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Hugo Shong on the grounds of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, the "Camp David of China." Photo by Harry McCracken |
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Hugo Shong arrived from China in 1986 as an entering BU graduate student with $38 in his pocket—and a full scholarship. Now Shong (COM’87, GRS’92) is returning the favor to his alma mater with a pledge of $1 million endowing two international journalism awards to be administered annually by the College of Communication. This will be the largest individual gift ever presented to the college.
An award-winning reporter, Shong is senior vice president of the San Francisco–based International Data Group (IDG), whose three hundred magazines and newspapers in eighty-five countries make it the world’s largest technology publisher, and president and CEO of IDG-Asia. He’s launched thirty-three publications at IDG, including Cosmopolitan China, PC World Vietnam, and the Chinese editions of Variety, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic Traveler, and Men’s Health. “When Hugo joined IDG in the early 1990s, we had ten years of experience in China and had created just three publications,” says Patrick McGovern, founder, chairman, and majority owner of the privately held IDG. “He has greatly accelerated our activities in China, where we now have thirty-five publications, and run more than twenty annual trade expositions, fifty Web sites, and an extensive venture capital operation.”
Shong traces his successful business trajectory back to COM. “Coming to BU was one of the most important changes in my career and my life,” he says. “I have established these awards to give back to Boston University and to honor those journalists who effectively decipher Asian affairs for Western audiences. I have a special interest in recognizing outstanding reporting on issues relating to China.”
The first annual Hugo Shong Lifetime Journalism Achievement Award will be presented this fall to a print or broadcast journalist whose work exemplifies the highest quality of reporting and analysis. The selection committee will consist of COM Dean John Schulz, faculty from the COM department of journalism, one or more distinguished local or national journalists, and one BU faculty member not affiliated with the college. The award carries a $35,000 prize.
Beginning in spring 2005, the Hugo Shong Journalist of the Year Award for Reporting on Asia will be presented annually to a print journalist who during the previous year has displayed outstanding reporting on Asian issues. Regardless of their nationality, the recipients’ reports must be published in an English-language newspaper or news magazine. The award comes with a $15,000 prize.
Shong, a 1998 recipient of COM’s distinguished alumni award, was a graduate student in journalism at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing and a reporter for the Xinhua News Agency before coming to BU. On the first day of orientation, he met with COM Professor Jim Thomson, who asked Shong to become a teaching assistant for his course Reporting Revolution in China and Vietnam. He calls that experience important in landing a job in 1988 at Cahners Publishing Company in nearby Newton. “Without the experience from COM,” he says, “I would not have been able to find my first U.S. job.”
Now back in his hometown, Shong is managing IDG’s China operations from the Beijing headquarters, where he oversees a staff of 1,200 reporters and editors, who develop local content for IDG’s magazines. He travels constantly around Asia and the United States to shepherd new publications into markets in Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia. Breaking into the vast Chinese market has been difficult for foreign publishers since 1992, when the government essentially prohibited foreign investment in the media. But IDG had already been in China for twelve years, and the government was amenable to the company’s apolitical publications. “IDG has a good track record,” says Shong, “so many publishers such as the Hearst Corporation, National Geographic Society, Primedia, Rodale, Reed Business Information, and News Corp approach us, and we help them invest in Chinese versions of their magazines through joint partnerships.”
IDG’s favorable relationship with the Chinese government is a testament to Shong’s diplomacy and business savvy, McGovern says. “Hugo has been able to make unique achievements in the media field in China because of his marvelous combination of top-rate journalism skills and his wonderful relationship-building skills, which in China is very key,” McGovern says. “He’s been able to make contacts with top officials in key ministries in China’s national government.”
Shong foresees IDG expansion in Asia beyond print media. The company has recently invested in television production studios and advertising companies, film distributors, and Internet companies. “We’re working toward becoming more of a Time-Warner type of company,” he says. It’s an ambitious plan, but McGovern says that Shong is perfectly qualified to lead the company’s Chinese operations forward. “I can’t speak any more enthusiastically and highly of my personal respect for Hugo’s integrity, for his leadership skills, his vision, and his ability to build a media enterprise and maintain the very highest journalistic standards.”
—Tim Stoddard |
