The whole meaning behind universal journalist was originally spreading ever since 1995. Base foundation of such approach is laid by David K. Randall’s research called “Universal Journalist” (Randall, 2000). He proposed modernization in the training of journalists from former post-Soviet countries. The main postulate of universality intended competence in the process of learning twice the amount of different information, worthy enough for Kazakhstan’s media system. The new school for training journalists was made, based around only the best examples of European and American education programs. That is how a very important first indicator of journalists stating the information not after the event, but rather in a context of real time has been reached. Best universal journalists of Kazakhstan mastered the principles of media predicting, being able to understand and determine the trends of informational flow at the same time. The next step of improvement in the journalistic education became a result of introduction of many new technologies and informational platforms to the media. Now it was serious for a journalist to work in different environments, being there as professional as he was in the traditional scope of work. Media consumption gets absorbed more and more, leading to a problem between journalists and their audience, where an ex recipient became a competitor, who started publishing in blogs, social networks, on Youtube such things as news, news reports and videos. Journalists of many large and small editorial offices were forced to universalize their communicational skills, to present the information about their progress in social networks, on gadgets, in blogs, as well as to intensify the feedback and to announce important informational pieces. With that in mind, on faculties of journalism of Kazakh universities the basic ethical principles are still being learned, many helpful qualities for not compromising neither themselves nor profession in general are still being instilled. In the World the fact that many students in journalism believe in their abilities to convey the nuances and to understand the ideas it still recognized (Toward, 2020). The result of poll held by the master degree candidates of International Journalism specialty in the discipline “Mass-media and global informational community” in the October of 2019 with the staff of media area of Astana, Almaty, Uralsk, Kostanay, Shymkent showed, that the 78 percent of the interviewed people are determined that journalism requires not only flexibility and originality in thinking, but also proven instrumental skills, expanding after or on par with the new technologies. Many students and master degree candidates, who grew on the internet, at the start of enrolment to the university are already technologically more literate than their professors. At the same time it is important to realize, that technologies will be changing regularly and journalism should always be trusted.
References:
Randall David (2000). The Universal Journalist. 22-164.
Toward (2020): New Directions in Journalism Education. Edyted by Gene Allen, Stephanie Craft, Christopher Waddell & Mary Lynn Yo/ Ryerson Journalism Research Centre: 74-75.