On April 23, NKU Journalism and Communication Lecture was held at the Datong Student Center at NKU Jinnan Campus. Bai Yansong, news commentator and host from CCTV, was invited as a guest speaker for the “Led by Masters” general studies elective course hosted by the School of Journalism and Communication. He communicated face-to-face with nearly 800 audiences, shared with the students his experience as a media professional on how to tell stories in the new media era, and offered a high-quality lecture on journalism practice.
With the theme of “How to tell stories in the new media era”, Bai Yansong gave a lecture with a wealth of cases in simple terms on a number of topics such as the emergence of media, what is new media, how to communicate effectively, and how to seize new opportunities and respond to new challenges in the Internet and stock competition era. With humor and clear logic, he guided the students to think about how to tell stories and achieve effective communication in the new media era where “everyone can be a link in the communication chain”.
Bai Yansong emphasized the four “core competencies” that media professionals should focus on in the new media era: the ability to respect and summarize facts, the ability to write, the ability to interview, and the ability to express orally. These four core competencies will support media professionals to adapt to the development of Internet-based new media, learn new technologies, and apply new knowledge reasonably and effectively, so as to make good news report and write good stories.
At the end of the activity, Bai Yansong carried out further exchanges with the students. The students asked a number of questions regarding the working motivation of journalists, the “Internet water army”, and the survival of written communication workers under the fast pace of the Internet age. In his answers, Bai Yansong elaborated the significance of journalistic ideals as the internal motivation for journalists, advocated that one should still warm others even in an environment where “everyone has a microphone”, and guided NKU students who aspire to become journalists to focus on “moving, pursuing and expressing” in storytelling. NKU students showed their media sensitivity and sense of journalistic mission during the Q&A session.
Professor Liu Yadong from the School of Journalism and Communication chaired the event and awarded Bai Yansong a guest lecturer certificate. Liu Yadong summarized that, “Whether a story is well told, whether it is well received by the readers, and whether it will be spread out, depend on whether it can be communicated effectively.” Bai Yansong showed NKU teachers and students the good image of a Chinese journalist with broad knowledge, professional expertise and deep thinking. With his unique “Bai Yansong style”, he deeply touched the audience on site, and inspired the students to take on their duty to speak out for society, planting a seed called “journalism” in the hearts of the younger generation.
