July 2007 Archives

This was originally posted on Danwei.

The American international radio news & current affairs program "The World" is looking for a creative, resourceful, diligent and highly motivated news assistant to work in its Beijing bureau. Experience as a news assistant for foreign media is preferred but not required.

The successful candidate will be fluent in both Chinese and English, have excellent research skills, good typing skills and a demonstrated interest in news and current affairs. Must be willing to travel and occasionally work on an evening or weekend. The job includes monitoring the Chinese media, doing research for upcoming stories, interpreting during interviews, making arrangements for interviews and trips, and doing some administrative work.

If interested, please send your resume (c.v.) to mmagistad@yahoo.com. You can check out the program at www.theworld.org. "The World" is a Public Radio International/BBC co-production, which broadcasts weekdays throughout the United States to a regular listening audience of about 2.5 million.

The job will start in mid-September.

Rarely do I come across journalists in state-run media that are truly passionate about what they do, and have a deep desire to improve. While there are several good newspaper journalists, especially in the south, it seems state-run radio and television are largely populated with English grads who never had much interest in journalism.

Guo Yang (Max) is an exception. Max is passionate about geopolitics, journalism, and writing. His stories were routinely featured on the Guangzhou English Channel and even offered him the opportunity to head to Kuala Lumpur on assignment. Max's stories were also picked up by CCTV 9 in Beijing and broadcast around the country on Culture Express.

Max has recently settled in New York City, where he aims to further his journalism credentials at Columbia University, even though he's not happy with the phone rates there.

We wish him the best, and look forward to following his career.

I pass this job vacancy along from an excellent blog by Chris O'Neil. Chris writes regularly about his experiences inside the bowels of China's news authority, the Xinhua news service, which all other state-run media must subscribe to. His blog is a must-read for those interested in how news stories are covered in China.

In one of his recent posts, he discusses the benefits of working as an editor at Xinhua:

1) After two weeks, you will notice a newfound ability to reel off a series of impressive statistics on an eclectic range of subjects such as the number of visitors to Tibet in the first quarter, domestic car sales and foreign direct investment. Seriously though, knowledge of China grows quickly.

2) Rejecting (or asking for improvement in) stories that writers have spent a couple of days working on develops your diplomacy skills.

3) (If I can be sentimental for a second …) Opportunity to work with some great people (I don’t mean myself).

4) Chance to wave pay check in the faces of China Daily employees (while conveniently forgetting that China Daily is an infinitely more efficient operation).

Further information on the position can be found here.

It is rare that hosts are relieved of their duties at China Radio International's English Service, but unfortunately longtime radio host Joe Edwards has earned that dubious distinction.

Edwards was most recently heard on 91.5 in Beijing (and other Easy FM stations around the country) as the voice of News & Reports, the half-hour newscast run periodically throughout the day. Unfortunately, according to top CRI brass, Edwards struggled with journalism as his background is primarily as a disc jockey. He has been let go as a result. (No word on why he wasn't considered for the many music or education programs also offered on the station.)

Joe Edwards has been a long-time fixture on radio in Canada, and was recently an instructor at Columbia Academy, a broadcasting school, in Vancouver, Canada. In that post, he was able to share his rich experience with some of the west coast's up-and-coming broadcasters.

Joe has every intention of staying in China at the moment, and is considering sending off a resume to CCTV 9 to join the revolving door of staff at China's leading international television broadcaster. If that comes to fruition, we may hear Joe's dulcet tones on state-run TV stories in the near future.

This job vacancy is courtesy of Brand Republic.

Public Relations & Promotions Manager

Our client is a leading international high fashion brand. To cope with their on-going expansion, they are currently looking for a public relations practitioner to join their team in Hong Kong.

Reporting directly to the head of communications, one of your missions will be managing effective media relations and maintaining a significant publicity for the brand. You will be responsible for the execution of the full spectrum of events
promotions from scratch to completion. You will also formulate and implement advertising plans and campaigns for new product launches / brand publicity.

To succeed, you hold a university degree in communications / marketing or related disciplines. With a minimum of 6 years of work experience acquired from the PR sectors (agency / in house) serving the luxury goods market, you are a well organised, self-disciplined and mature individual. You possess strong interpersonal and communication skills with excellent proficiency in English and Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese.

In return, a long term career progression and compatible package will be offered to you. Interested parties please send your resume in Word format, quoting media 0313 to Polly Au at polly.au@wisdomgs.com.

Welcome to the new home for information on China's growing media, public relations, journalism, and broadcast industries.

On a lark, a few months ago, I sat down and realized I had a lot of information on what was happening in China's media circles. I'm not as "plugged in" as some, however when I was passed information about new jobs, or managerial changes, or new hosts being hired, I really had nobody to share it with. Thus, China Media, in its former incarnation, was born.

Needless to say I was surprised to see how many hits it received, and how many people in media circles (largely state-run) checked it out. I am deeply appreciative of your support.

Nowhere on the previous site did I mention who I am. In fact, I was told at a dinner attended by many of my good friends that one particular long-time radio host, who is also a good friend of mine, had no idea that I was behind the site. I don't want this site to be presented from my point of view, so I will be keeping a low profile from this point forward. However in the interests of full disclosure, my name is Cam MacMurchy. I also run another blog on Chinese affairs called Zhongnanhai.

