This summer, Sylvia Liu Yihong, a junior in the Chinese Culture and Global Communication (CCGC) program, joined the Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy (THISAM) in Greece, engaging with global peers on the challenges and ethics of contemporary journalism. Below, she shares her experience.
This summer, Sylvia Liu joined the Thessaloniki International Media Summer Academy (THISAM) in Greece—a program that marked its tenth anniversary this year. Convened by Professor Nikos Panagiotou and a consortium of 15 partner universities, including Temple University, Concordia University, and Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, the academy brought together 71 participants from 19 countries. Under the theme "Unveiling Tomorrow's Media: Challenges and Tools in Communication", they explored AI's impact on journalism, media literacy, disinformation, and journalist safety. As Professor Panagiotou reminded participants: "Substantive journalism is not limited to the speed of information, but concerns understanding, interpretation and making sense of events, elements that remain irreplaceable even in the age of artificial intelligence."
Three highlights defined her journey. First, in the lakeside town of Kastoria, she participated in a workshop led by visual anthropologist Dr. Dimitrios Bouras on "The Image of War: Visual Anthropology, Conflict Reporting and Collective Memory." Engaging with peers from diverse national and professional backgrounds, Sylvia Liu discovered how visual anthropology frames war not merely as spectacle but as lived human experience, and how collective memory shapes—and is shaped by—conflict reporting. The discussion gave her multiple lenses to read the relationship between image, truth and ethics in journalism, a perspective she now carries back to her CCGC studies.
Second, together with Greek and Chinese teammates, she produced a short video titled When Sages Dream—In Search of Truth in the Age of AI. Inspired by their cross-cultural composition, they staged a dreamlike dialogue between Confucius and Socrates, using classical wisdom from both civilizations to address the challenges of discerning truth in an AI-saturated media environment. The video, praised by faculty for its originality and conceptual depth, exemplified how East-West philosophical traditions can inform contemporary media ethics.
Third, during a fieldwork session in Thessaloniki's Chinatown, the Chinese team interviewed the President and Secretary-General of the Association of Chinese-Greek Friendship. Sylvia Liu learned about the history of Chinese migration to the city and the mutual aid networks that sustain the community—stories of resilience, solidarity and cultural preservation that resonate deeply with CCGC's commitment to understanding Chinese culture in global contexts.
Author and Photos:
Sylvia Liu Yihong
Editor: Wei Chin Wong
This experience is part of the article "Three Students, Three Paths, One Summer: Chinese Culture and Global Communication (CCGC)'s Global Learning Stories."
Source: BNBU CCGC WeChat
