Behind the scenes of a live broadcast: young journalists of the National Centre RUSSIA learned how Moscow 24 works
The participants of the Young Journalists School of the National Centre RUSSIA learned how a city news television channel works, what to do if something goes wrong during a live broadcast, and why sports reports can offer a new way to discover Moscow. The students visited the Moscow 24 television channel, toured its studios, control rooms and editorial offices, spoke with journalists and presenters, and tried their hand as interviewers.
The staff of the Moscow 24 editorial office explained how a city news television channel operates, covering events in the capital and Moscow Region around the clock, as well as monitoring traffic, the weather and city life. The students learned that news bulletins are broadcast every hour, and that technology allows correspondents to go live from almost anywhere in the city. In addition, the young journalists had the opportunity to speak with the channel’s guest, the well-known actor Dmitry Dyuzhev, who talked about his professional plans and promised to consider a joint project with the young journalists.
Sports columnist Nikolai Yaremenko told the students how sports stories can reveal the city from a new perspective: "We cover all the sports that exist in the city, and show what adults and teenagers do. It is an opportunity to look at the city differently. For example, during running tours around Moscow, participants also learn something new about it. That is how I recently found out that two neighbouring buildings near Gagarin Square have the numbers 12 and 4 on them. I pass by every day and had never thought about why that was. It turned out to be in honour of 12 April, Cosmonautics Day. It seems as though you already know everything about the city, but through sport you discover new details."
The students also visited the Moscow FM radio station, which is located next to the Moscow 24 studio. There, they asked questions about how live broadcasting works, when absolutely anything can happen at any moment. Moscow FM radio presenter Vladislav Kutuzov told the young journalists a story from his own experience, when the wrong person was called by mistake during a live broadcast: "Live broadcasting is always unpredictable. We have experts whom we regularly invite on air, but one day an editor got one digit wrong in a phone number and, instead of a political expert, called a completely ordinary man from St Petersburg. His name was also Leonid. And the most surprising thing was that he did not get flustered. He said he was indeed ready to comment on the situation, and for five minutes on live radio he spoke confidently about politics, the international agenda and all the topics that had been announced. We only realised after the broadcast that he was not our expert. None of the listeners noticed the switch."
The young journalists asked how to prepare for such work if it is impossible to foresee every scenario in advance. The presenter emphasised that the most important things are broad knowledge and the ability to quickly navigate a subject, as well as well-coordinated work with the editor and technical team.
For the participants, the meeting was an opportunity to see how city media work, helping people navigate life in a metropolis every day, and to understand what skills are needed by those who want to link their future with such interesting but challenging work.
The Young Journalists School project is implemented by the National Centre RUSSIA together with the Movement of the First, with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. The programme helps teenagers get to know leading Russian media, develop practical skills in working with text, photography and video, learn to think critically about information, and see the profession of a journalist not only as a bright picture, but also as responsible daily work.
A session of the Young Journalists School titled "Photojournalism: Composition, Light, Moment.
The session was conducted by Sofia Kovalevich, Programme Director and teacher at the Young Journalists School.