My background in China is largely in the media field, thus I've gotten to know many of the people involved. I worked for 18 months hosting a plethora of shows on China Radio International when I first arrived in 2004. That led to a shot stint working as a copy editor with China Central Television and as a host with Beijing People's Radio (Radio 774) where I continue to work part-time.

After CCTV 9, I was recruited to Guangzhou where I was part of the team that helped launch China's first regional all-English television channel, the Guangzhou English Channel, and hosted its flagship news and information program, Discover Guangzhou (if you scour the internet enough, I'm sure you'll come across some cheesy photos from this era!). I worked there for a year, and had a blast living in southern China and getting exposed to Cantonese culture.

In March of this year I was recruited to Jongo.com to fill a similar capacity. Jongo.com is a company owned a group of investors in the UK, and the goal was/is to turn it into China's leading English-language web portal. Sadly, after only 2 1/2 months, the investors pulled the plug on many aspects of the website, including news (although three staff remain in the newsroom updating stories periodically). On May 21, 60 people were relieved of their duties, including your's truly, who was the lead person responsible for news content.

So here I am, back in Beijing. I am working at a boutique public relations firm and also, as I mentioned before, at Radio 774 as a part-time radio host. I'm also involved in a number of other media activities in the city, which I write about occasionally at my other site. In addition, I regularly submit columns to overseas publications (if only they would "regularly" publish them!) and have had articles in the International Herald Tribune and Washington Times, among others. I have utmost respect for writers who make a living on freelance work, as I am learning it is not an easy profession, to say the least.

To date, there is no dedicated site that covers media and media personalities in China. I hope this can be the first, and I dearly hope it can be successful. But it can not be successful without strong content, and I will do my best to get the job openings, information, and updates on media personalities across China to you as soon as possible. As I am a foreigner here, I am most familiar with those in the English-language press or public relations industries. That doesn't mean that I won't post information from the Chinese media, and in fact, I encourage people to submit these items if you come across them. If you have any information or job openings that you'd like to share, please don't hesitate to fire me off an email at tips@chinamedianews.net.

One final point: My goal is to share information, and not become a negative or gossip site. A few comments made on the previous version of this site were quite negative, and I ask that we try and keep things as positive as possible. As someone who's been in media in Canada and China for many years, I know that those involved love this industry deeply and care about those in it. Let's keep it light.

I hope you enjoy the site, and I hope you come back.

This post is originally from Danwei:

China Economic Review is hiring for two full-time positions. We are a business magazine with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing. Read the magazine at www.chinaeconomicreview.com and our blog at www.chinaeconomicreview.com/editors

Full-time positions:

Beijing contributing editor

China Economic Review is seeking a journalist to open our Beijing bureau. Responsibilities include contributing to editorial planning, writing quality stories for print and online on deadline, proofreading and recruiting and managing a team of freelance journalists. The candidate should have native-level English, good knowledge of China business issues and proven ability to produce good journalism, and should be able to work independently. Chinese language skills are a plus. E-mail resume and clips to the Review’s editor, Tim Burroughs, at tim.burroughs@sinomedia.net

Shanghai-based reporter

China Economic Review is seeking a reporter for our Shanghai office. Responsibilities include generating story ideas and following up on leads, writing and researching stories for print and online and proofreading and copyediting. The candidate should be willing to learn quickly about new trends, industries and issues. Journalism experience is preferred but not required; knowledge of China’s business and economic environment is an advantage but not essential. Native-level English is necessary, and Chinese language skills are a plus. E-mail resume and clips to Tim Burroughs at tim.burroughs@sinomedia.net

Rick O'Shea could be found in the hallowed halls of China Radio International's English Service for 11 years. He went on the air each night, serenading listeners with “Ni hao are you?” and his host Yuan Yuan. Unfortunately their popular show, Joy FM, was canceled by CRI brass a few months ago and replaced with a show which hasn’t yet found its legs.

Rick, however, remains in Beijing and is a regular reader of China Media News. Since leaving his office in Shijingshan, Rick has taken up writing duties with 21st Century as a music columnist.

Congratulations to Rick, and we wish him continued success.

The changes continue at China Central Television’s International Channel (CCTV 9), but this time leaders of the international station are shuffling senior newsroom managers. China Media News has been told about the changes by many in the newsroom who have chosen to remain anonymous.

Wang Xin, one of the brighest in the CCTV 9 newsroom, will move from overseeing China Today to the sports department in advance of next year’s Olympics. Current anchor Liu Xin will assume the responsibility for China Today, and maintain her role as a news anchor. The loser in the shuffle is the former sports department head, who will become an assistant to Wang Xin.

In unrelated news, another popular employee, Annie Fu, will be moving from the 2nd floor newsroom to the 8th floor Biz China team. Annie was passed over for a Biz China anchor position for Wei Sue Loke, but will assume a full-time copy-editing position with the team as consolation. Annie has been told she’ll be given more freedom with the Biz China team, including conducting her own interviews and some input into the editorial direction of the program. We wish her the best.