“Педагогические  науки”. Секция:2.Проблемы подготовки специалистов

Problematic aspects of specialization in international journalism in Kazakhstan

Takhan Serik Sheshenbay-uly, Doctor of Philology, Television and Radio journalism sub-department professor, Eurasian National University named after Gumilyev L.

Traditionally, the settled view is that international journalism in general terms is something that comports with the universal principles that unite the media all over the world regardless of the regional specificities of their development. Modern humanitarian progress disciplines societies with the global responsibility for the future of mankind, and requires that each member of the information field adhere to certain moral and ethical rules.

In this context the role of journalism technologies as a factor in the global socio-historical life becomes more definitive. It’s which global political trends the whole force of modern media, especially electronic ones, will be put to serve that the stability and predictability of civilizations’ evolutionary processes will depend on.

The experience in manipulating the consciousness of millions through information systems such as CNN that in the recent past ruled the day in the world affairs, has naturally introduced international terrorism to the idea of limitless possibilities of mass notification as a political communication aimed at a total demoralisation on a planetary scale. Paradoxically, the immunity to such destructive information attacks on the fragile integrity of humanity is secured in the right of national law schools of journalism to maintain its specificity.

International journalism as part of each country’s media structure, strictly speaking, begins with the definition of national interests and that country's place in the modern world. In this context, a strategy for training international journalists in Kazakhstan might be of interest. University training programs in the "International Journalism" specialty in Kazakhstan are built on principles according to which the learning process should cultivate patriotism and nationhood, based on a strong spiritual and ideological foundation, and provide a deep and systematic knowledge of the national economy that enables an identification of long-term foreign policy opportunities and priorities. Of course, analytical journalism that takes into account the laws of perception identified by western journalism, should be based on the national idea, and therefore, manifest itself in genre forms that are adequate to it.

In any country there is a non-economic aspect to external policy that is related to the determination of a general strategic perspective in the context of global dynamics. We’re talking about a nation’s civilizational identification that has to do with its belonging to a certain cultural paradigm. The cultural identity determines the world of values that is naturally built throughout the ages of a nation’s historical development. A country’s recognition by the world community is directly related to the potential of its culture, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the content of national traditions provides a sufficient foundation for a sovereign positioning against any destructive external challenges.

The commitment of the overwhelming majority of countries to the basic principles of democracy and the market does not imply the West’s right to extrapolate all its social and political standards to those countries. "The culture of media is a product of a particular society and can never be, and, in my opinion, should not be wholly transferred to another society,"[1] - said a prominent American journalist George Krimsky, and the understanding of this truth made it incumbent on Kazakhstan’ teaching community responsible for training international journalists, to foster students’ careful attitude to the unique experience of the Kazakh national journalism, and to study its capacities of ensuring independent Kazakhstan’s information security. International journalism specialties included in the curricula were designed in such way that would result in international journalism students producing accurate and profound analytical materials that would unequivocally contribute to the strengthening of Kazakhstan ethnic and cultural integrity and help policy makers adjust their management of the society in accordance with international positive experience.

A geopolitical way of reasoning with the observance of national interests determine the intellectual persona of an international journalist, but to be a professional deep knowledge is required of the history and culture of a country or region where he/she will work. Country studies courses for international journalists in the universities of Kazakhstan provide for special courses in ethnology, ethno-psychology, philology, economic geography, jurisprudence. Obviously, absorption of such an informative program requires a man of inquisitive mind and strong character. Consequently, the selection of the group (usually a small number of students in the academic group) should be carried out by special tests and have strict limitations. The requirements of moral and psychological nature should be supplemented with such personal qualities as sociability and natural charm. But the main eligibility criterion for international journalism in general should be the applicant being indisputably recognized as a linguistic personality. He will have to be fluent in the language of the host country, and it is desirable to know an extra language. The training program must include a specific course thesis in a foreign language that will demonstrate the skills of stylistic processing of a linguistic material and its analytical presentation.

International journalism in the past has been inextricably linked with diplomacy since it was realized in a specific information and political framework, and interpreted the news in view of certain ideological objectives. It suffices to refer to the history of the United States Information Agency - USIA, the largest supplier of topic information at the international information market - to understand the extent to which the news in the past were a derivative of politics, and, in the case of the USIA, determined the emphases of counter-propaganda in the global fight against communist influence. However, the further internal logic of information space’s expansion, due to the high development of communications and the latest technological achievements, radically changed the situation by putting politics and diplomacy in direct dependence on the content of world news.

One may remember in this context how quickly, under the influence of television and the press, superficial understanding was formed of the origins and causes of many conflicts in the post-Soviet territories in 1993-96 years, only to aggravate the heated political atmosphere of the period. With time it became clear that balanced and responsible information could have warned the political institutions and leaders involved in conflicts against many hasty decisions and dangerous actions taken under the pressure of public opinion disoriented by mass media. The fact was that the process of world media commercialization in the post-Soviet space superimposed on the totalitarian structure of the public consciousness unable to discern a struggle of global political interests among information flows.

The universal acceptance of a fact’s unconditional status as the basis of international news does not resolve the issue of interested comment. The rule of international journalism: "Fact is unconditional, comment is free" per se implies some search for meaning as an ontological category. Presenting information means clothing it in such a genre form that will determine the strategy of understanding. In the architectonics of words a fact is imparted meanings, and even with the author distancing himself from his material in a most bona fide manner the text is fraught with personal intention.

In this context theoretical instruction of an international journalism specialist generally boils down to teaching him/her the generally accepted international rules of producing textual information that is adequate to the expectations of its users in different countries and cultures. Since these rules are based on the cultural and linguistic norms and conventions of the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Americans, a certain number of hours in the curriculum should be allotted to an in-depth study of genres and styles of British and American journalism. One cannot think of an international journalist who does not know that a feuilleton refers to an analytical article in the English-speaking world.

Many of the linguistic requirements to the material, as well as the composition stereotypes in various genres and styles of international journalism will be truly understood only after the future international journalist has studied and mastered the standards of UK and US newspaper and magazine publications and electronic media outputs. The recipient in Kazakhstan and any other former Soviet Union country is accustomed to analytical, as well as feature and
publicistic genres in the coverage of international topics which allow for a detailed coverage of the issue in an expanded system of cause and effect relationships, and an extensive use of figurative and expressive language capacities, while English-American journalism puts an emphasis on tight and concise genre formats.

The national concept of instruction within the "International journalism" specialty is based on the idea of forming a creative individual capable of diffusing domestic and international traditions in his journalistic practice. To support such instruction plans need to be made for issuing textbooks and teaching manuals on various theory aspects of international journalism genre formation and functioning.

Доктор филологических наук, профессор Евразийского национального университета имени Л.Н.Гумилева Тахан Серик Шешенбайулы (Республика Казахстан, г.Астана).

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[1] Poletayev E. International Journalism: navigator for authors from Central Asia. Kazakhstan office of the of British Institute for War and Peace Coverage. - Almaty, 2003. - p. 245.