On April 19, the School of Journalism and Communication launched the theme activity of “Exploring the Industry and Empowering the Future”. Huang Yuqin, reporter from the Political and Cultural Department of China News Service (CNS), shared and exchanged views with the students on the theme of “Becoming a journalist: the detours and shortcuts I have taken”.
Huang Yuqin first shared his experience of accidentally taking the journalism major and gradually becoming interested in it during his university studies. He pointed out that before choosing a career, one should first have a clear direction, find out what one likes to do and what one is good at, then can one give full play to one's strengths towards one’s goal.
Next, Huang Yuqin told two stories during his student days about his successes in requesting an interview with Professor Gong Ke, the then President of NKU, and in requesting an internship at The New York Times. He encouraged the students to try and take actions without hesitance whenever they have an idea, because only in this way can they seize the opportunity and realize their ideals. Huang Yuqin said that he had been caught by two negative emotions, i.e., self-doubt and self-inflation, which led to some detours. However, such detours became valuable experience for his career development.
Huang Yuqin took two reports he wrote during his internship as examples, i.e., “The 8-day National Day Holiday: 20 Faces in the Holiday” and “The Living and the Dead in the Daxing Fire”, to talk about the charm of news and the helplessness of journalists respectively, and put forward the professional reflection that “to feel ‘powerless’ is especially important for one who wishes to become a journalist.” Huang Yuqin said that before choosing journalism as career, one should fully understand the characteristics of different platforms and areas, the platform is not necessarily the bigger the better, only by finding a suitable platform can one give full play to one’s talents.
“Journalism is a rigorous career pursued by outspoken people, a sober mission shouldered by passionate people, and a hard duty undertaken by romantic people.” Huang Yuqin ended the sharing with the words of the famous journalist Qian Gang, calling for and encouraging the students to pursue journalism as their career in the future.
After the lecture, the students exchanged views with Huang Yuqin on a number of questions such as what a journalist’s career ideal is and how to improve their practical journalism skills. The students said that the interesting and unique sharing has given them a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the profession as a journalist. It is inspiring and helpful for their career planning and clarifies the direction for their future development.
The theme activity of “Exploring the Industry and Empowering the Future” hosted by the School of Journalism and Communication invites relevant industry professionals to share their views on the industry’s current situation, development trend and talent demand, so as to narrow the gap of the students’ understanding of the industry, enable the students to understand the actual employment situation, and better facilitate their future career choices.
