As a Walkley delegation of Australian journalists returns from an exchange to China in April, what better time for a broad discussion about the complexities of media in and about China. This public event will look at how the Australian media reports on China, how the media works within China, the shifts in culture and technology and what it all means for China’s place on the world stage. Who’s telling the stories of China? What is life like there for journalists, both foreign correspondents and local reporters?

Speakers:

•    Lisa Murray, senior journalist (& former China correspondent), Fairfax Media
•    Helen Sullivan, multimedia & communications manager, the Walkley Foundation
•    Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
•    Philipp Ivanov, CEO, Asia Society Australia
•    Jieh-Yung Lo, writer, policy adviser and commentator

Lisa Murray is a senior writer with the Australian Financial Review. She has just returned from almost six years in Shanghai, where she was the AFR’s China correspondent writing about trade, politics and the economy as well as environmental and social issues. Lisa has more than 15 years experience as a journalist, is a former media writer for the Sydney Morning Herald and economics reporter for Bloomberg News in Sydney. She also spent two years in Jakarta writing about Indonesia for Fairfax Media, the Financial Times and Asia Sentinel. Last year, Lisa won the Citi Journalism Award for Excellence and a Kennedy Award, alongside colleagues Michael Smith and Angus Grigg, for their reporting on the detention and arrest of Crown Resorts staff in China.

Helen Sullivan manages and develops communications strategies across the Foundation, including for the Walkley Awards, our professional development program, social media, online platforms and The Walkley Magazine. Previously she served as United Nations Women’s Communications Officer for South Africa. She has been published in The New Yorker, The Monthly, Guardian Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Mamamia; is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School’s publishing program (previously the Radcliffe publishing program); and is the founding editor of South African literary magazine Prufrock. She is always looking for opportunities for intelligent discussions about media (so feel free to get in touch if you have ideas!), helping produce panels, discussions and debates around issues of importance to journalism, media and innovation.

Wanning Sun is Professor of Media and Communication Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Technology Sydney (UTS). She is also a Fellow of Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA). A media anthropologist, she is best known for her research on Chinese media, soft power and public diplomacy, diasporic Chinese media, and rural-to-urban migration in China. Her monographs include Leaving China: Media, Migration, and Transnational Imagination (2002) and Subaltern China: Rural Migrants, Media and Cultural Practices (2014), and Telemodernities: Television and Transforming Lives in Asia (2016, with T. Lewis and F. Martin). Wanning recently published a commissioned report ‘Chinese-Language Media in Australia: Developments, Challenges and Opportunities’ (2016).

Philipp Ivanov has been CEO of the Asia Society Australia since January 2015 and is a China specialist with extensive experience in policy, education and research. Previously, he was a policy officer and manager of the Australia-China Council at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In this role, Philipp led the strategic renewal of the Council and had broader responsibilities for the Australia-China bilateral relationship. Philipp was one of the principal authors of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper - China Country Strategy. Previously, Philipp was Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney, advised the University of Sydney on China strategy and managed La Trobe University's partnerships in the Gulf States, Vietnam and Thailand. Philipp spent over 6 years in China working in education and development. He is the recipient of the ‘Rose Award’ by Shenyang Municipal Government for his contribution to Shenyang City. In 2009 he was also awarded the Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellowship to research China's policies on leadership development at the China National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing. Philipp has a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Chinese language and history from the Far Eastern National University in Russia. He also studied in Jilin and Liaoning Normal universities in China. He holds a Master of Educational Leadership and Management from RMIT University in Australia. He grew up in Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast and is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.

Jieh-Yung Lo is a writer, policy adviser and commentator. As a Chinese-Australian, Jieh-Yung spent many years advocating on behalf of Chinese-Australian communities and often served as a leading voice on social and political issues facing Chinese-Australians. One of his career highlights was establishing and facilitating the friendship/sister city relationship between the cities of Xi'an and Hobart. Jieh-Yung writes and comments extensively on China-Australia relations, China and issues concerning Chinese-Australians. His writing has been published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Guardian Australia, Huffington Post Australia, Australian Financial Review, SBS News, Crikey, South China Morning Post, Online Opinion and Australian Foreign Affairs.

Our Arts, Culture and Diversity Programs span across visual art and performance, literature, media, technology, education, and community sectors. These unique partner events examine cultural traditions and expressions, celebrate diversity and multiculturalism, and explore a changing Australian society. Run as both public and member only events, this programming stream offers an exciting way to engage with the work of Asia Society Australia.

This is a public event, run in collaboration with the Walkley Foundation under the Media Talks series at the NSW State Library.