Ainur Toleu's advices for journalists

• Whether we wanted or not a new genre, online journalism has appeared. Consequently, an editor is not only a competent person, who corrects the text of information, but also a person, who can select and edit photos and videos. Each person can afford a modern gadget, which we all hold in our hands, but as a web editor, only journalist is able to use it. Therefore, for the post of a web editor, we have to learn to look at a camera as a professional cameraman, when we are taking photos or videos.   

• A journalist cannot be a journalist only at work. He is a journalist when he visits someone, travels by public transport or relaxes at the sanatorium. Especially, I notice this export capacity among most of my colleagues. While they are talking to their friends they can make a journalistic investigation to their interlocutor.  

• People are influenced by mass media. I used to teach Kazakh to foreigners. And one of the students who were learning language for the first time made the sentences: “Dalada zhanbyr zhauuda. Anam nan pisirude, inim suret Saluda.”  I had just explained that to form present continuous we need four verbs (zhatyr, otyr, tur, zhur). The student told that to learn Kazakh quickly he was watching news in Kazakh. Thus, a journalist has to understand the nature of language, even though he does not know grammar as linguists.     

• Especially radio journalists can understand the nature of language. Because, no one pays attention to the radio journalist’s spelling, but they have to be responsible for following pronunciation rules. Radio journalists transfer sound and peculiarities of speaking to the audience. Therefore, you should choose another branch of journalism if you are not able to pronounce the national specific sounds.  

• As we are all in the same boat, I never criticize journalists. If I notice my colleagues’ mistakes, I do not write about it on the social networking or discuss with people, I will say that in person. There were my colleagues who came to me and made some comments too. When people are gossiping about journalists, I try to justify them as possible as I can. Even though I think that they have reason, I adhere to the opinion “I cannot allow others to judge my colleagues”. I learned this method from my doctor friend. For him, the idea of doctor’s mistake does not exist. That is the same for me too.    

Ainur Toleu

An editor-in-chief of website "Alauinform”,

an editor of the magazine “Syrlasu”

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