Dean’s Address
As we all know, the field ofinternational journalism andglobal media is undergoing a profound revolution.No one can neglect the social influences of news and the ability of communication in spreading social,spiritual and culturalvaluesas well as lifestyle changes. Therefore, the field ofjournalism andcommunicationmust shouldera serious social responsibility and the task in promoting the progress of human civilization. Such responsibility and task aremore difficultto fulfilthan any other periodin human history.
In October 2011, theSixth Plenum of the 17thCentral Committeeof the Chinese Communist Party (CPC)put forward twotasks for news media:
First,we must expand public opinion in the mainstream; improve the timeliness, authority, credibility andability of taking a lead in public opinion.
Secondly, we must accelerate the establishment of amoreefficient, comprehensive,technologically advanced and modern communication system.
To cultivate talentedprofessionalsis the key in achieving thesegoals. Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communicationshouldhold the glorious responsibility in training a large number of leading talents who willplay a role ofbackbone for the development of journalism in China.For this reason, my colleagues and I agree that,as we usher in theSchool’s10thAnniversary, we should strive to work and improve on the following three areas:
First of all,we must make full use of our university’s advantages.Tsinghua University'sinternational and domesticinfluenceis unique.Deep-rootedcultural heritage, advancedskills inscience and technology,the social effects of the Tsinghua brand,high socialreputation and a wealth of knowledge resourcesare theadvantagesofTsinghua University.From the school’s development and theconstruction of disciplines, we must continue to make good use of thecomprehensive resources ofTsinghua University.
Secondly, we must continue to maintain the unique characteristics of our schoolwhichhad been built upover the past decade: (1) grappling with the mainstream at home and abroad; (2) cultivating the high-quality professionals; (3) consolidating liberal arts foundation; (4) promoting praxis-oriented pedagogy.
Ibelieve thesefour characteristicsarestillworth our vigorous pursuit in carrying forward with our schools’future development.Let me elaborate on these four aspects with regard to the ongoing political, social and cultural transformation.
Firstly,weshouldbe committedtoa firm and correct political orientation.OurSchoolhasbeenactively exploringthetheory and practicesof MarxistJournalism,namely, to applying the Marxist theory inobserving the world, selectingand handlingnewsproduction.
Secondly, weshouldadhere to ourquality-oriented education philosophy. The modern news media is a complex system. Journalists need to have the spirit of independent thinking, the pursuit of truth, courage and using efficient techniques toinfluencepublic opinion tofulfil the social responsibility of the news media.
Thirdly, weshould adhere toourSchool’s praxis-orientedpedagogy. With regards to training media personnel,our School puts high emphasis on integrating our curriculum into newsroom and media production, which accords with the current campaign of “practicing grass-root journalism” and “changing reportage stylistics” advocated in Chinese news media.
Fourthly, weshouldbeendowed with aninclusive and academic mindset.Our School is well known for the globalized body of faculty members, visiting scholars, and students from all over the world.Despite the fact that they come fromdifferent countries andhavedifferent cultural backgrounds,we share a common interest injournalismand communication. Through interdisciplinary and multicultural exchanges, our faculty and student will be endowed with a global vision in their career development.
Once again, for a practice-oriented world, we need to train high-quality media talents. In general,OurSchooldistinguishes herselffrom other institutionswith the four aforementioned missions. We shouldcontinue with our reform so asto cultivate high-quality journalists andmedia personnelwith solid liberal arts foundation and a globalized vision.
The current mediaspherehasalready seen profound changes: the reciprocal relationship of international and domestic influences, the increasingly blurred boundarybetween domestic and international journalism; the competition between officials and citizenry. More and more breakingnews has been released throughsocial media instead ofauthoritative news agencies, mainstream newspapers, radio and television. The intertwining of online and official sources of information along with the integration of software and hardware has complicated the verification process of authenticity. Faced with suchchallenges, journalists need to gain initiatives amidst fierce competition. Thus,professional journalist shouldpromptly determine the relationship of various aspects in dealing with complex news events,andtake a leadin public opinions onmajor news agenda. The new generation of media personnel cannot just process words like those in the past. Instead, they must learn to use the latest and most cutting-edge technology to enhance and spread the power of communication and build multimedia news platforms and media channels.
Undoubtedly,there are stilltremendous uncertaintiesinthefuture development ofjournalism andcommunication. This will requireour facultyand students tomakejointteaching andresearchendeavoursin order to solve the various problems that we may encounter during such development. Letuswork hard together and make joint efforts towards building a world-class School of Journalism and Communication.
March 1, 2012
