More than a mirror; expressing the distinctly XJTLU student voice

Dr Diana Garrisi, X Mirror’s co-founder and former faculty adviser, reflects on the magazine’s legacy.
X Mirror联合创始人兼前任指导老师Diana Garrisi博士，回顾这份杂志的历程。

Dr Diana Garrisi. A file phtoto.

As X Mirror enters its eighth year, we feature in this issue a special interview with one of its founders and the former faculty advisor, Dr Diana Garrisi. She served as an XJTLU academic until Autumn 2022, before she joined Cardiff University in the UK.

In this interview, Dr Garrisi traces the publication's history, from its inaugural issue in the summer of 2018 to its ongoing mission as a student platform for creative expression and deep engagement with global themes. She traces the magazine's story, from its founding vision to the realities of running a campus publication. She highlights the ethical principles it has championed, emphasizing authenticity, rigorous reporting, and ethical journalism. She also shares how her time in China broadened her perspective and continues to inform her current work.

Dr Garrisi responded to questions by Xi'er Xu. The full transcript of the Q&A follows:

Can you walk us through the founding of X Mirror? What was the initial vision and process for establishing this campus magazine?

Back in 2018, when the idea of a campus magazine first came up in conversations with then Head of School Adam McIlwaine, XJTLU didn’t have an independent monthly print publication. I felt students were missing a vital opportunity to share their experiences, exchange ideas across campus, and engage in public discussions about issues that mattered to them.

A campus magazine is more than a publishing platform, it’s a social space and a laboratory for new ideas. When I was a student, newly arrived in a big city, the campus magazine offered me invaluable opportunities: making friends, building connections that led to my first work experiences, and presenting a portfolio of published articles to potential employers.

My colleagues and I wanted XJTLU students to have the same experience. We were fortunate to find a highly motivated group of students, then enrolled in my Investigative Journalism course, who embraced the initiative and worked hard to produce the first issue, with additional support from my colleagues: Journalism Professors Xianwen Kuang and Tabe Bergman, as well as Donald Mackinnon, Mark Lent, and Shaun Ansari. Under the outstanding editorship of Jiahui Huang, then an XJTLU student, the magazine finally came to life in the summer of 2018, the first of many issues to follow. Hui’s leadership was instrumental in laying the foundation for the publication. It’s no surprise she later studied Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and is now an award-winning reporter at The Wall Street Journal. In subsequent editions, other students showcased outstanding skills, most notably the art editor Wenyi Zhu, who brought a distinctive artistic vision to the magazine, later joined by Fei Mo.

“The magazine's name, "X Mirror," is quite distinctive and often sparks curiosity. What is the story and meaning behind it?

The letter “X” carries a layered symbolism. It is the first letter of the University’s name (and acronym), and it echoes the cover image chosen for the inaugural issue, a photograph by Photography Lecturer Mark Lent of an Xshaped staircase in an XJTLU building. Students selected the title Mirror, a traditional newspaper name that evokes reflection. On one level, it nods to the AngloAmerican journalistic tradition; on another, the magazine broke from that tradition from its very first issue, expressing the distinctly XJTLU student voice, hybrid, innovative, experimental, and diverse. From this point of view, the magazine is more like a kaleidoscope than a mirror.

What kind of content did X Mirror typically publish, and who was your primary target audience?

The primary target readers are XJTLU students and staff, but the magazine also attracts parents curious about what's happening at XJTLU. Additionally, external readers may find the magazine interesting as it serves as the voice of a specific community in China connected to a transnational institution.

The content of the articles varies greatly from issue to issue, depending on students' availability. While I edited the magazine from 2018 until 2022, we published lifestyle articles, profiles, interviews, and campus investigative features. Many stories celebrated local businesses, such as bookstores in Suzhou, and local traditions like brush making and peach pit carving, while also documenting the lives of foreigners in China. We also published poetry, art, and fiction writing. I always gave students the freedom to experiment with storytelling forms beyond classic journalistic paradigms. In evaluating the articles, I paid close attention to values such as originality and authenticity. I didn't mind if the articles were imperfect from a publishing perspective; what mattered most to me was that they genuinely reflected the students' real experiences.

For me, the value lay more in the students' freedom of expression than in the polished final output. The students struck this balance exceptionally well, consistently producing very interesting articles of a high standard. I also emphasised methodological rigour in the use of sources. I recommended that students respect their sources by obtaining informed consent and avoiding the common problem in journalism of power imbalances between reporters and their human sources.

An overlay of cover designs of the past issues of the student-run X Mirror magazine. The publication released its first issue in 2018.

Images courtesy of Department of Media and Communication, Xi’an Jiotong-Liverpool University.

In what ways has the magazine evolved since its inception?

