J school students cover tennis at the China Open
Published Oct. 23, 2009
Twelve journalism students traveled to China from Sept. 26 to Oct. 12 to report from the China Open, a tennis tournament held in Beijing. The students were able to interview players from around the world. Their stories were published in the Beijing Youth Daily newspaper and featured on China's sports channel, CCTV and the Web site for the open.
The program was established by the School of Journalism's China Program Coordinator Ernest Zhang and International Programs Director Fritz Cropp.
"During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, our school sent 59 students to act as News Service volunteers," Zhang said. "Not only did our students take up the lion's share among the total of 300 NS volunteers from the whole world, who were recruited by the Media Operation Department of the Beijing Olympic Committee, they also did a great job during both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games."
Zhang said the students drew worldwide acclaim for their work.
"They were fully reported by the world's media outlets and they were also praised by media coverage and various kinds of athletes and Olympic officials." Zhang said. "Their success led to the idea that our student volunteers can also do a great job for the China Open."
The China Open is the most prominent tennis tournament in Asia, with the mandatory participation of 50 of the top World Tennis Association players and 30 of the top 50 Association of Tennis Professionals players.
The tournament is aiming to draw more attention from media outlets across the world, Zhang said.
"The China Open has been held in Beijing for a couple of years," Zhang said. "The China Open, of course, wants to attract more attention from the whole world and a team of 12 student news volunteers led by one professor from the world's number one school of journalism can help them attract the eyeballs across the world."
Zhang said the China Open represents a great hands-on opportunity for the J school students who participated in the program.
"We combined this voluntary action with our school International Program's Study Abroad program," Zhang said. "This event can offer a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn journalism in the real world by using the famous hands-on style originated from the Missouri School of Journalism."
Junior Matthew Schiffman said the experience was surreal and almost indescribable.
"When I saw the application for the program, I applied right away," he said. "I am a print major and am focusing on sports journalism. Tennis is my favorite sport to both play and watch and I had never been to China, which was high on my list of foreign countries I wanted to visit. So really the program was just a perfect match for my interests."
Graduate student Katlin Chadwick also described the experience as incredible.
"Going in, we honestly had no idea what to expect," she said. "We didn't know exactly what we would be doing until we arrived. We got an immediate taste, however, of the way things run and are organized in China and immediately saw the differences between U.S. journalism and media in China. We had a wonderful group who worked together very well."