Judy Polumbaum Interview
from Weekly Signals Interviews
An interview with Judy Polumbaum author of China Ink: The Changing Face of Chinese Journalism. Polumbaum explores individual and societal changes in contemporary China through the compelling personal accounts of young Chinese journalists. China's media are central to public life in the most populous nation on earth and have also become increasingly relevant to communication and understanding on a global scale. Through a series of engaging oral histories, Polumbaum puts a human face on vital political and philosophical issues of freedom of expression and information that will shape China's future. Polumbaum’s extended and frank conversations with journalists from a range of news outlets reveal diversity, passion, humor, and optimism that belie the stereotype of journalists as cogs in a rigidly controlled machine. Neither dissidents nor paragons but rather people working day in and day out within China's existing and evolving media, these talented and ambitious reporters open new windows to understanding Chinese journalism and intellectual life. Some of their tales could happen only in China; others resonate everywhere. As the first book to explore experiences and ideas of everyday journalists who are helping to shape their rapidly changing country, China Ink is a look into China's dynamic society. Polumbaum is a former newspaper reporter. She is currently professor of journalism and mass communication at The University of Iowa. Recorded September 9, 2008
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