By Yulia Obolenskaya
The event is a unique platform for dialogue and exchange of opinion with senior colleagues from Belarus, Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan. This year, the Belarusian Ministry for Information led the event, which included an international exhibition and a congress of the Russian press, ensuring a suitable forum for the creative and scientific intelligentsia.
Over 150 journalists took part in the three-day forum, following the same format as was used last year in Gomel. Minister for Information Oleg Proleskovsky noted at the opening ceremony, “We’ve set the task not only of improving the professional skills of media representatives but of developing their intra-professional and international communication skills, helping form a uniform media community across Belarus and beyond. It’s important to acquaint visitors with our country and to show them our most beautiful tourist sites.”
The event was organised by the Belarusian Ministry for Information, the Standing Committee of the Union State, the Belarusian Union of Journalists, the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, the Mogilev Regional Executive Committee, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Belarus to Russia. 30 media experts shared their experience and professional secrets with younger colleagues: heads of leading media sources, famous bloggers and political analysts.
“Language is, for a journalist, both a tool and a weapon. In these times of mass online communication, where a wealth of information exists across different levels — and not always of high quality — it’s an acute issue,” admitted an information security expert from Armenia, Tigran Kocharyan. He urged those present, “Your task is not to share unnecessary information but to seek out that which matters, filtering it from the irrelevant.”
Gleb Grozovsky, the Director General of the Russian Business News Agency — Prime — agreed, saying, “The information space is changing rapidly, with information streams growing and the media becoming more integrated. In the foreground is the concept of commercial news. Who else but you should discuss, predict and plan the future development of the media? You, young journalists, define our image of the media’s future.”
Discussions were, unsurprisingly, heated, with conversation continuing through lunch breaks. Among the topics covered were the role of technological innovation in 21st century journalism and the commercial aspects of today’s media. The future of regional reporting against our age of convergence and multimedia sources also came under scrutiny. The Deputy Editor-in-Chief of RIA Novosti News Agency, Valery Levchenko, the Editor-in-Chief of Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper, Alexander Kupriyanov, and the Secretary of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Roman Serebryany, all gave master-classes.
The basis of using factual data in journalism, methods of creating info-graphics, aspects of psychology and the work of convergent editions aroused interesting debate. Most active participants of the Mogilev Regional TV Channel to request participants of the New Media Space: Challenges and Possibilities thematic discussion were invited by the Mogilev Regional TV Channel to take part in a talk-show entitled Reloading. The Belarusian Union of Journalists also contributed into honouring of young and gifted journalists.
Finally, the Debut award was bestowed, for the second time to date, honouring new talent in the world of journalism.
