The New York Times goes on the road in Kazakhstan Journalism master classes reflect spirit of Helsinki

The long road from Helsinki to the windswept steppes of Central the press, radio and television. “The master Asia took me almost three decades to travel. As a foreign class,” one of my students in Astana wrote correspondent for The New York Times, I had covered the creation afterwards, “reminded me how important in 1975 of what is now the Organization for Security and Co- it is not to forget the basic principles upon operation in Europe. Thanks to the OSCE, I found myself in the which the profession of a journalist is back room of a small restaurant in Kyzy Lorda, Kazakhstan, in based.” December 2004, teaching a score of enthusiastic local journalists Although I have taught at Princeton the basics of Western-style reporting and news-writing. University and Dartmouth College in the United States, I made it clear that I had BY CHRISTOPHER S. WREN come to Kazakhstan as a colleague, sharing the knowledge that I had accumulated dur- he OSCE has become a family affair. ing 40 years as a working journalist. My son, Chris, a trial lawyer in New “Not everything would work here,” one York City, worked during his law- of the participants demurred. I agreed. Tschool vacation in 1997 as an election I invited them to challenge, modify or monitor for the OSCE in the Bosnian city of discard anything I said, because we Brcko. So it seemed logical that after retir- Americans had no monopoly on the truth. ing from nearly 29 years at The Times, I I didn’t care what they wrote, I said, but I should sign on as a media consultant and wanted them to learn to do it well. trainer for the OSCE in Kazakhstan, which The idea behind the master classes was belonged to the Soviet Union when I first to hone the professional skills of journal- visited it as bureau chief in Moscow. ists, most of whom are still trying to over- On another trip to Kazakhstan for the come the legacy of the old Soviet Union, Washington-based International Center for which taught journalists to function as Journalists in 2003, I met Beata Martin- propagandists. This role has changed in Rozumilowicz, political and media officer Kazakhstan, but many journalism schools at the OSCE Centre in Almaty. She invited haven’t. A developing democracy needs an me to conduct a series of master classes for independent media, not just to help citizens young Kazakhstani journalists. make informed choices but also to function I developed a two-day intensive semi- as a watchdog against official or unofficial nar in reporting and editing and took it to misfeasance. 10 cities and towns around Kazakhstan from February to December 2004: Astana, WHIMSICAL RULES Atyrau, Aktau, Aktobe, Karagandy, My students complained that their own Kostanai, Kokshetau, Kyzy Lorda, Shymkent journalism schools were long on theory and and Oral. Ian MacWilliam, a correspondent short on practice. “In two days, we have for the BBC in Almaty, held similar master covered a volume of information which classes in five other cities. Nine of the 15 would have taken one year at a university,” classes were funded by the Delegation of one told me after the master class. Another the United Kingdom to the OSCE. said she had heard of newspapers like The Master class participants with The Helsinki Final Act, which I reported New York Times, but had never seen a copy The New York Times. on from the Finnish capital in 1975, pledged before I brought some to the master class. Photo: Tanya Bogusevich/ the signatory nations to encourage such My classes, conducted in Russian with Centre in Almaty exchanges of experience between experts in some additional translation into Kazakh,

