or 80%, every interviewed university student "pro-journalist" expressed a similar sentiment during their interviews with Guhe Media.

In the era of new media, the number of content producers has increased, and becoming a witness is not difficult, but becoming a recorder still requires courage.

"You are one of the few people who have interviewed journalist Li Jingchuan, and this time, you have also been interviewed by us as a journalist." At the end of the interview, Guhe Media and Liang Shanyin discussed the transmission of their records.

"I am really excited, it turns out that our voices have also been heard. What we write and our opinions are also seen by someone!" she said.

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