Responsible, enthusiastic, with a well-developed spirit of observation and eager to work shoulder to shoulder with experienced journalists. This is how one could characterize the students of 12th graduating class, who did practical training in various media outlets of Moldova from June 4 to June 29. Thus, the young people had also the opportunity to unofficially take a test for possible employment.
This year, the most popular media outlets among the SAJ students were those online. Alexandra Bodarev and Ion Ciobanu chose to work for the e-Sănătate platform; Daniela Gorincioi did her practical training with the EA.md women’s magazine; Elmira Orozova preferred the Agora.md news portal; and Cristina Guzun decided to join the Diez.md team. Georgeta Fanaru chose the editorial office of the “Pur și Simplu” TV project of Radio Free Europe, while her colleague Diana Petrusan did several radio reports for various shows at the same radio station.
While in previous years the majority of students were attracted by TV screens and went to discover the world of television, only Elena Rotari of this year’s class decided to find out more of the secrets that are hiding behind the cameras. The young woman chose to work at the local television ATV in the town of Comrat, where, being guided by editors, cameramen and producers, she did several social reports.
Being passionate about investigations and analysis of social phenomena, our student Andrei Cebotari decided to do his practical training alongside and together with the Ziarul de Garda newspaper team. In those four weeks the reporter wrote articles about various public people with integrity problems, involved in obscure governance, money-laundering and other violations. This student’s articles were published both on the newspaper’s website and in its print version.
Rapid development of information technologies and emergence of various online tools made journalists adapt to new changes. Those who do not wish to lag behind need to learn being more efficient and faster and to use not just texts in their materials, but also photos, videos, hyperlinks, etc., so as to have original content. How to write fast and to combine classical text with innovation? All these issues were discussed by the SAJ students during the course of Digital Journalism. The one who initiated the students in the world of media technologies was Dumitru Ciorici, co-founder of the AGORA portal.
Like other training courses which are held at the SAJ, the Digital Journalism course was split into two parts. In the first part, mostly theoretical, the students learned how to launch and finance a news portal, how to assess the audience of a website, and what criteria influence the increase or decrease of online traffic. Further, they discussed efficient online promotion of content and attended a masterclass where, together with the trainer, they tested a drone.
Journalists-to-be learned what search engines are and found out why it is important to adapt to mobile versions. According to the trainer, today, having just a mobile phone at hand, we can transmit live images from an accident or from the middle of a protesting crowd or shoot a video during an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster or immediately after it. “A reporter specialized in online work needs to know how to harmoniously complement a text with sound, video, photos and graphics. Otherwise, it will disappear,” he added.
Dumitru Ciorici invited the students to work alongside the AGORA reporters so they could to put into practice all they learned and to see an online news outlet “live.” Young people participated in the editorial meetings where, together with the editor-in-chief, they discussed and analyzed the topics that were to be realized. Some of the articles were published on the website www.agora.md.
For example, the student Diana Petrușan was interested to find out what citizens think about the new coins of one, two, five and ten lei, which are to be put into circulation. Her colleague Alexandra Bodarev wrote about waves and potholes that appeared on Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt Ave. less than a year after the repairs were completed. Elmira Orozova produced a material about “invisible zebra crossings” in Chisinau, and Andrei Cebotari wrote about the Law on 2% directed to NGOs.
At the end of the course Dumitru Ciorici analyzed, together with the students, the most common journalists’ mistakes, explained to them how to best shoot a video for the Internet, how to write a good news story, which should be short and clear, and how to make the most original photos. Meanwhile, the students of the School of Advanced Journalism are having the last course of this academic year – Community Journalism.
On Monday, the 10th of September, a new group of students entered the School of Advanced Journalism Studies for the first time. The event represents also the entry into a new world – that of media professionals, but, officially, this will happen next summer. Until then, a variety of courses, challenges, and interesting people are waiting for them. The school instructors, came on Monday to welcome their followers and wish them much courage.
“Courage” was one of the key words in both the instructors’ messages and those of the graduates who came to welcome the students for the 2018-2019 school year. Sorina Ştefârţă, director of the School, congratulated the fresh students and wished them tenacity, uprightness and much patience both during their studies and especially after graduation, when they will begin their mass media job. She encouraged them to make the most of the experience of professionals in many fields they will know at school, and be more open to innovation, on which the SAJS will be focused this year. On the same note, Liliana Barbăroşie, Radio Free Europe reporter, graduate of the first SAJS promotion, but also the Radio Journalism instructor, assured the students of plenary support on behalf of the instructors, during and after their studies. At the same time, she referred to the difference between mercenary journalism and the objective, the qualitative one, adding that integrity and impartiality are a priority.