March 2005 OSCE Magazine 15 stressed some whimsical rules: “There it’s very important to be professional.” is no such thing as a stupid question.” There were only a few complaints. The “Three secrets of satisfying your reader are participants mostly regretted that the mas- to explain, explain and explain.” “If your ter classes did not run longer than the mother says she loves you, check it out.” two days allocated for each city. When I We discussed how to write compelling showed them how to pick apart a sample headlines and how to employ numbers press release to find the larger story, one and statistics in such a way that the reader journalist protested, “We’re not allowed to could understand them. I offered some tips do that. We have to publish what we are on conducting a productive interview. We given.” “But,” I replied, “now you’ll know tried brainstorming to think up better ideas how to do it whenever you can.” Another for stories. asked about investigative reporting, which I Towns and cities in I sketched out the distinction that Kazakhstan that benefited American journalists make between report- from journalism ing, analysis and opinion. I distrib- PetropavlPetroravl master classes uted more advice in the form Kostanai Kokshetau of handouts translated Pavlodar into Russian. We wound Oral Semey up debating the eth- Astana Aktobe Oskemen ics of journalism and Karagandy examples of dilemmas confronting reporters around the world. Atyrau Kazakhstan Some students said they most liked the ethical Taldy Korgan discussions, while others Kyzy Lorda preferred the practical appli- Aktau cations. They peppered me with questions about journal- Shymkent ism in the United States. “What can’t you write?” one wanted to know. I explained that Americans were fortunate to have a constitution that Christopher S. Wren enshrined freedom of the press, which left said was nothing more than painstaking in- worked for The New us free to range from the worst to the best. depth reporting. York Times for almost Asked to compare journalists in While I tended to speak about newspa- three decades, living Kazakhstan with their Western peers, I pers, more than a few participants came 17 years abroad as a replied that Kazakhstanis had to work from radio and television outlets. “Because foreign correspondent. harder to pry out the same amount of infor- I work for television, I was slightly discour- He was chief of the mation. It was more revealing, I added, to aged at first, but then I got very interested,” Times news bureaus compare journalists in Kazakhstan with one correspondent said. “It is not important in Moscow, Cairo, their predecessors in the Soviet Union, whether you work for a newspaper or tel- Beijing, Ottawa and because today they were so vastly superior. evision,” I replied. “What is most important Johannesburg, and At our final master class in Astana, is that you are a journalist, and the basic later covered the United Nations. As a Ambassador Ivar Vikki, Head of the OSCE principles in our work are common for all.” Knight International Centre in Almaty, stopped by and addressed The warmth of the responses startled Press Fellow, he spent the students in flawless Russian. Vikki, me. In Kyzy Lorda, students queued up to six months in St. a gracious career diplomat from Norway, get my autograph, making me feel like a Petersburg, training stayed for lunch and returned that evening rock star. But they were as thrilled to meet journalists, and recently to award the certificates of completion. one another and to swap e-mail addresses assisted independent so they could keep in touch. “It was nice to newspapers in five LARGER STORY realize that we have much in common,” a Russian provincial Did the master classes make any real dif- young man said. cities. ference? I would point to the evaluations The OSCE has loftier roles to play in that we asked the participants to fill out, to security concerns, economic co-operation learn what we could do better. “I’ve heard and the high-visibility monitoring of elec- a lot of useful things and obtained answers tions. But the master classes for journalists to questions that I’ve wanted to ask for a also reflect the letter and the spirit of the long time,” said one participant in Astana. original Helsinki Final Act of 1975. At least Another said, “The seminar reminded me I think so, because I was there too.

16 OSCE Magazine March 2005 Polish media professionals share expertise More than 350 junior journalists, aged 18 to 25, completed one of the 15 master classes held all across Kazakhstan in 2004. The best 15 participants from the regions were sent on a two-week professional internship in Poland, where they toured newsrooms and radio and television stations and exchanged views with leading local journalists. The internship programme was made possible through a partnership between the OSCE Centre in Almaty and the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation, with the assistance of the Polish

ALIYA SUZDYKOVA ALIYA Embassy in Kazakhstan. Learning from Poland.

Junior journalists in Atyrau realize “unattainable dream”

By Iliya Agayev Thanks to the fairly large media took into account the primary needs market and the relatively frequent of neophyte reporters, accessible here was not a single empty seat training sessions and seminars in language, a willingness to answer Tat a two-day seminar for budding Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan’s old questions, and finally, practical journalists in Atyrau. known as the and new capital cities, junior reporters assignments designed to consolidate “oil capital of Kazakhstan” (Note that somehow manage to develop their the knowledge conveyed — these were my country has many capitals!). Not skills and supplement the knowledge the elements that made the seminar so too many young people are involved acquired at university. special. in journalism in this western city of However, for the overwhelming What was particularly important 200,000, so the level of attendance majority of their colleagues in the was that the trainer had an excellent was a major achievement in itself. other regions, participation in events understanding of the situation con- What’s more, the seminar organizers of this kind remains an unattainable cerning journalism in the post-Soviet managed to draw in journalism dream, and they are forced to make environment. Because of his previous students from the local university. do with what little is on offer locally. work in the old Soviet Union, he was Most of them, including the most Since the most talented regional able to compare journalism then senior, have had extremely limited journalists usually seek work in the and now. theoretical and even less practical capital cities, their young, aspiring I believe it is fair to say that training. colleagues from the provinces often the two-day seminar in Atyrau was have no one to look up to from whom a notable event in the professional they can gain experience. life of the region’s up-and-coming Christopher Wren, our principal journalists like myself. trainer, is a journalist with some three decades’ worth of experience working Iliya Agayev, under the most varied and difficult 22, took part conditions. However, skills alone, even in the pilot the very best, are often not enough master class for to make someone an effective teacher. young journalists What is also required is a special organized by the talent to enable the trainer to pass on OSCE Centre in knowledge in a way that is accessible Almaty in February to beginners. 2004. He now

TANYA BOGUSEVICH/CENTRE IN ALMATY TANYA This is exactly where Mr. Wren was works for the Journalists examine a newspaper at his best. An excellently structured Epokha weekly with a critical eye. programme, training modules that newspaper in Almaty.

