Z.Borgilmaa: We won’t pass down terrible journalism to the future generation
Mongolia observed World Press Freedom Day on May 3. The day is designated for standing against oppression of the right to free speech and reminds the world of the importance of a free press in addressing all social issues...
Mongolia observed World Press Freedom Day on May 3. The day is designated for standing against oppression of the right to free speech and reminds the world of the importance of a free press in addressing all social issues. Acting President of the Confederation of Mongolian Journalists Z.Borgilmaa spoke wiht us about media issues.
Happy World Press Freedom Day to you. The Confederation of Mongolian Journalists (CMJ) conducted Journalist’s Book Event on May 1 and 2. How many books written by journalists and authors have you promoted?
The first Journalism Book Event was held successfully. We are planning to conduct it every year as a tradition at Sukhbaatar Square in the form of a book fair. We had no choice but to hold it online as it actually gave us an advantage. If we held it at Sukhbaatar Square, we would have been sitting and you would be interviewing me in a tent. Since we held it online, we had a chance to broadcast the event to everyone who is interested. We managed to create a decent content, including an interview with authors and journalists. We have a tradition of marking World Press Freedom Day, which is celebrated on May 3, with cooperation of the Mayor’s Office of Ulaanbaatar. According to tradition, the mayor initiated a joint online event this year as well. During the event, over 50 journalists and authors introduced over 100 books. They even brought their rare books that aren’t sold anymore. It was a nice event as it was beneficial for readers and interesting for the authors. Journalists and authors are very humble people. Many of them don’t join events as they already sold the books and there is nothing to newly introduce. We found that many skilled journalists don’t have books even though they are exceptionally good. Journalist B.Enkhtsetseg, observer D.Tserenjav, N.Saranchimeg and editor of Az Khur B.Batamgalan and many other journalists and editors haven’t published a book yet. When we ask them to join an event with a book they edited, some of them even say, “I have nothing that I wrote myself except things I edited.” Editing books is a special job that requires skill and experience. Fact checking a whole book while proofreading is a complicated job. Even though, local journalists are writing, translating and editing at the same time, most of them are very humble. I experienced their effort myself and promoted their hard work as much as I could.
Recently, an online forum among provincial journalists was held. What policy is CMJ implementing to develop them? What were the results of the forum?
It was the third forum of provincial journalists. It has become a tradition. CMJ has 24 branches in 21 provinces. Journalists are working in a very broad front in provinces. In 1945, a public survey was held on whether the independence of Mongolia is publicly accepted nationwide. At the time, some illiterate people were “signing” with their fingerprints to show their approval of independence of the country, according to history. After that, newspaper and press factories were developed in provincial areas. Elders say journalists’ merit was critical in the literacy rate of the nation. This year’s forum discussed about marketing, social media content improvement, and communication in a time of crisis. Every year, UNESCO values freedom of the press in the world and gives advice and makes initiatives. One of the important matters mentioned in this year’s initiative was for countries that are going through hardships to support the press and media. We decided to support journalists of provinces through content development and training. Also, we paid attention to the social issues of media workers as we sent face masks to help them protect themselves from COVID-19. Provincial offices should support their journalists as much as possible. The biggest issue of provincial journalists is that they have to compete with Ulaanbaatar media. Offices and ministries sign contracts with Ulaanbaatar journalists to provide news about timely issues in provincial areas while ignoring local journalists, according to provincial journalists.
What are the biggest issues journalists are facing during the pandemic?
The pandemic has shrank the sources of stories. It leads the press to report from similar points and the same stories. The front pages of newspapers are filled with government news and journalists are not able to go out to report other stories. The variety of news and content has basically shrank. As the Temporary Committee of Risk Communication was established in February, it became the only source of government reports and all other government worker or representative are not providing information on their own, which forces the press to communicate with a single source.
Late Merited Cultural Figure, journalist and author Ts.Baldorj once said, “Politics and journalist should never be in the same bed”. Referring to his words, “Medeelliin Ursgal” content was criticized in recent days. CMJ also expressed its opposition. Are the press “in the same bed” with politics?
It’s quite a sensitive topic for journalists -- the issue of money. It’s like selling one’s own soul to the devil. We blamed that the content including four host journalists. It’s not that we are pressuring those journalists for what they are doing. It can be seen as an attempt to protect journalists from politics. CMJ simply stood against the government’s action of filtering information of the situation through one “window” and influencing journalists’ independence. We didn’t necessarily try to include those four journalists in our message. Whether we did or not, the audience will judge them. Additionally, the profession of journalism is a very special one. Every door should open for journalists. However, it can’t be used for personal business. Z.Borgilmaa can’t use the opportunities that are presented to me as a journalist for personal needs.
I believe we inherited a great journalism practice with high ethics. But I’m worried about what kind of journalism we are leaving behind for future generations?
We have to become more skilled. Behind every issue, individual people always get the blame or merit. It’s true that the development of a country depends on individuals. In the past, the media human resources were trained by the government. Furthermore, the leaders of the field were also specifically trained by the government. For what did they train Ts.Baldorj? To have a leader in the field. However, this policy is lost in today’s journalism. It’s rare for the press to train journalists again to improve their skills with their own funding. Even CMJ doesn’t have funding for that. There is no business investing in quality journalism. They usually establish their own media company. It’s also related to the nationwide crisis of human resource shortage in every field. On the other hand, sometimes publications focus on production speed and number of views, while ignoring quality of content. But in general, journalists are improving in terms of skill and fulfilling their duty. As we read articles sent for Gan Uzegten Award, we see that journalists really put their effort in them. Even though some unorthodox action is seen in journalism sometimes, it’s part of a free press. There are many media companies that produce good content. Most importantly, they are developing very fast. We won’t pass down terrible journalism to the future generation and we don’t have to worry about it.