Washington, D.C. – Three leading journalists with long experience in business journalism will join the international faculty of China’s first Global Business Journalism Program at Beijing’s Tsinghua University. They include Robert J. Dowling, former managing editor of BusinessWeek International; Ann M. Morrison, former editor of Time Europe; and Nailene Chou Wiest, who was a Knight International Journalism Fellow in China and had worked for Reuters there. Wiest also will serve as the program’s co-director.
They will join Chinese faculty from the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication (TSJC) to teach in this groundbreaking two-year master’s degree program, established by the university and the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Launching on Monday, September 17, the program will train about 20 aspiring Chinese and international journalism students, as well as selected practicing journalists. The founding sponsors of the program are Merrill Lynch, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and Bloomberg.
Robert J. Dowling’s career in business journalism spans four decades. As assistant managing editor for BusinessWeek and managing editor of BusinessWeek International, he supervised the magazine’s global coverage. He also started BusinessWeek China, now in its 21st year. Dowling will teach news writing and ethics in business journalism.
Ann M. Morrison has held a variety of high-level jobs at top news magazines. She served as editor of Time Europe, editor of Asiaweek magazine in Hong Kong, and executive editor of Fortune. She has reported from Paris for The New York Times, Financial Times and Time magazine. Morrison will teach media management and feature writing in the spring semester.
Nailene Chou Wiest, who will serve as co-director of the program, was a business correspondent for Reuters in New York and Shanghai. She also worked as Beijing correspondent for the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. In 2006, she was on a year-long Knight International Journalism Fellowship in China and worked at Tsinghua University, where she helped conceive the business journalism program. Wiest will teach business reporting.
“I could not be more pleased with the international faculty,” said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan. “Bob, Ann and Nailene bring a deep well of knowledge about business journalism and I’m convinced their perspectives will be valued by Tsinghua students and the university at large.”
In addition to the faculty, Don Morrison, former editor of Time Europe and Time Asia, will conduct professional training seminars for working journalists at the university.
The curriculum includes special training in global economics, accounting and finance, corporate strategies, personal finance, research technologies and methodologies, and legal issues in business reporting.
The three international faculty members will work with the distinguished Chinese faculty at Tsinghua University to share with students their in-depth knowledge and expertise in the theory and best professional practice of global business journalism. The Tsinghua team is led by Li Xiguang, executive dean of TSJC, along with Steven Guanpeng Dong, assistant dean, and Shi Anbin, who along with Wiest is co-director of the Global Business Journalism Program.
The International Center for Journalists, a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition. Since 1984, ICFJ has worked directly with more than 40,000 journalists from 176 countries. Aiming to raise the standards of journalism, ICFJ offers hands-on training workshops, seminars, fellowships and international exchanges to reporters and media managers around the globe. For more information, visit www.icfj.org.
Tsinghua University is one of China’s premier research and teaching institutions, with established schools of government, law, business and journalism that represent a leading academic force and advocate for political and press reform. As a center of top-quality education, Tsinghua attracts China’s brightest students, providing cutting-edge research and career development opportunities. Faculty are frequently called upon to provide expertise to public policy makers and national leaders, giving the University unequalled access to decision makers. Tsinghua alumni hold key positions in China’s establishment, and play important roles in the country’s social and scientific progress. Over 80 percent of Chinese leading nuclear scientists and space scientists are Tsinghua graduates.