X Mirror has always had a very dynamic identity due to the rapid turnover of its editorial team. I'm very grateful to the colleagues and students who took over after I left XJTLU in 2022. They did a wonderful job ensuring the magazine's continuity while innovating both its content and graphics. They clearly and convincingly defined the magazine's identity and produced extremely interesting articles. Moreover, they have further fostered an ongoing dialogue with staff and the institution, fulfilling the dream we had back in 2018: to create a platform that enhances communication between students, teachers, and administrators, and enriches the international student experience.

In your view, what is the most significant difference between a campus magazine like X Mirror and mainstream commercial publications?

There are many; one important difference, beyond the fact that campus magazines are created by and for a specific university community, is that a campus magazine like X Mirror has the potential to be more independent from commercial pressures, since it doesn't rely on advertising revenue or direct sales. This is a great advantage because students have more freedom to choose topics that don't have to be popular or trendy; they can reflect their individual and unique interests, and that is perfectly acceptable.

Reflecting on your time as the faculty advisor of the magazine, what were some of your most formative or key experiences?

Everything was interesting in working with the student team. What I mostly enjoyed was the students' enthusiasm for working hard on the production of the magazine and then their sense of satisfaction and accomplishment in seeing their works printed and ready for distribution.

Some argue that traditional journalism is in decline. What is your perspective on this statement?

Journalism has always been and always will be in constant transformation. Framing this transformation as a 'decline' entirely depends on one's perspective. From the perspective of the print news industry, a decline in circulation and readership is undeniable. On the other hand, journalists today can count on a greater number of means of dissemination, and enhanced technology that has made possible big transnational collaborations on investigative projects that would have been impossible in the past while also enabling journalists to reach global audiences instantaneously. A great challenge is how to cater to the interests of the younger generations that mostly consume news through social media. Despite these challenges, I still believe that the print industry will maintain its relevance and credibility, as it continues to provide in-depth analysis and thoughtful journalism.

Writing great stories sometimes requires sharp news angles that may offend the people involved. How can a publication avoid this to the greatest extent possible?

A great story, if it's well written, doesn't offend; it may criticize, highlight issues, denounce, provoke thinking, and inspire action. Discovering and bringing to the public light problems is at the heart of journalism, if it doesn't do this, it's not journalism. I personally am against the use of derogatory language, value judgments, and sensationalism in news reporting. Faults must be reported in a factual way, providing evidence and thoughtful reporting.

What inspired your decision to teach in China? Could you share one of your most memorable experiences from your time here?

When I decided to move to China, I had been living in the UK for almost a decade, having moved there at 26 from my home country, Italy. I felt a strong need to immerse myself in a non­Western environment, sensing that my intellectual perspective had grown narrow, shaped by a worldview I hadn’t consciously fully chosen but inherited. China offered the chance to explore different ways of living and understanding the human experience, which has always been central to both my research and my life, grounded in the humanistic tradition.

When I first arrived, I felt a profound sense of disorientation. I didn’t speak a word of Mandarin and knew little about the culture. Yet, despite that uncertainty, I was surrounded by friendly faces and people eager to help. I felt genuinely welcomed and soon found in XJTLU a great community where I could grow. I carry many fond memories: I remember walks through historic Suzhou and along the lake, the altruism shown during the COVID­19 pandemic, and the joyful celebrations marking students’ graduation. I will always be grateful for the people I met in China and the experiences I had there, they enriched me in ways I could never have imagined. When I think back on that time, I feel nostalgic, until I remind myself of the words of Heraclitus: “Everything flows.”

Looking back, what drew you to journalism as a career in the first place?

It's a highly interdisciplinary field that explores a wide range of questions, going well beyond the nuts and bolts of the news industry. My approach to this field, because there are many and very different approaches, involves examining how and why people make sense of their lives through nonfiction storytelling, how journalism constructs the world we inhabit, how we use imagination to recreate realities, and how the news media strike the balance between commercial, political, and personal constraints and the freedom of expression. For me, studying journalism is akin to exploring art history; it's about understanding how and why the same empirical reality can be represented through either realistic or abstract forms, not only to re-create an objectively assessable reality, but also to interpret the world and create a meaningful connection with others.

Finally, could you tell us about your current work and future research directions? Do you have any new projects or publications in the works?

I have recently published with Palgrave Macmillan my first monograph, “Reporting Skin and the Wounded Body in Victorian Britain,” that is a rhetorical and stylistic examination of how nineteenth-century British newspapers reported on the largest human organ, the skin. I am now focusing on the contemporary representation of visible differences in the UK media and also working on exploring the applications of compassionate communication to media.

Story: XI'ER XU/ X Mirror.

Courtesy of the scholastic journalism team,

Department of Media and Communication, XJTLU.