Journalism: Austin Ramzy of The New York Times

U.S.-China: Searching for Common Ground

The topic: Journalists serve as critical intermediaries between American and Chinese societies, reporting and interpreting events for audiences in both countries. Yet China has become an increasingly difficult place for American journalists as Chinese authorities have denied visas, placed restrictions on activities, and leveled criticism at Western media coverage of China. In turn, Chinese journalists have been forced to leave the United States. How do American journalists on the China beat cope with such challenges? How can outsiders gain information about such charged stories as the expanding detention camps in Xinjiang?

Our guest: Austin Ramzy is a Hong Kong-based reporter for The New York Times, focusing on coverage of the city as well as regional and breaking news. He previously covered major events around Asia from Taipei and Beijing. He has covered the 2015 election in Myanmar, Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, and mass protest movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where he was based in 2014. Previously, Austin reported for Time magazine (2003-2013) from both Hong Kong and Beijing. Major assignments includes the Beijing Olympics, the Wenchuan earthquake, and China’s response to the 2007-08 financial crisis.

Complete episode transcript: tinyurl.com/5yc6p6z6.

The series: David Skidmore and Kyle Munson produced this podcast series in conjunction with Skidmore's Spring 2021 U.S.-China international relations course at Drake University.

Your hosts:

David Skidmore is a Professor of Political Science at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he has taught since 1989. Skidmore’s teaching and research focuses on U.S. foreign policy and U.S.-China relations. During the 1996-97 academic year, he taught at the Johns Hopkins-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. He also served as a Fulbright Scholar based at the University of Hong Kong in 2010-2011. He is past Director of the Principal Financial Group Center for Global Citizenship (2002-2017) and the Nelson Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs (2012-2017), both at Drake University. Skidmore is author, co-author or editor of six books including a monograph titled The Unilateralist Temptation in American Foreign Policy (Routledge, 2011), and has published numerous articles or chapters in various academic journals and books. His most recent research focuses on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. His editorial writing has appeared in Fortune, U.S. News and World Report, Salon, The Conversation, the Diplomat, Global Times and the Des Moines Register.

Kyle Munson is a journalist, writer, podcaster, and content strategist who currently works in content marketing and financial services. He previously spent 24 years with The Des Moines Register/Gannett in a variety of roles, including eight years as columnist. In 2017 he was awarded a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to report on U.S.-China relations early in the Trump administration as Amb. Terry Branstad began his tenure in Beijing. That resulted in the project “Iowa in the Heart of China.” Munson also reported on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2012 visit to Iowa. He has volunteered and served as a board member with Iowa Sister States, a nonprofit dedicated to citizen diplomacy. He currently chairs the board of the Western Iowa Journalism Foundation.

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