Agnes Lam (Varsity’s Supervisor)
Class suspension has stopped all physical class meetings but students’ motivation and commitment to do stories remain strong. Varsity students embrace this challenge and take it as an opportunity to do things differently with creativity and solution-based mindset.
Student reporters developed story ideas and revised their news stories, while student editors did editing, subediting and proofreading of stories during the two-week class suspension. Numerous rounds of email exchange have been conducted between me and the writing coach in the process. WhatsApp messages, phone calls, WhatsApp calls, Zoom meetings are also conducted with students to talk about their reporting duties and for writing clinic sessions. They are the usual practices of Varsity operation, other than the use of Zoom meetings.
Students are reminded to conduct interviews by phone, instant messaging tools, email and video call to avoid face-to-face contact or unnecessary travel. Due to limitation in mobility, students in fact turn out to be more creative in thinking of ways of doing stories. This is especially important for multi-media projects.
Breakout rooms – a Zoom feature – is adopted for small group discussion in joint class after having an editorial meeting with all reporters and editors in a main meeting.
Taking advantage of digital technology, a freelance journalist who now works as a professional fixer and producer in Thailand joined News Reporting 1 class on Feb 24 to share her wisdom in journalism and experience in working with international media outlets which have no bureau in the country in a Zoom meeting. She shared her experience of securing an interview with a Thai taxi driver who recovered from coronavirus infection and orgainising logistics for foreign journalists to cover the mass shooting incident in February in Thailand.
Varsity continues to have reporting and editing experience sharing sessions and look for solutions together in class though this time we do it in a virtual way. Students also have to pitch story ideas and report progress of their story production as usual only this time in Zoom meetings. All Varsity students are required to hand in class notes within a few hours after each online class session. The exercise can also train them to do better note-taking which is a vital skill in journalism.
Vision of students is broadened regarding “What stories should be done for a Hong Kong based English student magazine – Varsity?” The current situation has forced non-local students to return to their home towns and it turns out to be an opportunity for students to understand how to read Hong Kong in a global context and how news stories could be and should be understood with a broader perspective.
What happens in Hong Kong might happen in other parts of the world and we are all living in a global village afterall. Students now develop stories with regional interests and perspectives. Diversities and language skills of non-local students who now have geographical advantage at the moment are appreciated. Varsity is now able to run like a news agency with bureaus outside Hong Kong. Students in Taiwan, South Korea and mainland China share what they observe in their hometowns in this extraordinary time in Zoom meetings and work together with students in Hong Kong to produce stories about what is happening in their countries and relevant to Hong Kong.
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