Budding Journalists Take On World Cup

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MICHEL MARTIN, host:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.

In South Africa, the best of the best have been whittled down to the elite eight. Of course we're talking World Cup. It's only the most watched sporting event in the world. A few weeks ago we caught up with Florida A&M journalism professor Joe Ritchie and one of his students. Professor Ritchie brought a group of students to South Africa to cover this first ever World Cup held on the African continent.

Six more students from a Chinese university have since joined them in reporting stories both on and off the field. We wanted to catch up with these student journalists and check out some of the stories they've been working on, so we've invited them back to studios in Johannesburg. Joining us are sophomore Clarece Polke, a journalism student at Florida A&M University. Wong Fan(ph), a second-year journalism student at Shantou University. She prefers to be called Christina. So, that's the name we will be using here.

And Joe Ritchie, the Knight Chair in Journalism at Florida A&M University. He's also one-time foreign editor at The Washington Post. I welcome you all. Thank you for joining us.

Professor JOE RITCHIE (Knight Chair in Journalism, Florida A&M University): Hi.

Ms. CLARECE POLKE (Student, Florid A&M University): Thank you.

MARTIN: Professor Ritchie, let me start with you. Just remind our listeners about the original venture here. You've somehow pulled this off when all of us are sitting here cooling our heels back in Washington watching the games on TV. You're there.

Prof. RITCHIE: Yes we are. Well, as we said before, got together with my counterparts and colleagues and Shantou University and kind of plotted to bring six of our students and six of their students to South Africa to work together on covering the World Cup and also to do features, multimedia stories of all kinds on life and culture in South Africa, and on the impact that the World Cup is having on South Africa. And it's been a great trip so far.

MARTIN: It's been a great trip so far. What's made it great?

Prof. RITCHIE: A lot of different things. It's not my first trip to South Africa, but it's the first time I've come here with students. And it's really been fun to watch them interact with each other and to watch them working as hard as they are, yet still having fun. We've managed to cover eight matches live, despite not being officially accredited, although some of the FIFA folks and the organizing committee has been very helpful and working with us.

MARTIN: Clarece, how about you? What's been the best part of the trip for you?

Ms. POLKE: I just have to say meeting all the new people, not just even South Africans, but Argentines and Mexicans, Italians. There's people from all over the world coming here. There's really a sense of community here. So I that's definitely been an experience.

MARTIN: Christina, what about you?

Ms. CHRISTINA WONG (Student, Shantou University): Yeah, I'm just - it's the same with Clarece. It's so excited to meet so many people here in South Africa. And especially we have met a lot of Chinese people here and really amazing, I think.

MARTIN: Were you surprised, Christina, that there were so many Chinese people there?

Ms. WONG: No, because before I came here, I knew that there was a large Chinese population here. So it's not quite surprising to me.

MARTIN: So, Clarece, I understand that you and Christina are roommates.

Ms. POLKE: Yes, we are.

MARTIN: How are you guys getting along?

Ms. POLKE: Oh, we love it. She's my buddy.

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: She's not stealing your toothpaste or anything like that? Curlers or anything like that.

Ms. POLKE: Oh, no.

MARTIN: Everybody's good. No makeup issues. Okay. So, and I understand that you had an encounter in one of the restaurants in Johannesburg recently. Can you just tell us about that?

Ms. POLKE: Oh, well, I know we went to an Italian club for one of the games and I was actually just sitting down waiting on us to leave. The game was over. And there were two men sitting across from me and they were just sharing a pizza and they leaned across and started talking to us. And I asked them, oh, how did you guys meet? And because it was kind of strange, one was wearing an Italian jersey and one was wearing a Greek jersey. So I was, like, oh, how did you guys meet. And they were two complete strangers, had never met before. So it was different. That really kind of brought home for me what a sense of community here, what the World Cup does, how it brings people together. So...

MARTIN: That's been kind of the zeitgeist there. People just total strangers chilling over a pizza.

Well, has there been anything not so pleasant, Clarece and Christina? Has there been anything upsetting or unpleasant about it?

Ms. POLKE: I don't think so. I - personally, for myself, I can't give any negative experiences that I've had here. It's all been very positive, actually. That's been one surprising thing - nothing.

MARTIN: How about - not Ghana - U.S. getting beat by Ghana? That didn't rock your world the way it did some?

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: Come on Clarece, did you watch the game?

Prof. RITCHIE: Well...

Ms. POLKE: Secretly, I was cheering for Ghana. Don't tell anyone, but...

MARTIN: Oh, my goodness.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Prof. RITCHIE: Yeah, that was kind of an interesting thing there.

MARTIN: Yeah, Professor Ritchie, go ahead.

Prof. RITCHIE: Our whole group had a lot of sympathy and affinity for the Ghanaian team. And, in fact, I daresay that the folks who were cheering for the U.S. in our contingent were probably in the minority.

MARTIN: How come?

Prof. RITCHIE: I think some of it has to do with just how successful the South Africans have been in selling the African World Cup idea, and nobody wanted to see the last African team get eliminated, even if it was going to be at the expense of the U.S. So it was rather shocking. I did a little blog about that, and it even surprised me, even though I kind of was sort of in that camp a little bit myself.

MARTIN: What? Oh, well. Hmm.

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: I'll withhold editorial judgment on that. So, if you're just joining us, I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News.

I'm speaking with Joe Ritchie. He's the Knight Chair in Journalism at Florida A&M. He and six of his students are on a month-long trip to South Africa covering World Cup.

Also joining us is one of his students, sophomore Clarece Polke, and her roommate Christina Fan, a second-year student of journalism at Shantou University, who's also a part of the trip.

