Photo: Ann-Nina Finne/IMS

"Political issues are still taboos here in China", was a frequent comment from the Chinese participants at the two seminars on in-depth reporting that IMS organised in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in April

On April 7-10 IMS, in close cooperation with Peking University in Beijing and the China Media Centre at the University of Westminster in the UK, organised two simultaneous workshops on in-depth reporting. The participants came from the two main media houses in the Henan Province, the Dahe Newspaper Group and Henan TV. A total of 32 journalists were trained over four days by Chinese experts as well as European ones.  The programme was focusing on hands on methodology, with a splash of ethical discussions, often initiated by the participants themselves.

Practical skills shared

Li Bing from the General Editorial Board at Henan Daily was impressed by the practical skills conveyed at the seminar, Nick Davies from the Guardian and Paul Kenyon from BBC's "Panorama" both shared their practical experiences with the participants.

(Paul Kenyon, BBC, giving his lecture. Photo: Ann-Nina Finne/IMS)

- The philosophy behind good journalism is important. I will now think more about ethical and moral issues in my work, Li Bing stated.

Many of the participants were also impressed by the possibilities to interact with the lecturers, this not being a classical way of lecturing in China:

- I was really eager to attend, because it gave me an opportunity to learn about the similarities and differences in approach between China and the West. And, the best part was that we could communicate directly with the foreign lecturers, said Lu Lihong from the Dahe Daily.

The test: applying theory in pratice

Shen Wei from Henan TV is about to start an investigation into the security of flour in Henan province. He though it was helpful to talk to the foreigners about his own project. Hands on advise from BBC reporter Paul Kenyon was appreciated and as he put it:

- I was inspired by Nick Davies to use my own imagination more frequently when investigating something - and not just believe what I'm told.

And Lu Lihong tends to agree with her colleague:

- The idea is to never give up on anything.

(Lu Lihong, Dahe Daily, at the seminar. Photo: Ann-Nina Finne/IMS)

Environmental journalism seminar in June

The two workshops were the first activities in China within the IMS programme for Environmental and Investigative Reporting in China. Follow up seminars on in-depth reporting are planned, and in mid June IMS will organize an environmental journalism seminar targeting senior economic/environmental editors from key Chinese media. IMS will do this in partnership with the Caijing Environmental Journalism Fellowship Programme.