Kelu Chao: A Chinese Journalism Dedicator

 “The public has the right to be informed.”

By Yuting Lu

Holding a cup of Chinese tea, Kelu Chao wears a black suit, a long silk scarf with pattern of blue and white porcelain. She sits at the table in front of a wall clock. After taking a glance at the clock, she turns her head and starts talking in Chinese.

“I always believe the public has the right to be informed,” says Chao. Serving as the Director of Performance Review at the International Broadcasting Bureau since 2008, Chao currently is responsible for oversight of all program review, management efficiency study and research functions. She used to take charge of all the language services at Voice of America (VOA) as the Language Programming Directorate. She interviewed George Bush in 1989 when Bush first visited Mainland China, which was also the first time VOA sent a Chinese journalist to Mainland China. Before long, she went back to Taiwan as a VOA journalist interviewing Lee Teng-hui, who was the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 1988 to 2000 advocating Taiwanese independence.

It has been 38 years since the first time Chao came to the United States in 1975 for her master degrees. As a native Taiwanese, she witnessed the Censorship to newspapers in Taiwan during the late 1970s to the early 1980s, and is now observing the ongoing news censorship in Mainland China. However, she has never given up her faith in freedom of the press.

“The right to be informed empowers us to make our own decision,” she says, “When we could have a fuller picture of the world, we would be able to make better decisions.”

2013 is Chao’s fifth year serving as the Director; the eleventh year since she went into management; the thirty-eighth year since she stepped into the Voice of America as an intern. Now almost four decades have passed but Chao still misses the years when she was working as a journalist.

She frankly admits that the old years were more fun when she was independently interviewing, editing and writing a story as a journalist. After moving into management, she can not any more have the pleasure from covering a story on her own. Instead, more responsibilities and pressure were put on her shoulders. Chao notes that she knows what journalists actually want because she started her career from the very beginning, and so she can make efforts to further their interests on board meetings. Even if “the bureaucratic stuff, like paper after paper, is boring”, but “at the end of the game I could help them.” “My dream has never changed,” said Chao. “I wish to help introduce press freedom around the globe.” “If I try harder, journalists from different levels [in international broadcasting system] would benefit from it.” Chao added.

Born in a literary family in Taiwan, Chao had a fertile learning environment for reading and writing. Her father was the chief editor of The Central Daily News, the official newspaper of the Kuomintang and one of the world's oldest Chinese-language newspapers, having been in circulation since 1928. Chao says her father was proficient in history, geography, literature and poetry and they had a large selection of books at home. Influenced by her father, Chao read relatively more books than her peers, especially in history and literature. Interestingly, Chao said her father suggested that she not study journalism because it was a tough job in Taiwan. “But I just took it as a suggestion, ” Chao smiles and adds, “in the end I made my own decision”.

Chao didn’t only study journalism but also dedicated her whole career into journalism. After got a B.A. in Journalism from National Chengchi University, which was and still is a leading university in Taiwan, Chao went to Kent State University in Ohio in 1975 pursuing her two master degrees. She accomplished both M.A. in Speech Communication and M.Ed. in Instructional Media.

Life was not easy at the very beginning. The summer of 1976 was the first time Chao started her internship in VOA. The reason why she chose VOA was because it was near the Library of Congress where she could look up information for her graduation thesis. At that time, she didn’t expect that she would work here for the following more than 30 years. “The Library of Congress only opened during the day so I worked at night, starting around midnight and got off work around 9am,” Chao recalled, “everyday off duty I went to the library looking up information. Then I went on to do a part-time job before I went home and took a nap. After the nap, I went to work again for the night shift at VOA.”

Two years later, Chao graduated from Kent and got her two master degrees. Within the same year, she became a contractor of VOA, which means she officially got paid. However, life was still hard. When she had already worked for two months, the salary for the first month, between $400 and $500, was still not paid. Without income, Chao was almost broke. “My roommate and I bought a huge bag of popcorn. We divided it into shares and ate one share everyday,” she recalled, “Luckily, the restaurant I worked for part-time job provided dinner.” That’s how she filled a hungry stomach. 

Nonetheless, she never thought of going back home. Her dream was here and she chose to stay here without any hesitation. “I always have a strong passion for journalism,” Chao emphasizes, “I was dedicated to conveying the best message comprehensively [to Mainland China].” She explained further that back then Taiwan’s censorship of newspapers didn’t allow any communication with Mainland China. Chao wanted to find a third voice to connect them and VOA turned out to be her best choice, and, for the following decades as well.

Next, Chao worked as a journalist for 13 years. Then she was sent to Hong Kong for two years as a managing editor while the local bureau was not established at all. After coming back, she was promoted to the Mandarin Service Director, East Asia Division Director, Language Programming Directorate at VOA until shifting to her current position as the Director of Performance Review at the International Broadcasting Bureau.

Along the way, she has won her respect from people around. Alex Hsiung has worked with Chao for more than 30 years. “what I admire about her is that she is always strict with the quality of the work. " says Hsiung, "I know she plays piano. Maybe this affects the way she works. She is always organized and carefully while dealing with problems. ”

Kelu Chao has received years of formal training for piano. Her husband, who lives with her in D.C., was a famous musician in Taiwan. They met while studying at Kent State and got married in 1980, the same year when Chao became a full-time employee at VOA. They both love music but chose different approaches for career. “It’s good to marry a musician that I won’t cut my connection to music,” Chao says with a smile.

Kuanghua Chang met Kelu Chao when they were both interns at VOA in 1976. They have been close friends for almost 40 years. “Chao is a powerful person,” Chang said, “I still remember there was a time that her husband went back to Taiwan to work for two years. She took care of everything in perfect order. Her kids were around 10 years old. But she took good care of her kids and did her work well at the same time. Meanwhile her house was also undergoing a renovation. If I were her, I couldn’t even cook a meal, not to mention other stuff.”

Chao's sons are 30 and 26 years old now, both living in L.A. The elder son is working as a DJ whereas the younger son is helping financial management in a Church. Talking about her sons, a beatific smile appeared on Chao’s face.

When the interview ended, Chao checked the clock on the wall. The cup of tea on her hands was already empty. The phone on the desk behind her suddenly rang. She walked to the desk and picked up the phone. And a new email was to be opened.