Student Excellence in Video Storytelling
Yaohong Zhong; Other contributors: Liana Liu Ioannides, Catherine Bouvet, “Digital Literacy Program Helps Chinatown Seniors Navigate Services, Spot Scams,” WTTW/Chicago PBS
ABOUT THE WORK: This package represents one of the first WTTW in-depth, solutions-oriented broadcast features focused on digital literacy challenges facing seniors in Chicago’s Chinatown, a community that has historically received limited coverage on local TV news platforms. Prior to this project, there was limited coverage on issues facing Chicago’s Chinatown and the broader Chicago Chinese American community, and there was no broadcast feature examining how technology barriers and language access issues shape daily life for older Chinese Americans on WTTW.
The story helped raise awareness of an under-covered community and an under-covered issue for both local audiences and newsroom leadership. It prompted the News Director to acknowledge gaps in coverage of the Chinese American community and supported conversations about expanding reporting efforts in Chinatown and other Asian American neighborhoods in WTTW.
The reporting process itself involved extensive trust-building with community members. In most WTTW broadcast coverage, translation for non-English interviews is done through English voiceover. Instead, I made a deliberate editorial choice to retain Mandarin and Cantonese soundbites in the aired SOTs with English captions rather than translating them in voiceover. This approach is uncommon on WTTW and helped preserve the authenticity of participants’ voices while strengthening audience connection to the community’s lived experience.
Yaohong “Alex” Zhong is a sophomore at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. His winning package, which aired on WTTW New's Chicago Tonight, examined digital literacy and access disparities among Chinatown seniors. Yaohong is currently a News Intern at ABC 7 Chicago (WLS-TV). He is committed to community-centered storytelling that brings the underrepresented AAPI voices to major broadcast platforms. He is originally from Guangzhou, China.
Honorable Mention: Monica Johnson, “What the Old Lead Belt can teach Missouri about critical mineral mining,” KOMU 8 and Mid-Missouri CW
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