Tata Kachkachishvili – a journalist in radio “Tavisupleba” (Liberty)

“I graduated from Akaki Tsereteli State University in 2005 on a specialty of journalism. Like many other professions, my profession requires constant development and does not satisfies with the knowledge received on some levels. Changes and technological perfection must be a constant condition for journalism. When I studied on my third year at the university, I started to work in “Major Newspaper in Imereti” of local media. The following years I continued working in local and national newspapers such as “Rezonansi”, radio “Fortuna”, internet edition “Media. Ge”. For two years I made investigating articles for the “New Magazine” within the project.

Since 2010 I have been a Kutaisi bureau journalist at Radio “Tavisupleba” – “Free Europe”. I have gained different kinds of experience from working in printed press, online and radio media for 15 years and I can say that each of them are very interesting and requires different skills, but I still think that professionalism is a combination of different components and these features develop and improve time by time. I regard that formal and informal education has great importance for personal development and improvement and it is needed in any stage of one’s life.

Young people should know what, why and how they really want when they choose their profession. Profession is not only gained skills but this is emotions and inner sense that you can never learn. Analytical ability helps young people determine what they really want, though, risk is also necessary. Gaining new and different professions is also a challenge of modern life and in the process of finding out our new abilities and skills, it is natural to get several professions. It is crucial not to have any of your professions as burden, your profession is the work that is both interesting and desirable.

While choosing an educational institution in order to gain knowledge, it is important to take into consideration that not only a good lecturer can define the effectiveness of the university. Technical base and motivated students are as relevant as a highly trained specialist. University life means not only gaining theoretical knowledge but also acquiring practical skills. If these ones are not combined, educational process can’t be perfect. I still remember the phrase of one of my lecturers about journalistic ethics and professionalism that “a journalist must not be bribed”. He made a good argumentation about it frequently and always said why it was crucial for us to be better than ourselves, I still feel the pathos and inspiration of that time.

It is wonderful when a lecturer is a good speaker, thinker and reliable, has right values and shares all his/her experience with you.

The word that I usually repeat to myself is “must”, it’s strange but this is the word I love less.