* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Thomson Reuters Foundation conducted two courses in Chinafrom April 9 to 18 on Sport and Olympics reporting connected to the London Olympics.
In the first 5 day course, 18 journalists from Print, TV, Radio and Websites looked at the evolution of Sports from ancient times to the mega rich superstars of the present day.
The attendees were from organizations like Xinhua, CCTV and the China Daily with many of them about to travel toLondonto cover their first Olympic Games.
It was held at Beijing’sTsinghuaUniversity, long a partner with the Foundation in media training of Chinese journalists. Since 2005, more than 500 Chinese journalists have received training through 29 Foundation workshops, which covered a wide scope of news reporting, including health, economy, sports, and photography.
The second 3 day course was for Beijing Television (BTV) ,China’s second largest TV network, at their Beijing headquarters with 20 journalists attending.The course specifically looked at stories that could be developed from the London Olympics.
The Trainer for both courses was veteran Reuters journalist Brian Williams who covered his first Olympics in 1972 atMunichand was Editor-in-Charge of the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics.
It was the 5th course conducted by Williams at Tsinghua and the university said students and their friends were already clamouring for more courses.
Thomson Reuters chief sports photographer for China David Gray gave a highly acclaimed presentation at both courses on how photographers cover an Olympics including introducing them to the “miracles” of remote cameras and other devices.
In a report on the courses,China’s only national English language newspaper the China Daily described Williams as a “guru” of international sports reporting.
“The five-day intensive training course concentrated on interviewing skills and tips on reporting and story-writing about sports-related events and games,” the newspaper said.
"We will look deeper into sports and tackle intellectual questions," said Williams. "Sports reporting is not just what you see on the field," was Williams' first advice for the journalists after he entered the classroom. "I'll help you understand money, ethics and other things behind the sports you commonly know."
"This workshop will help you to better prepare for the London Games," said Professor Zhu Yinghuang, chairman and director of the Global Journalism Institute, a partner with Thosmon Reuters in its workshops..
Wen Wen, deputy director-general of the Press and Publicity Department of the General Administration of Sport of China. told the journalistsLondonwas under pressure to stage a great Olympics after the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"The London Games will be a grand meeting of the integration between sports and culture," said Wen, who is now in charge of sports publicity and communications inChinaas well as the coordination of the national sports system.
