”Pentru mine, Şcoala de Studii Avansate în Jurnalism este o instituţie care transmite respectiva meserie de la jurnaliştii consacraţi spre generaţiile tinere care îşi doresc o carieră în acest domeniu”

She came to the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism because of her passion for TV. She wasn’t frightened by the fact that she had two small children at home. She tried combining both things – journalism and family, and, according to her, she managed that. Journalism means a lot of work, but also, “a bit of luck”. She began upon running with a microphone in her hands and came at presenting the most important newscast at the public TV station. She believes that reporting is the basic of journalism, whereas the team and contacts are essential elements in this craft. The events of April 2009 played a key role in her desire to become a journalist. We refer to Dorina Gherganov, newscaster of “Mesager”, TV Moldova 1.

I have always been enchanted by news, even when I was far from this field; I always took well care to be informed. I wished to join the journalists’ guild; however my problem was that I didn’t have the appropriate education. My first education, economics, was rather a choice made by my family, who envisaged me working in an office surrounded by hundreds of folders. However, I continued dreaming about running with a microphone in my hands, asking questions and writing articles and reports. After April 2009 events I decided that I wanted to become a journalist. At a certain point, I was ready to begin my second university education,  but one evening, before newscast I saw an ad on TV about the admission to the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism (CSAJ). Immediately after that I checked up the webpage of the CSAJ, I downloaded the application form and the second day I went to the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) to submit my application.

I become very emotional when the CSAJ is at stake. I have mainly feelings of gratitude for everything I have learned there, for people I got to know and who later became my friends, colleagues and employers. Each day of this 10 study months I learned new things. I tried behaving like a sponge, in order to absorb everything we were taught during the classes, because we had prominent journalists who practice this craft daily. I came to CSAJ determined to work on TV and when courses on TV journalism began I listened carefully everything our trainers told us. I asked questions, sometimes, maybe, naïve ones, but for sure they came on my mind due to the desire to learn as much as possible. All the trainers were very good, because the School gathered the best professionals in this field. It was very important that we learned journalism by practicing it in the field. It wasn’t easy as my older daughter started first grade and the younger one was only one year old.  However the School made me more disciplined and organized, so I had enough time both for studies and family.

To start your journey in journalism with Pro TV Chisinau is not only an honor, but also great luck.  All my colleagues who went through Pro TV “school” say that this is the best training in journalism. From the first working days in the newsroom of this channel I understood one thing: when you attend an event that will be covered by other 10 TV channels, you are in one way or other obliged to prepare the best news item, to bring the best voices, to grab the best images, the best environment. Why? Because you are the Pro TV reporter. You have to stay longer at the event even when others leave, to enter those places where it’s written “forbidden”; to stay cold when you encounter pain and tears. I have learned a lot from my colleagues, from Artur Corghencea (News Department Director, CSAJ instructor), from the editors, reporters and cameramen. The greatest achievement was to see my news opening the newscast.

I have a different story with Moldova 1 TV. I came there after a contest. There was a tense period when I worked without TV director and without News Department Director. In spite of that, together with my colleagues we pursued informing the audience in a balanced and impartial way. It took me some time to get used with the rhythm and the rules of the public TV channel.  On the other hand, it was compulsory to be as accurate as possible, apart from the usual three sources, the news had to contain also the experts’ opinions. Moldova 1 is not only a TV channel. It is the channel where each citizen of this country has to retrieve himself. So, now, when I prepare a news item, I take care that everybody understands it, including a granny from the country side, a civil servant, a young person, an art person or even a non native speakers.

Before becoming a newscaster at Moldova 1, I froze at the civil servants’ doors, I “sun bathed” on infields, I cried together with mothers who buried their children and I shared pupils’ feelings during their graduation exams, just as all my colleagues do. When I was employed as newscaster of “Mesager”, I told that I wouldn’t give up working as reporter, but now I do it slightly in a different way. I don’t work in the field every day, because I have other duties, however I still search information, document, edit, sum up, translate, vocalize. When events of national importance take place, I moderate the “Special Editions”. I believe that a newscaster has to be experienced in reporting; otherwise you can’t feel the message and the rhythm of the news item.

In addition to that, now I feel a greater responsibility. Every time I enter the studio I realize that I deliver an entire day’s work of the whole team. “Mesager” is, undoubtedly, a brand, because entire generations grew up together with this newscast. It is an honor to present the main newscast of the public TV station.

To me, the Chisinau School of Advanced Journalism is… an institution that passes over the craft of journalism from the dedicated journalists to the young generations who wish a career in this field.  If there existed several “School of Advanced…” in different fields,  I am sure that we’d have a lot more professionals,  a lot more people passionate about their profession, fewer graduates who have no clue what to do when they are employed. Consequently, such Schools would become a threat for some of our university departments.

And journalism is? It is the desire for knowledge and a great responsibility.

Photo by: Trm.md; Dorina Gherganov