By Jeremy Rosenberg
Forty years ago this month, President Richard Nixon took a groundbreaking and geopolitically significant visit to People's Republic of China.
The President didn't travel alone. In addition to administration officials, aids and Nixon's wife, Pat, for the first time in a generation scores of American journalists were granted permission by Chinese authorities to enter the country and cover the visit.
The behind-the-scenes story of the Fourth Estate—and others—at work and play during that historic week as well as their more recent analysis and observations are the subject of "Assignment China: The Week That Changed the World." It is a new documentary film by the USC U.S.-China Institute (USCI) at USC Annenberg.
The film—in English with Chinese subtitles—had its world premiere on January 17 in Washington, D.C. Approximately 200 journalists, government officials, academics, think tank staffers and other China experts gathered at the U.S. Institute of Peace for a panel discussion and showing of the film. The event was co-sponsored by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Carola Weil, director of international & strategic partnerships and a research professor at USC Annenberg, was among the attendees. "The film," Weil said, "gives you not only a fairly unvarnished insight into the sausage-making of foreign correspondents and the challenges of working in an environment that is both culturally and linguistically so different from your own, but it also provides deep insight into U.S. domestic politics."
The D.C. screening of the documentary was a further milestone in the USC U.S.-China Institute pairing. Last October, the Institute moved under the aegis of the USC Annenberg School.
"Virtually every issue in the U.S.-China relationship has a vital communications, media and public diplomacy component," said Clayton Dube, executive director of the Institute. "And these days, many communications, media and public diplomacy discussions require attention to China and to U.S.-China interactions. The USC Annenberg-USCI combination is uniquely capable of addressing all of these needs."
The film includes period footage of and recent interviews with such broadcast and print icons as Dan Rather, Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters, Max Frankel and Stanley Karnow. The film also incorporates previously unreleased footage recorded during the China trip by a film crew Nixon brought. Dube conceived of and is the producer of the film and seven other sibling documentaries either already produced or coming soon. The series—with one episode covering each decade beginning with the 1940s—aims to both increase viewers' understanding of China as well as spotlight how journalists abroad do their jobs.
The films are reported, written and narrated by Mike Chinoy, a senior fellow at the U.S. China Institute. Chinoy first visited China in 1973 then worked in that country and elsewhere in Asia as a foreign correspondent for CBS and NBC from 1975-83 and for 24 subsequent years for CNN.
"This is a labor of love," Chinoy said of the new film, "because it's partly what I did and these are all people I knew and dealt with."
Following its Capitol Hill premiere, the film screened at USC—with an introduction by USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III—and at the Asia Society in New York City, where a distinguished panel including Frankel, former Ambassador Nicholas Platt and the Asia Society's Orville Schell discussed the work. In February, screenings will be held at UC Berkeley, Stanford and at various diplomatic, academic and other venues throughout China.
Early responses to the documentary have been enthusiastic. The China Daily wrote a report after the Capitol Hill screening, and at the USC showing an audience member suggested the film deserved an Academy Award. Chinoy understands the appeal.
"It's an amazing blast from the past to see all these people you grew up watching on TV speaking very candidly of what they did and how they did it," Chinoy says. "And for people who weren't around then, it's absolutely a revelation that this happened."
"Assignment China: The Week That Changed The World" can be viewed on the U.S. China Institute website. A previous film in the series, "Assignment China: Opening Up," is posted here.
