USYD China Studies Centre
2:00 – 4:00 pm, Monday, 12 March 2018
Seminar Room 436, Old Teachers College, University of Sydney (map)
Cost: Free
Imagine you have just received a call from a journalist who wants to interview you on issues relating to your China-related research. Would you know where to start and what to do?
If you are a researcher keen to raise your profile and promote your work and expertise to the public, then working with the media, such as giving media interviews and creating content for the media, is one of the most effective ways to achieve that.
Two speakers will share their experience from different perspectives. Linda Jaivin, an author, essayist, cultural commentator and journalist with more than thirty years of experience in the media industry across Australia, the US, France and China, will unveil the secret of “what makes one academic a radio bore, never asked back, and another ‘talent’, called on again and again?” Sally Sitou, International Media Adviser at the University of Sydney, will provide real-life examples and practical advice and tips to explain the role of researchers and academics in public debate. She will also outline how to take advantage of opportunities to promote their work and expertise at the University and in the media.
This event will also cover the following topics:
- How do you pitch your message to different media – how to work out the best way to tell your story, whether for an online interview, a radio interview, an essay for a popular publication, and so on?
- How much background information do you need to convey along with your insights, and how to do so in the most effective manner?
- How do you make sure you don’t sound too ‘academic’ and still present the core of your thoughts shortly and memorably?
- How is Chinese media different from media in other countries?
- What should you do if something goes ‘wrong’ during a media interview?
Speakers
Linda Jaivin
Linda Jaivin is the author of seven novels and four works of non-fiction including the China memoir The Monkey and the Dragon, the travel companion Beijing and the Quarterly Essay Found in Translation. She is a prolific essayist and cultural commentator on subjects that include China but aren’t limited to it, and a former Hong Kong and Beijing-based journalist. She has had more than thirty years of experience both interviewing people and as being interviewed, including about her own work, for television, radio, print and online media, in Australia, the US, France and China. She has made two radio documentaries for ABC Radio National, one on the subject of privacy and surveillance, Nothing to Hide, and one on the state of arts criticism in Australia, Situation Critical, interviewing a number of people for both programs. She was a regular panellist on the sadly defunct ABC television arts show Critical Mass.
Sally Sitou
Sally Sitou is the international media adviser for the University of Sydney. Prior to that she worked as media and communications manager for AusAID in Samoa and as a media and policy adviser for Federal MP Jason Clare. In 2008, she worked in Beijing as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development, at Community Alliance, a not-for-profit grassroots organisation which supports the elderly in China.