Christina, I'm sure it's not a surprise to you that in the United States, a lot of people in the media particularly are interested in the whole question of press freedom or the lack thereof in China. And I wonder if you see the differences that we see in the way we feel reporting happens.

Ms. FAN: Well, that's kind of a tough question. I think, yeah, in China, we have serious censorship problems like that, because as student, I can't go to Twitters(ph). I can't go to Facebook kind of such website. I don't know why, but it happens in China. And I think it's kind of inconvenient for the students for people work in China, for - but we can't(ph) change it. That's the truth.

MARTIN: Is there a story that you've reported since you've been in South Africa that's been - you're particularly proud of, that you want to tell us about?

Ms. FAN: I think there are stories about our - Chinese immigration live here, and how the World Cup influenced their normal life.

MARTIN: Hmm. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah. So you're saying how World Cup influenced the lives of Chinese workers who are already in South Africa.

Ms. FAN: Yeah.

MARTIN: And how - and tell me a little bit. How has it?

Ms. FAN: We went to a Chinese restaurant, and the owner, he's from the northern part of China, and he loves World Cup, but he doesn't see any games because he is so busy about his business because there's so many people went to his restaurant to have meals. Something like - especially like Chinese media, they went to the Chinese restaurant to have lunch, to have dinner. But, you know, the reason why he loves the World Cup is he actually makes a lot of money from the World Cup.

MARTIN: I see. But he doesn't get to watch any of the games.

Ms. FAN: Yeah.

MARTIN: Well, sure. Yeah.

Ms. FAN: He has no time.

MARTIN: He has no time. Well, yeah, we've had that experience here - the Olympics, and I think a lot of people in Atlanta and some other places will have had the same experience. So, Clarece, what about you? What's been your favorite story since you've been there? What's the favorite - your favorite story that you've reported or that you're proudest of?

Ms. POLKE: Well, it's actually a story that's in progress right now and that's my - I call it my, but it's kind of my pet project - an AIDS story. It's kind of an ongoing project. I've been working on it since I've been here, so it hasn't been published yet. It's still in progress, but I'm really passionate about it, so I'm excited to see where it's taking me.

MARTIN: Did you here that? She won't scoop herself. So she's not giving us any hints here. She's like, I'm sorry. It's ready for publication. I can't talk to you about my raw notes. Forget it. So, good for you. Spoken like a pro. So finally, Joe, what do you think your students have gotten out of this trip? And is it something - is it what you'd hoped?

Prof. RITCHIE: A lot of it is. I think they're being confronted with new cultures, and they're learning to grow. And some of them are doing a good job of getting out of their comfort zones. I also have seen a lot of resourcefulness, finding stories that we didn't think that they would find, and finding even a couple of exclusives. A couple of our students got an exclusive interview with the U.S. ambassador when he went to a pep rally at the embassy before the U.S./Algeria game - just a lot of little things like that that has pleased me as a journalism professor, but also just watching them get along with each other and getting along with the South African people, learning how South Africans live, getting around the city and getting around the country as a whole, I think they're doing a pretty good job.

MARTIN: All right. Now I'm going to put you two on the spot, Clarece and Christina. We heard the shocking news Clarece, that you were rooting for Ghana over the U.S. But now that the U.S. has been eliminated Clarece, who are you sticking with, and what's your prediction for the final?

Ms. POLKE: Argentina and Brazil.

Ms. FAN: Yeah.

MARTIN: Argentina.

Ms. FAN: We are Argentina fans.

Ms. POLKE: Both of us are Argentina fans.

MARTIN: Really? How come?

Ms. FAN: Yeah.

MARTIN: Both of you - Argentina and Brazil, and you pick Argentina to come out on top. Why is that?

Ms. POLKE: Well, just looking at the team that they put together this year, it's just a really strong team altogether. And I really think they have the goods to make it to the finals, and hopefully, they'll make it on top. So we'll see.

MARTIN: Okay. Christina, what about you? Is that your prediction, also?

Ms. FAN: My prediction will be Argentina against Holland.

MARTIN: Oh.

Ms. FAN: Yes. I think Argentina is always my favorite, so - no reason.

MARTIN: Okay.

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: Joe, do you have a prediction? As a person who's watched many a World Cup, what's your prediction?

Prof. RITCHIE: Many a World Cup. I'm trying to separate what I would look at as a fan. I've kind of had a soft spot for the Dutch team for - I think since the '74 Cup, the first Cup I went to. But I would also be really pleasantly surprised if Ghana were to pull off an upset and make it all the way to the final. And if they were to win it, I think the South Africans here would celebrate it as if South Africa had won.

There's actually going to be a big parade here on Friday. The premier of Gauteng Province, here - where Johannesburg is located, is trying to get all South Africans out. And the South Africans are really backing the Ghanaian team. The whole African World Cup idea has caught on big here, and I don't know. I'm not really rooting that hard for any of these teams, although, like I said, I have a soft spot for the Dutch team.

MARTIN: Okay. Well, we'll see. Well, we'll look for pictures of you on the Internet painting your face, and so then we'll know what's up.

(Soundbite of laughter)

MARTIN: Joe Ritchie is the Knight Chair in Journalism at Florida A&M University. Clarece Polke is a sophomore at the university, majoring in newspaper and Journalism. Wang Fan - or as she prefers to be called, Christina - is a second-year student of journalism at Shantou University in China, and they all joined us from Johannesburg.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

Ms. POLKE: Thank you.

Ms. FAN: Thank you.

Prof. RITCHIE: Thank you, Michel. It's been a pleasure.

MARTIN: We have a link to the student's blog on our website. If you want to check out their coverage, go to the program page at npr.org and select TELL ME MORE.

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