Nadine Gogu, executive director of the Center for Independent Journalism, highlighted the importance of respecting professional deontology. “In the context of a divided society, the ethical and responsible character of the journalistic act is very important. During the Ethics and Diversity course, together we will propose solutions to eradicate the shortcomings in today’s media”, she said.
In her turn, Elena Cioina, trainer who will teach the Social Journalism and Editor's www.E-Sănătate.md platform, urged students to trust their own strengths and never let themselves be disappointed: It's an exciting and motivating profession, but also a challenging one. But when you will like it, you will practice it with great pleasure”. The idea was supported by Cristian Jardan, director of the Unimedia.info, one of our graduates and, more recently, an instructor at the SAJS. He spoke to young people about the growing opportunities that new technologies brought to journalist activity, the most accessible of which is already the usual mobile phone. The role of new technologies has also been recognized by Cristina Mogâldea, head of “Media Azi” and Research Department at CIJ. However, as an instructor of the Romanian language stylistics course, Cristina said that language mistakes are unforgivable, whether on radio, TV or online. As a result, she promised an exciting and very useful course.
The former students came to meet and speak to their future colleagues too. The graduates of the 2017-2018 promotion, Andrei Cebotari and Alexandra Bodarev, talked about their experience at the SAJS, but also about how this school had changed their lives.
The School of Advanced Journalism Studies is a CIJ professional training program launched in autumn 2006 to prepare a new generation of journalists for Moldavian media market.
Since then, the School has over 170 graduates, many of them being notorious personalities in the field of journalism.
Reportage, feature, documentary release and obituary are some of the new journalistic genres that the students of the School of Advanced Journalism have studied at the “Long Articles” course. Guided by Alina Radu, director of the Moldovan Newspaper “Ziarul de Garda”, the young people learned how to produce a good reportage; visited some events and reported about them; created a portrait sketch with great, but less well-known personalities as protagonists and learned the techniques of writing an obituary.
The course started with a brief information about the journalistic genres that belong to the category of long articles. The students have been familiarized with different types of reportage, their principles and structure, and the instructor insisted on the already known for them questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Because, as Alina Radu says, whatever he/she writes, a good reporter is obliged to keep in mind these six questions. At the same time, she mentioned that, unlike the news, when producing reportages, the journalist can use various literary techniques, which allow him/her to describe the atmosphere more clearly and in detail. The course was followed by the practical part, and the students had to write a reportage, a portrait and an obituary.
How to come up with great ideas for reportage, where to find topics and how to write differently, excitingly and at the same in a captivating way? To find answers to these questions, the future journalists participated in various actions and discussed with local people and, in the process of writing the reportage, they took into account its basic elements: the presence of the reporter on the spot, the description of the entourage, the public interest and the collection of relevant data. After reporting, the students experienced their first experience in the feature genre. Due to practical exercises, they learned the characteristics of such a text – namely, the introduction, the expressiveness and the end of a history about a hero of the day.
The last day of the course was dedicated to the obituary, also called the mortuary announcement. It was discussed the purpose of writing an obituary and its structural aspects, and the students wrote a text in memory of a defunct personality.
The long articles written by the students were analyzed and evaluated both by Alina Radu and during the Romanian Stylistics Course with Cristina Mogâldea. The trainer said she wanted to teach the students how to make quality journalism by cultivating the thirst to write argued, deep texts, necessary for people. The students, in their turn, have greatly appreciated the work and documentation in the field, but also the freedom to choose and to make their own subjects for reportage.
The next course to be held at the SAJ is Ethics and Diversity in Mass Media.
The last course of the year took the SAJ students to the village of Selemet in Cimislia district. The purpose of the visit was to collect information and then make a newspaper about the village and for the villagers. Those who helped the young reporters to discover the spirit of Selemet were trainers Petru Macovei and Angela Ivanesi. This year, our students had other young people, students of a journalism school from Germany, working alongside and together with them.
The SAJ students had only six days to make the newspaper from concept to printing. The first day was an introductory one. Students spoke with Petru Macovei about the specifics of community journalism, about what differs it from other genres of mass media, about the peculiarities of the place, and then chose the editorial team by voting. Andrei Cebotari was appointed as the editor-in-chief. The function of editor was offered to Georgeta Fanaru, while Elena Rotari was appointed as layout designer, being responsible for arranging materials on the page in the most original way possible. Other students played the role of reporters and had to draft two articles each.
Then came one of the most difficult but interesting and memorable parts of the course – the visit to the village. There, young reporters had a couple of hours to discuss with the village mayor, visit the local museum, kindergarten and school, searching everywhere for interesting topics. The visit was followed by two days of work in the newsroom when, under careful supervision of the trainers, the students wrote, edited and designed their articles. Finally, the “Tezaurul” newspaper was sent to the print shop. The life stories of sixteen ordinary people, story-keepers of Selemet, were reflected on eight pages.
