Models of Teaching International Journalism for Sustainable Development

AVRUPA TIMES/LONDON- In celebration of the 90th anniversary of the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, the International Scientific and Practical Conference "Models of Teaching International Journalism for Sustainable Development" (MTIJ) was held for the eighth time this year. Organised by the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication, with the support of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty, within the framework of the International Farabi Forum, the conference aimed to explore the potential of international journalism as a tool for sustainable development.

The level of media literacy in Kazakhstan is a topic of interest. It is therefore pertinent to consider whether uniform ethical principles should be introduced for bloggers and public opinion leaders. Furthermore, the lack of knowledge of social network algorithms by online consumers is the matter worthy for further investigation. Finally, the impact of artificial intelligence on journalism is the topic that requires further study. A scientific meeting was held in Kazakhstan, attended by scientists and mass communication researchers from Kazakhstan, USA, Great Britain, Belgium, Poland, Turkey, PRC and Russia. The meeting's sections included discussions on the aforementioned issues.

Jamila Aitzhanova, vice-rector for scientific and innovative activities of the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, opened the conference and spoke about the university's activities in the field of sustainable development: "University scientists have implemented more than 300 international scientific and technical programs and fundamental projects in recent years. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary, it was planned to create the first Industry 4.0 model factory in Central Asia at KazNU. Joint project on the creation of an IT-technology park based on the Silicon Valley model agreed with the PRC government is being implemented."

Dean of the Journalism Faculty, Temirgali Kopbaev spoke about the state of  education in the field of sustainable development in the faculty, the head of the UN Information Bureau in Kazakhstan, the Representative of the UN Department of Global Communications, Vlastimil Samek, congratulated the Kazakh National University with its 90th anniversary and awarded the university with the UN Sustainable Development "Academic influence" marked the 10th anniversary of its leadership of the UNAI Global Hub. ”The conference on journalistic education on sustainable development is useful not only for students, but also for journalists in general”, - he said.

 Journalists, who correctly interpret the goals of sustainable development and provide information objectively and carefully will contribute to the development of any country and the pursuit of goodness by citizens," - he also said, expressing confidence that there will be a lot of great thoughts and interesting opinions at the meeting. Sergey Karpov, a specialist of the communication and information department of the UNESCO Regional Office in Almaty, on behalf of the Regional Office, expressed gratitude for the Chair's joint activity with the International Program for the Development of Communication on the 4.7., 16.10 goals of sustainable development, focused on the UNESCO seminar series. In this regard, UNESCO's intensive courses on natural disasters are very necessary for the mass media of Kazakhstan in the current period of floods, earthquakes and fires.
"It is necessary to use artificial intelligence competently in order to predict such disasters and make the right decisions," - he said. The specialist of the regional office emphasized the contribution of the conference in supporting national educational platforms: "The national platform of journalism, developed on the basis of two previous projects of the Chair, continues and develops in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. They are using the developments of the al-Farabi Kazakh National University, UNESCO resources," - he said, introducing the UNESCO journalistic educational series. It also includes courses on climate change, journalist safety, and gender equality developed by UNESCO's Chair in Journalism and Communication.

Almasha Arenova, head of the Department of Political Cooperation of the representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty, congratulated the flagship of national education and science - the Kazakh National University with its 90-year achievements and expressed gratitude for its contribution to the development of the country's education. Having named the main elements of sustainable development, she emphasized the importance of communication and education. She noted that the mentioned conference is the platform for discussing important issues in journalistic education, exchanging experience, identifying risks and problems and determining ways to solve them.

Mr. Yui Feng, professor of the School of Journalism and New Media in China and Turkic Journalists Foundation and the World Foreign Press Association (WFPA)  presiden Nazia Zhoyamergen

The information partner of the conference, the public fund "Turkey-speaking journalists" has implemented several projects in close cooperation with the Chair over the last 10 years, facilitated student internships in Turkish mass media. The president of the fund, Nazia Zhoyamergen, shared information about joint international projects in the future and wished success to the conference.

Zhansaya Isaeva, director of the al-Farabi KazNU Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development, said that the conference was organized in honor of the 90th anniversary of the national university and 10 years of the UNAI Global Hub "Academic Influence" on sustainable development. "Today's dialogue is multifaceted, the journalistic talks conducted at the international level clarify the diplomatic nature of this meeting," - she said.

Chairman of the Almaty Civil Alliance, member of the Public Council of  Almaty, Kaiyrzhan Abdykhalykov, emphasized the contribution of the civil society in achieving the goals of sustainable development. "Bloggers and opinion leaders, if they have thousands of followers, can be a powerful tool for disseminating information. Therefore, it is necessary to develop ethical norms and principles in cooperation with the academic community," - he said. 

Gulnar Asanbayeva, a representative of the Asian Media and Information Center, reviewed the future of media education technologies and the use of artificial intelligence in journalism in Kazakhstan. According to the expert, the highest level of media literacy in Kazakhstan was in 2021. Indicators decreased in 2023. TV channels are the main channel of information that people trust. Among the social networks, Instagram and WhatsApp are more trusted: none of the study participants said the information was incorrect. Of course, this is a dangerous situation. People do not know social network algorithms, how information flows. Therefore, media pedagogy should be updated. The expert also focused on artificial intelligence literacy. It depends on how well you ask the question to get information.
Indeed, today artificial intelligence has become the most effective tool for journalists, from information gathering to content creation. Generative models are also widely used in the field of education. However, its use causes problems of copyright and plagiarism, legal framework and ethics. 
Ilya Bykov, professor of the Higher School of Journalism and Mass Communications of St. Petersburg State University, political scientist, presented research on artificial intelligence technologies in education.

Professor Feng Wu of the School of New Media Journalism of Xi'an Jiaotong University, who specially came to the conference from China, based his report on the new status of journalism education in China. In recent years, journalism education in China has paid more attention to the media literacy of the elderly and migrant workers, women and children in economically backward areas. Environmental communication in China is developing rapidly, intermingling with real life. It has a positive influence on China's economic, social development and media reform. Communication in China's healthcare has become an important area of research. Through mass media, medical information is disseminated, disease prevention and health promotion policies are implemented. 

Founder of Avrupa Media Group (Great Britain, UK), journalist Vatan Oz

In today's era of global interconnectedness of acute environmental and social problems, the role of journalism in the field of sustainable development has never been more important. Founder of Avrupa Media Group (Great Britain, UK), journalist Vatan Oz began his speech by saying, "I am proud to be a partner of such a valuable conference." The European media editor described several models of international journalism training for sustainable development and noted the important role of the academic community training professionals in this direction.  

 

    The founder of Inter-Media Brussels Public Fund (Turkey), journalist Yusuf Jinal, shared his thoughts on providing university students with industrial experience, supporting master's and doctoral students' scientific training.    Associate Professor of Penza State University, candidate of historical sciences, Galina Zueva (Russia), editor-in-chief of public TV channel "Moldova-1" and Lyudmila Barba (Republic of Moldova), touched on the actual issues of training professional journalists. 
During the meeting, a presentation of the "Golden middle of the new UNESCO project" was held with the support of the International Program for the Development of Communication (IPDS) of the UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication on the implementation of the Project "Region - Central Asia: journalistic education on migration issues".

Nazgul Shyngyssova writes for Avrupa Times Newspaper in London 

The al-Farabi Kazakh National University,

The head of UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communication