They are modern, ambitious, have native curiosity and come to newsrooms being already trained journalists. We are talking about the graduates of the Advanced School of Journalism (ASJ). Over 50 young people have graduated this institution since 2006 and until now. Most of them are employed with the Moldovan media, among which Free Europe Radio, Moldova 1 TV, Pro TV, Jurnal TV, Publika TV, Ziarul de Garda, Tele Radio Gagauzia, and others.
Paul Hodorogea is reporter for the Chisinau Office of Free Europe Radio. He produces reportages, news reports, multimedia stories, and presents the morning program Moldova at 7 AM together with the journalist Valentina Ursu. He came to like the profession of journalist so much that it became like a drug to him. He is now in the Czech Republic. He was invited by the Prague Office of Free Europe Radio for an internship in everything what means visual journalism.
Veronica Gherbovetchi is part of the news team of the TV station PRO TV Chisinau. She feels well when reporting from courtrooms and not comfortable at all when making reports from sad events, such as murders or funerals. I approach subjects that I never thought I`d master, Veronica says. I like to write about resonance subjects, she adds.
Nicolae Cuschevici has been reporter for Ziarul de Garda for two years, and also its designer for some time. He is the satisfaction of our newsroom, says Alina Radu, director of Ziarul de Garda. Or, besides being a good journalist, he is an as good layout person. He is very creative, which I did not suspect. It is only a pity that his layout work does not allow him enough time for reporting, Alina Radu adds.
An older story connects Nicolae to Ziarul de Garda. He started looking for a job shortly after getting his university diploma. One day he knocked on the door of Ziarul de Garda. All he knew about this publication was that it had a big format and that corruption, human trafficking and police wrongdoings were among the topics it mainly tackled. “I knocked on the door, entered and said: I have just graduated the Department of Philology, do you have any work for me? Nicolae recalls. The answer came from the lady on my right who said she didn`t know but asked me to leave my phone number so that to pass it to the head of the human resources department. I only later understood that the lady on the right was nobody but Alina Radu, the publication`s director, and the newspaper that had about 10 employees did not even have a human resources department, her action being nothing but a polite refusal.
Nicolae knocked again on the door of Ziarul de Garda in two years, after finishing ASJ. Being a fresh ASJ graduate, he says that it was easier for him to integrate into the newsroom especially that he had also made his internship with this publication. For me personally, the ASJ was the road at the end of which Ziarul de Garda was waiting, Nicolae says. I came to be where I wanted to be. Or, I really could not see myself with other Romanian language newspapers.
The story seems to be xeroxed in the case of Veronica Gherbovetchi. She studied at ASJ in the same year with Nicolae and graduated in June 2008. Before coming to ASJ, she worked as reporter for Moldova 1 and then as radio animator. However, she admits that PRO TV was where she wanted to come to work by all means. PRO TV seems attractive to everyone, especially to beginners. Although I wanted very much to become part of the PRO TV team, I didn`t dare to apply because I thought I didn`t have enough knowledge and skills to cope. However, after I studied at the ASJ, I became brave, Veronica Gherbovetchi says. She made her first step in the PRO TV newsroom as intern. The first day was the hardest, Veronica recalls. I spent there about 10 minutes and already wanted to run as far away as possible. But thanks to my ambition and to my colleagues` attitude, I decided to come again. The integration into the newsroom was not as difficult as it seemed to me at first sight. And so, I come here every day now. According to Artur Corghencea, news producer at PRO TV, Veronica Gherbovetchi is one of the best reporters he has now at PRO TV. I have only words of praise about her work. Professionally, she has grown unexpectedly much. In a short period of time, she managed to produce such reports that one wouldn`t have expected if judging by the experience she has had with television.
Although he was not a classmate of Nicolae and Veronica, Paul Hodorogea advanced in his career in the same way. He matriculated with ASJ in the next class, made his internship with Free Europe Radio, and after graduating ASJ in 2009, was hired as reporter for this outlet. It is very easy and interesting to work with Paul, the journalist Valentina Ursu and his colleague tells us. I met him when he was a student, I continued to work with him in the office and I am glad that I have managed to add to what he learned at ASJ. I appreciate his ambitious but at the same time, balanced character. He does not get mad when I return his text or scold him that he should find more sources. He has grown a lot in my eyes. While Paul`s colleagues appreciate his openness to everything that is new and useful in the profession of journalist, he feels lucky to have someone to learn from. ASJ helped me enter the journalists` world. It is certain that without the training at ASJ I couldn`t have come to Free Europe and say hello, I want to do journalism, may I? ASJ gave me a big kick forward, which I needed, he says. The same opinion is shared by Vasile Botnaru, head of the Chisinau Office of Free Europe Radio. Paul Hodorogea`s advantage was the fact that I met him when I was teaching at ASJ. I thus could know what his strengths were and what he could do. The situation is totally different when a person comes to the newsroom conventionally from the street, which means that you have to teach them a lot of things. But we work with professionals whose materials are not lab work. They must be good from the beginning and at the Free Europe`s standard, Vasile Botnaru concludes.
The ASJ was opened in September 2006 being a project of the Independent Journalism Center, initiated in cooperation with the Missouri School of Journalism (USA) and Paris-based Journalism School and Training Center (France). The ASJ curriculum is conceived based on advanced graduate programs for journalist training and was developed in compliance with the highest international standards of journalism practiced in Europe and in the United States of America. The school year lasts for ten months and ends with a four-week internship with local media outlets. This year, other 15 journalists will go to newsrooms for their internship. Many of them will remain there as employees. Liliana Vitu, Director of the News Department at the public television station Moldova 1, says that absolutely everyone who will come to Moldova 1 for their internship will find a way to cooperate this outlet. I know I seem selfish when I want to bring as many ASJ graduates as possible into my newsroom. But I just want to have in my team people who know what real journalism is. The students underwent an intensive program of study which prepared them for multitasking. At the same time, they will bring a new breath to an unreformed newsroom, to an unreformed outlet and of course will also bring new work methods with them, Liliana Vitu adds.
Stela Jemna is student in the fourth class of ASJ. She goes to do her internship with Moldova 1 and then to work there because she wants by all means that her reports have an as big impact as possible.
The first three classes have already distinguished themselves in the local media space through how they write and think. The task of those who come is just to implant the general perception of the ASJ graduates, which is unanimous: they come to newsrooms as trained journalists, willing to make quality journalism.
Ludmila Bogheanu
