Building bridges: how can Azerbaijani journalists engage globally?

Author: Pari Abbasli

Who thinks journalism is an easy job? Your everyday life depends on political, economic, or social changes that might wholly influence your career. But your journalism agenda also draws importance from the cultural, historical, and political legacy of your country. As a junior journalist in Master’s Degree studies, who has been studying in Europe for the past two years, I have a few words to say to Azerbaijani journalism students who don’t want to be left out of international journalism, while living in developing countries.

Since the country gained its independence, Azerbaijani journalism has had a hard time leaving Soviet rules behind. It is always possible to see some progress, and journalism faculties in universities are striving for it, but of course, it is not so easy to catch up with the development speed of journalism in European countries such as Norway, Finland, Denmark and so forth.

But how can the young generation change Azerbaijani journalism by following international media? How should Azerbaijani journalists follow the global journalism environment and strive to apply trends? How can Azerbaijani journalists engage globally?

Although my habit of watching international media started while I was in the English department of the Faculty of Journalism at Baku State University, I suddenly found myself in Denmark (in Aarhus University and the Danish School of Media and Journalism) with the Erasmus Mundus Journalism programme, where I was enrolled to continue my Master’s studies.

Here, I realised that no, what I watched was not enough, my knowledge was not enough, and I needed to be able to read, understand, and analyse more. After all, these are the most important issues that a journalist should have. I started making notes for myself: What should Azerbaijani journalism students do to get closer to international experience? Not only for myself, but also for future journalists that want to do more, learn more, share more.

Here are some tips I learned along the way.

Reading habit in English: Read and analyse news from at least 3-4 different foreign media outlets every day. How did they write? How did they frame the event? Who did they refer to? What type of image did they use? Who did they interview? Day by day, you will start to be an amazing observer of not only media outlets, but also journalistic styles and choices.

English news writing rules: As you read and analyse, you will notice more journalistic writing rules as well as grammatical rules. Language wizards are either philologists, translators, or journalists. And to learn these spells, follow the tricks of the magicians well, that is, form the habit of reading the news published in foreign media so that you also learn the rules of writing.

Following international journalism associations and organisations: We cannot look in the world for unwritten rules related to journalism and information in Azerbaijan, or accepted in the media. In order to learn the rules related to the profession, it is imperative to familiarise yourself with the rules of foreign organisations. For example, following organisations such as the Society of Professional Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists, Reporters without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists and reading their reports and rules can be an instructive step.

Topic choices, news policy of multiple news streams: We already know the power of information over people. In this case, big news platforms clarify their direction with different news policies based on the theories of framing and agenda-setting and gatekeeping. Studying and observing the mass media policies of the foreign press on a larger scale by reading the news and browsing the websites will be a powerful step in understanding the foreign media.

Global journalistic terminology: Finally, familiarise yourself with journalism terminology in English. It is no surprise that some of the terms that we have in the Azerbaijani language do not exist globally, and concepts that exist globally do not exist in Azerbaijani journalism. Therefore, it is important to learn the terminology and understand the concept of “English for Journalism”.

Journalism is still one of the most colourful fields, as I studied journalism in Europe and observed from my classmates who brought different experiences from more than 80 different parts of the world. Studying and practising this colourful, difficult, challenging, adrenaline-filled field on a wider scale can increase the pleasure from it tenfold. 

Therefore, while continuing your activity in Azerbaijani journalism, do not forget to study and follow international standards. Developing your English reading, writing, and listening skills, learning foreign journalism terminology, analysing topic choices, and reading reports of international journalism associations and organisations will take you to new worlds and a broader vision.