Chinese Students at UW-Milwaukee Learn Freedom of the Press

“I just want to learn journalism. I believe (in) the social value a journalist can bring to a society. I don’t want to stay at the same place doing the same kind of thing every day for the rest of my life. Well, America is the perfect place for me to start the journey.”

Qixin Xu, a senior student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, comes from China and chose to study print journalism in the United States for a specific reason, freedom of speech.

Xu used to grow up in an environment where media has little freedom to do investigative journalism. America, an open country known for its freedom of the press, is a whole new world for her. Now, she’s writing about area refugees for Media Milwaukee, the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies Department’s online news site.

Not only does the new world excite her, it also bothers her in terms of settling into the unfamiliar circumstances. She is one of a growing number of Chinese students at UWM. According to the Office of Assessment and Institutional Research, in 2014, there were almost 400 students from China at UW-Milwaukee, up from under 170 in 2005.

“I had a hard time integrating myself into the reporting class to finish assignments at first,” Xu said. “Such as finding a topic that I want to write about, going to a community organization and conducting professional interview.”

Journalism students in China generally do not get such chances to pre-experience the real world by reporting and writing actual news, even publishing one’s own work on media platform.

The major classes Xu took at UWM helped her realize the essential differences in the relationship between a media outlet and its audience in two countries. She said Americans are more interested in politics than the Chinese audience while the latter cares more about non-hard news, as a result of the imparity in national policy and freedom of speech.

Chinese citizens have no right to vote for national leaders as the Communist party controls the nation so ordinary citizens have minimal participation in politics. Journalists could work on investigative reporting, but it is less likely for the works to be published due to the restriction on content as well as government’s censorship. Restricted press freedom is the biggest reason that drives Xu to America to study journalism under a comparatively relaxed environment.

In a country where people have no access to most of the mainstream social networks, Xu still needs more time to feel fully comfortable of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. However, she uses them more like the news hubs where she is able to actively engage in both national and international news issues.

It is another case for Changoumei Liu, a graduate student who majors in piano, in terms of using social networks. “I think contents on Facebook are much more diverse and interesting compared to Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) and I can post whatever I want to post. I can’t do that in China.” Liu said she uses Facebook to connect with her American friends and follow pages that are related to piano and classic music.

Both Xu and Liu find America a place where residents enjoy the freedom they are supposed to have and think there is still a long way for China to go in order to earn the same level of freedom for its citizens.

“I am grateful that I get to study media here though it might be tough to find a print journalism job when I return to China after graduation.” Xu is concerned about her future as a journalist in regards to whether or not local Chinese media organizations would hire her with little knowledge about how the Chinese media system functions.

“At least I experienced things that a journalism student in China would never experience.”