March 2005 OSCE Magazine 17 HELSINKI FINAL ACT Thirty years ago in The New York Times Christopher S. Wren was part of a team of New York Times correspondents who filed detailed and 1975 - 2005 analytical articles from Helsinki over several days in the summer of 1975. They were among the hordes of journalists who descended on the Finnish capital to report on one of the biggest stories of the post-Second World War period: the historic Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe and the signing of the “Final Act”, a 30,000 word document which is widely considered to have contributed to the end of East-West confrontation and to have provided impetus for democratic change that led to the end of the Cold War. Following are excerpts from Mr. Wren’s human-interest news coverage, reproduced with his permission.

Helsinki greets visitors and guards them well. lack of tension, was little short of historic. HELSINKI, July 29 — Stringent security measures After an encounter between the Soviet leader, Leonid intruded on the easy-going pace of this small capi- I. Brezhnev, and President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing tal today, as national leaders arrived from throughout of France, a French official disclosed that Mr. Giscard Europe and North America for the summit-level conclu- d’Estaing would pay a formal visit to the Soviet Union sion of the 35-nation European Security Conference. in mid-October. It is in return for the visit Mr. Brezhnev Finland is host to the three-day session, which opens made to France last December. tomorrow, with every nation in Europe except Albania Amid all the high-level exchanges, President Urho participating, plus the United States and Canada. The Kekkonen, who is host for the conference, offered a meeting brings to a close nearly three years of wide- Finnish variation of the bilateral by inviting [Hungarian ranging negotiations that opened here, and then moved leader] Mr. [Janos] Kadar to join him in a sauna. to Geneva. The largest security operation in Finnish history has Curtain falls softly at Helsinki parley. been mounted to forestall any difficulty prompted by HELSINKI, Aug. 1 — The Conference on Security and the gathering of so many leaders. Co-operation in Europe ended today with a whisper of Helsinki’s 1,600-man police pens as the ranking represent- force has been augmented by atives of 35 assembled states, reinforcements summoned from from superpowers to pocket as far away as Lapland above nations, signed the pages of the Arctic Circle. The size of the a huge document worked out security force has been estimat- over the last two years. ed at 3,000 to 5,000 men. President Tito of Yugoslavia The tightest security was had doffed his vanilla-colored thrown around the railway suit for something more somb- station before Mr. [Leonid I.] er. But Prime Minister Pierre Brezhnev’s arrival at 2.30 p.m. Elliott Trudeau of Canada The stone building was cor- bucked the pattern of formality doned off and policemen could by showing up in a modish tan be seen silhouetted on its roof summer suit with his usual red as the 16-car special train carnation. pulled in. Leonid I. Brezhnev, General-Secretary of the Communist The actual signing took only A few shop-windows dis- Party of the USSR, signs the Helsinki Final Act on 1 August 17 minutes as Joel Pekuri, the played portraits of visiting 1975. Turkey’s Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel looks on. Finn who has been executive leaders and President [Urho] (OSCE photo) secretary of the conference, Kekkonen. Stockmann’s passed a blue-bound docu- department store was selling T-shirts embossed with ment the size of a telephone directory down the long the initials and emblem of the European conference. line. There was sustained applause from the delegates in the chamber and a few newsmen peering down from Behind the scenes, active negotiations. the balcony. HELSINKI, July 30 — In between solemn public In a rare departure, the Italian Premier, Aldo Moro, pledges to improve East-West relations, the leaders of after signing his name, added by hand, “and President government assembled here are trading tough language of the European Economic Community”. The gesture in private on the problems of Europe. resulted from a decision by the nine Common Market While face-to-face meetings called “bilaterals” in dip- countries to note their appearance as a bloc, notwith- lomatic parlance do not appear on the formal schedule standing the Russians’ unwillingness to recognize the of the European security conference, they are providing situation. the most substantive exchanges. President Urho Kekkonen of Finland, in declaring the This evening, the West German Chancellor Helmut conference closed, expressed the hope that the docu- Schmidt conferred for the first time with East German ment would be “the foundation of and guideline for our party chief, Erich Honecker, in a meeting that, for all its future relations and their further development.”

18 OSCE Magazine March 2005