By Michael Devine

Award-winning journalists Haili Cao and Jake Hooker spoke of their reporting experiences in the communist nation to students Thursday.

Cao, who writes for the financial publication Caijing Magazine, offered firsthand accounts of conflicts between journalists and the Chinese government. She said practicing journalism in China is “courageous work” because she must constantly fight against the system and do “smart work” to uncover the truth.

Born and raised in China, Cao explained the steps she and her publication must take in reporting while complying with the government’s standards at the same time.

“We make decisions on what materials to include on a daily basis,” she said. “For example, we don’t touch [the topic of] Tibet or certain other subjects because they are off-limits.”

Cao recalled a time when the government shut down the news journal Freezing Point because an article did not adhere to the government’s views on a certain topic. The journalist lost his job and was jailed, but Cao said it is rare for these measures to be taken against journalists.

“There are some cases when journalists are jailed, but they’re very severe and not common,” she said. “At the most, journalists usually lose their jobs.”

Students asked the journalists multiple questions on the upcoming 2008 Olympics, which are set to take place in Beijing. Knowing the Chinese government’s restrictions on both homegrown and foreign journalists, students were interested in how Cao and Hooker thought the government would handle the global media attention of the games.

Cao said she thinks the government will be more open to the foreign journalists, but they will have strict security measures in place because of a rumor that surfaced two years ago that hinted North Korea or Taiwan would do something to “ruin the Olympics.”

“The government is going to be very cautious in issuing visas involving background checks,” she said. “Some journalists may not be allowed in depending on their publication, but of course sports reporters will be allowed.”

Hooker said the Olympics will be a good way to develop freedom of the press in China, as newspapers like the New York Times would have as many as 29 reporters covering the games, and a total of 20,000 reporters would be in the country. He also said there could be protests and Beijing might not be able to handle them.

“It’s going to be crazy, like a circus,” he said.

Hooker, who writes for The Times, wrote a series of articles on the discovery of counterfeit medicine manufactured in China that was sold to Panama, resulting in the deaths of some patients. He was awarded last week the first place award in the first Barlett ‘ Steele Award for Investigative Business Journalism for this specific series. He is the son of journalism professor Bill Kirtz.

A difficulty Hooker said he encounters while reporting in China is source protection because when a source’s name is published in an article, the government may threaten him or her to prevent more information from leaking out.

He said this scenario happened in May when a local official gave him facts that no one else would have known, and the government wiretapped the official’s phone conversations following publication of the article.

“By seeking people out as sources, you’re putting them in danger,” he said.

Jeremy Parker, a recent graduate of Northeastern, said he thought most of the publications in China were controlled by the government.

“I didn’t realize there were some publications that had a little more freedom,” he said. “Now I’m going to start reading them.”