Daniel Moss, an Executive Editor for Bloomberg based in Washington, led a discussion on “Economies: Stories in a Maze of Statistics” during his visit to the Tsinghua School of Journalism and Communication (TSJC) on May 13, 2015.

Moss shared his experience of how his career developed, and emphasized the benefits of travel, being open-minded and trying many disciplines. He spoke about backpacking around the world for two years, including his part-time jobs along the way. He worked on a farm in the Middle East, where he said he was so good at harvesting tomatoes that "they promoted me to managing lettuce-picking too," which prompted laughter from the audience.

Moss, the latest guest in the "Bloomberg Lecture Series," spoke about how successful journalists provide a valuable service by explaining how economic statistics actually affect the lives of the average person. The native of Australia used the example of how the tax rate on cigarettes, which China increased in May 2015, reflect a balance between anti-smoking efforts, health-care policy, consumer demand and state revenue. He also explained the role of central banks and the experience of People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan.

Moss then hosted a question-and-answer session, with topics ranging from Uber's business model to professional basketball. The economics of the media industry was also widely discussed, and Moss was optimistic about job opportunities for students because of the evolution of online news sites: “We could be in the second golden-age of journalism,” he said.

The audience was a combination of Tsinghua undergraduates studying media management and graduate students from the Global Business Journalism program. Moss, who has worked in Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Washington and New York during his 21 years with Bloomberg, encouraged the students to always be curious, open-minded and willing to work long hours in pursuit of their dreams.

Dr. HANG Min, Associate Professor and Co-Director of the MA Program in Global Business Journalism, hosted the event. Professor Lee Miller, who is also editor-at-large of Bloomberg, delivered the introduction and the conclusion. John Liu, Bloomberg's managing editor for Greater China, a previous speaker in the Tsinghua-sponsored lecture series, was another co-host.