Panorama.am
21:18 13/03/2009
MIGRANT REPORTER FROM BBC ABOUT DIFFERENCES IN JOURNALISM
What to do? Where to live? How to make living? Reporter Mark Grigoryan
has been asking himself these questions before leaving Armenia to
settling down in London, England.
`It is used to say West, money, tasty new things, etc. But, in fact,
for a reporter from Armenia it is extremely difficult to find living
in the West. Of course, you can start earning money writing some
stories for a paper of Armenian Community, but they pay little to keep
your family,’ said Mark Grigoryan in his exclusive interview given to
Panorama.am.
– What do you mean saying `it was difficult’?
– When you leave your home, especially when you have changed it not
willingly, it is extremely difficult. Our journalism, the one in
Armenia has nothing to do with the one we have here.
– How? What do You mean?
-Just, professionally. You have been passing trainings here, and you
could see that there is a huge difference in approaches, models,
writing style. When I came in London I had a working visa and I did
not ask for political residence. I was working in the Institute of War
and Peace as a Caucasus reporter and journalists’ trainer. A few
months later, when BBC found out that I was in London they have
involved me into their pool.
-How long are You working for BBC?
-It’s already 5 years. I have seen many people who did not manage to
correspond the local methods and they have done away. They have not
been fired, they have felt it themselves.
-What are the basic professional differences in journalism of West and
ours?
– It is the newsworthiness, which is the basics of journalism. What do
we find is news? Press conference is not news here. In Armenia the
situation is quite different. Our reporters in Armenia go to press
conferences and they write that someone has told something, they add
that the speaker has also mentioned something and the news is
ready. But, in the West press conference is never news.
In this regard I had some difficulties in working in BBC. I knew that
method of covering news, but I had to learn from anew. Here the
working speed and the rhythm are rapid and stormy.
Source: Panorama.am