Page 20 - Sphere No.23 (Dec 2008)
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SPHERE
to learn about covering American politics.
Frank Folwell, former photo editor of
USA
TODAY
, and Professor Sherry Ricchiardi of the
University of Indiana were their American tu-
tors. Frank accompanied the group on their en-
tire journey along with a former reporter Tony
Li Zixin who acted as Chinese editor and tutor.
Ready for action, they travelled to Denver,
Colorado to meet their American teammates.
Almost immediately, the Campaign Coverage
’08 team was standing amidst convention del-
egates in the Pepsi Center, the location of the
Democratic National Convention, observing
and reporting on the events alongside some of
the most seasoned reporters in the world.
While serving as a learning experience, the
students worked tirelessly as real journalists
and were responsible for reporting and filing
their stories with their advisors acting as editors. Their stories,
pictures and video were posted in Chinese at
and in English at
and read by
people all over the world. Indeed,
The Wall Street Journal
recom-
mended the websites to readers as
part of the newspaper’s online “Best
of the China blogs” service. Four
edited excerpts from the Shantou
students’ reports are printed with
this article.
The team interviewed delegates,
recorded events and speeches, and
also had a once-in-a-lifetime experi-
ence. They reported from INVESCO
Field where some 75,000 supporters
witnessed the historic nomination
of Barack Obama, the first African-
American to be named a party candi-
date for President and who, of course,
went on to claim a famous victory.
The students also had an experience outside both conven-
tions for which, perhaps, they were not completely prepared:
a barrage of protests on issues as varied as the war in Iraq, the
911 AND SICHUAN
“I felt it,” I whispered to myself as I was
one block from Ground Zero, former site
of the World Trade Center. I sensed that
my nose smelled something like disinfec-
tant, the same thing I smelled while work-
ing as a reporter at the epicentre of the
Sichuan earthquake. I can’t imagine that
108-storey twin-tower buildings stood
here. Seven years have passed and the
whole place is being rebuilt. “Evil people
can never beat good things,” a Danish
tourist in his seventies told me. He said
the rebuilding of Ground Zero is the
symbol of standing up again after tragedy.
“People from around the world need to
work together and accept each other,” he
said. Yes, I promise to treasure, appreciate
and love life more from now on.
– Gao Wenhuan
hroughout the campaign, the team interviewed people on the
streets, at rallies, in restaurants and bars, and on Capitol Hill