After they saw the result of their work just taken out of the printing press, the SAJ students analyzed, together with the trainer, the mistakes committed and the success achieved. Petru Macovei congratulated the students for their effort and pointed out the importance of team work. “Travel to villages, write more about people and don’t forget about the social responsibility that you have,” he said. Then, traditionally, they returned to Selemet, to share with the villagers the newspaper made exclusively about them and for them. The people looked happy and proud of the fact that their stories appeared in the village’s only newspaper.
Ten months – this is how long it took for the ten young men and women who came to the School of Advanced Journalism in 2017 to learn everything they needed so as to add to the new generation of journalists in Moldova. At a festive ceremony on July 6, 2018, they saw their dream come true and received their long-awaited and well-deserved Certificates of Studies from the SAJ team.
The event started with a welcome speech from the School’s Director Sorina Stefarta. She congratulated the new graduates for the perseverance, curiosity and courage they demonstrated during the studies and urged them to remain in the profession regardless of any difficulties and obstacles and to contribute, together with their fellow colleagues, to the improvement of the Moldovan media.
The people who guided the young people and taught them the profession – the SAJ trainers – also attended the ceremony. They encouraged the students to build a career in journalism here, at home, and to do that by adhering to professional ethics. “Although the temptations are many, don’t give in to manipulation. Go to serious outlets, where you will be able to do fair and professional journalism,” Liliana Barbarosie, reporter of Radio Free Europe, told the fresh graduates. The idea was supported by Vasile Botnaru, the director of Radio Free Europe. Alina Radu, the director of the “Ziarul de Garda” newspaper, added that Moldovan media need fair people and encouraged the former students to do professional journalism and to carry out as many investigations as possible “Don’t be afraid of anybody or anything,” she said. The event was also attended by the trainers Nadine Gogu, Ina Grejdeanu, Cristina Mogaldea, Corina Cepoi, Tatiana Puiu, Olesea Solpan-Fortuna and Mihaela Gherasim.
The graduation ceremony culminated in the handing of the Certificates of Studies. Three of the ten students – Andrei Cebotari, Georgeta Finaru and Elmira Rosca – have graduated with merit, and other three of their colleagues – Diana Petrusan, Ion Ciobanu and Alexandra Bodarev – with outstanding merit. After receiving their certificates, the graduates thanked the SAJ team and all the trainers for their patience, encouragement and professionalism.
The School of Advanced Journalism (SAJ) is a project of the Independent Journalism Center, launched in cooperation with the Missouri School of Journalism (USA) and the Paris-based Journalism School and Training Center (France). The School was designed on the basis of the graduate programs for advanced training of journalists and was created in accordance with the highest international journalism standards practiced in Europe and the United States of America. This year, the SAJ benefited from the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED/USA) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
You’ve graduated from a college or are at your final year at university – either full time or part time? You’ve got a licentiate degree in law, economy, history, political science, agronomy, technical studies, or theater, but you want to be a journalist? For 12 years now, the School of Advanced Journalism has been the place where this profession can be learned from zero in just ten months, from the best local and international journalists, who will help you become the best in this job.
New year with changes and new challenges
Since we live in the age of new media and the rise of social networks has generated new realities and standards – in journalism, too, – the key word that will define the 2018-2019 academic year at the School of Advanced Journalism is innovation.
De facto, the students of the 13th graduate class will learn to combine classical journalism with new information technologies, which can become their friends or even allies. Today, it is no longer enough for a reporter to be the best in writing news, interviews, or reports. A modern journalist, adapted to the needs of this day and age, can make photos, film, edit, and often even promote his products online, so as to catch the attention of media consumers, who are more and more hurried, demanding, and attentive to detail.
What new things you will learn at the SAJ
Our future students will work with the best journalists and media experts from Moldova and from abroad. They will share with young people knowledge about new media, about writing news reports that gather the most views, about recording sounds and images, and, most importantly, about turning it all into a good story.
Also, during the courses future students will test various applications and will film real TV reports, sometimes with just a mobile phone at hand; will learn to create a news portal and start a business in the media; will have the opportunity to meet the most interesting personalities from the world of politics, economy, and society; will participate in various local and international media projects, including study visits to Romania and Germany.
What you need to become a student of the SAJ
To become one of the 20 students of the 13th graduate class, you only need to have higher or secondary professional education, or to be in your final year at college/university, full time or part time. But, most importantly, you need to have ambition, determination, and courage – we’ll help you with the rest!
Applications can be submitted by August 20, 2018, at 17.00, and they shall contain:
Applications can be submitted online, at vmarin@scoaladejurnalism.md
or directly at the School: 49/4 Tighina Street, 3rd floor, Chișinău
You can find further details about the admission process on the phone: 022.929440; 079.909414 (Veronica Marin)
The School of Advanced Journalism opens doors and offers equal opportunities to all!
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