The Mind Of A Journalist
A Meeting with Rūta Kupetytė by Iveta Danieliciute On November 26, 2018, Rūta Kupetytė visited first year journalism students of Vilnius University. She shared her story of finding the path to journalism and gave some advice.
Kupetytė has been working at LRT radio for almost eight years. This woman now hosts two radio shows: “Morning Sounds” and “10–12”. She revealed that radio shows can be broadcast not only from the studio but also from other places if the special equipment is available. Then she showed some technological tools that journalists use. |
Kupetytė talked about skills that are crucial for journalists, and one of them is knowing the English language. Kupetytė gave examples such as Lithuanian journalists often having to go to EU institutions and attend EU conferences. Those who work in the newspapers’ editorial offices might translate information obtained from foreign sources. Interviewed people can also be non-native, so knowing as many foreign languages as possible is an advantageous skill for journalists. Another thing that should be remembered is that journalists can never talk aggressively, but sometimes a little pressure is needed to get the information.
Touching on a painful topic, Kupetytė mentioned that she, like the majority of all people, didn’t like her voice, but she soothed the students by pointing out that everything is changeable and one’s voice is not an exception. Journalists learn how to breathe and talk in a different way than people usually do, so their voices get lower and become more suitable for broadcasting on radio or television. She paid attention, however, to the fact that the mind, not the voice, is the most significant thing, meaning that journalists’ thoughts and questions must be interesting and catchy.
When I asked her about the possibility for journalism students to get an internship LRT, Kupetytė said, “Yes, of course. LRT accepts students with pleasure. Some of them even get a job and stay there, like me,” This answer is motivating to aim for higher goals for many students of Vilnius University.
Despite the fact that Kupetytė studied both journalism and political studies, she is satisfied with her current job. We are glad for her and wish her the best of luck!
Touching on a painful topic, Kupetytė mentioned that she, like the majority of all people, didn’t like her voice, but she soothed the students by pointing out that everything is changeable and one’s voice is not an exception. Journalists learn how to breathe and talk in a different way than people usually do, so their voices get lower and become more suitable for broadcasting on radio or television. She paid attention, however, to the fact that the mind, not the voice, is the most significant thing, meaning that journalists’ thoughts and questions must be interesting and catchy.
When I asked her about the possibility for journalism students to get an internship LRT, Kupetytė said, “Yes, of course. LRT accepts students with pleasure. Some of them even get a job and stay there, like me,” This answer is motivating to aim for higher goals for many students of Vilnius University.
Despite the fact that Kupetytė studied both journalism and political studies, she is satisfied with her current job. We are glad for her and wish her the best of luck!
Kupetytė: politicians do not realize that they can't interfere in media work
by Tomas Bilevičius
Lithuanian media is currently in a very interesting situation. What's happening now is very strange. This is the way Rūta Kupetytė, the long-term Lithuanian Radio journalist who met the first-year Vilnius University journalism students, responded to a question posed by one of the students.
“What's happening right now is very strange. The media is currently very focused, competition between the media is decreasing and investigative journalism departments are being created almost everywhere, which is a good process, but on the other hand, as a journalist, I'm a little scared of what the country's politicians are doing by trying to politicize the management and content of LRT and destroying records of the Government’s meetings. It should be noted that these processes do not occur only in Lithuania. These processes appear in Hungary, Poland and the radical political processes are rapidly growing,” Kupetytė told students.
Earlier this year, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania destroyed records of the meeting in which the Prime Minister may have negatively commented on the work of the country's media. Also, the media was temporarily forbidden from receiving free information from the Registry Center.
The information obtained from the Center was most often used to investigate the integrity of politicians and possible corruption cases. In the wake of the outrage of society and the journalism community, officials promised to allow journalists to receive free information. Although there was a technical opportunity to restore the destroyed record of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the government did not do it.
Kupetytė told students about the extreme work of the journalist. Every week, the Prime Minister of the Republic reviews the various state affairs on the national .radio. On Monday October 1 on the Facebook social network, the Prime Minister of Lithuania said that he could publicly repeat every word he said at the government’s meeting and everything else that remained in the destroyed post. On Tuesday October 2, before broadcasting, Rūta decided not to question the usual topics, and she focused on the actual issue.
Kupetytė explained issue this way: “Although there were still other state and cross-border issues, when you see the Prime Minister and can ask him everything, this action needed to be taken. If I had not asked him all the information, the community of journalists would have judged my professional decision. All 15 minutes of the Skvernelis broadcast went by but not all of the country's questions were discussed, only the current issue.”
At the meeting with VU students, the journalist not only shared her memories from the studies at the Vilnius University Institute of Journalism, but also told how the journalism study programme and the work of the journalist had changed over the past eight years. Kupetytė said that the most interesting radio speakers are found through some unexpected stories. Rūta shared not only the features of her work, but also her earlier personal fears. According to Kupetytė, the first problem she encountered on the radio was that she was scared to call the guest speakers.
“It was also difficult to talk at the beginning. At the time my voice was high, and there is a myth that radio and TV requires low voices because they sound more confident,” said Kupetyte.
by Tomas Bilevičius
Lithuanian media is currently in a very interesting situation. What's happening now is very strange. This is the way Rūta Kupetytė, the long-term Lithuanian Radio journalist who met the first-year Vilnius University journalism students, responded to a question posed by one of the students.
“What's happening right now is very strange. The media is currently very focused, competition between the media is decreasing and investigative journalism departments are being created almost everywhere, which is a good process, but on the other hand, as a journalist, I'm a little scared of what the country's politicians are doing by trying to politicize the management and content of LRT and destroying records of the Government’s meetings. It should be noted that these processes do not occur only in Lithuania. These processes appear in Hungary, Poland and the radical political processes are rapidly growing,” Kupetytė told students.
Earlier this year, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania destroyed records of the meeting in which the Prime Minister may have negatively commented on the work of the country's media. Also, the media was temporarily forbidden from receiving free information from the Registry Center.
The information obtained from the Center was most often used to investigate the integrity of politicians and possible corruption cases. In the wake of the outrage of society and the journalism community, officials promised to allow journalists to receive free information. Although there was a technical opportunity to restore the destroyed record of the meeting, the Prime Minister and the government did not do it.
Kupetytė told students about the extreme work of the journalist. Every week, the Prime Minister of the Republic reviews the various state affairs on the national .radio. On Monday October 1 on the Facebook social network, the Prime Minister of Lithuania said that he could publicly repeat every word he said at the government’s meeting and everything else that remained in the destroyed post. On Tuesday October 2, before broadcasting, Rūta decided not to question the usual topics, and she focused on the actual issue.
Kupetytė explained issue this way: “Although there were still other state and cross-border issues, when you see the Prime Minister and can ask him everything, this action needed to be taken. If I had not asked him all the information, the community of journalists would have judged my professional decision. All 15 minutes of the Skvernelis broadcast went by but not all of the country's questions were discussed, only the current issue.”
At the meeting with VU students, the journalist not only shared her memories from the studies at the Vilnius University Institute of Journalism, but also told how the journalism study programme and the work of the journalist had changed over the past eight years. Kupetytė said that the most interesting radio speakers are found through some unexpected stories. Rūta shared not only the features of her work, but also her earlier personal fears. According to Kupetytė, the first problem she encountered on the radio was that she was scared to call the guest speakers.
“It was also difficult to talk at the beginning. At the time my voice was high, and there is a myth that radio and TV requires low voices because they sound more confident,” said Kupetyte.