About the personal life of Elena Vartanova there are no rumors and gossip. Information simply does not exist. The dean of the faculty of journalism at Moscow State University, Elena Leonidovna Vartanova, seems to live one job. Trips, meetings, interviews, dissertations, careers, students - this makes up the life of a pretty woman with a kind smile on her face.
Young years
Helen's childhood and youth were spent in a provincial town. At a young age, the girl could not even think that she would become one of the most famous journalists and scientists of the country. The future celebrity was born on December 22, 1959 in Zagorsk, which was later renamed Sergiev Posad. A carefree childhood passed in a small town near Moscow. Elena recalls those years as happy, full of peace and family joys.
When she went to school, she became interested in skating and music. But it was difficult to keep up, and Elena had to choose one thing at the insistence of her parents. She stopped at the piano.
The girl was very fond of reading. Books have always been faithful companions of the life of Elena Leonidovna Vartanova. Today, the dean says that all students of the faculty of journalism are book lovers like her. Dreamy, reading, creative nature.
The path to journalism
The future dean was 15 years old when she first thought about journalism. Around was a stable and calm life of the 70s of the last century. At such a young age, everyone wants change, a vibrant and diverse life full of events. Elena Vartanova was no exception. She did not want to work at the factory as her parents did, she wanted to see the world. A teacher of literature has always praised the girl for her clear presentation of thoughts and excellent compositions. And Elena decided that she would try to become a journalist.
Parents supported the daughter, although they considered it frivolous. Freelance employees were not required in the factory edition, and Elena began to look for other opportunities. Arriving at the editorial office of the district newspaper, she said that she wanted to publish as a journalist and enter the Moscow State University. The team was friendly and cheerful, she was given the task and sent to write a note about a new farm on the collective farm.
Elena took the task seriously. I went to the elegant fields, in white shoes and formal clothes. While I was walking around the collective farm and farm, everything was dirty, but I wrote a lot of material. Later, the editor selected only a few lines for the newspaper, but Elena Leonidovna Vartanova with a smile recalls her first experience in journalism.
Admission and study
The newspaper published more than twenty of her notes. As a result, when enrolling in journalism, Elena easily coped with the creative competition. The school certificate was excellent, but the priority was for students with experience in newspapers, so to speak, with experience. Therefore, the fact that the girl entered the first time at Moscow State University was a big surprise for Elena and her parents.
The girl graduated with honors in 1981. Got a specialty and began to think about where to move on. Elena Vartanova was always interested in foreign media, but in those years only boys were taken to the department of foreign literature and journalism to Yasen Zasursky.
The girl acted extraordinary - she signed up as a free listener to Lyudmila Kustova. She studied the British press, wrote a term paper. I realized that in foreign media not everything is as smooth as many people think. Nevertheless, I found a lot of interesting and informative for myself in the complex mechanism of foreign media.
Acquaintance with the Western Press
In Soviet times, foreign students were allowed to read the Western press. The country was behind the Iron Curtain, and department entrants were allowed to study foreign media. There were closed rooms in the Lenin Library. Entrance was only for special passes and passport. This experience was invaluable to Elena; she could study what she was always interested in.
How did Elena Vartanova stay at MSU?
Before the final exam, Yasen Zasursky gathered the most promising students and invited them to work at the faculty. This was necessary for admission to graduate school. In Soviet times, this required at least two years of work experience.
Zasursky was the dean and understood that if they now leave to work in the media, they are unlikely to remember graduate school later. The university needed young teachers. The idea worked. Almost all the students selected by him remained to teach at Moscow State University. And Elena too.
While working at the Department of Journalism, Elena began to realize that research in the field of American, English, and German media was already very extensive. And I decided to study the media in Finland. I enrolled in Finnish language courses at the university. In 1986, she defended her dissertation “The largest bourgeois newspaper in Finland, “ Helsingin Sanomat ”: basic foreign policy concepts and their formation under the influence of monopoly capital”.
Unique specialist
Elena Vartanova was very interested in the Finnish media and admits that the years of their study were bright and interesting, discovered a lot of new things and broadened her horizons.
In her interviews, she says that journalism in Russia is different from that in Europe. Although outwardly they are somewhat similar, the culture and development of society leave their mark. And it reminds us that it was our Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov who invented the so-called principles of journalistic ethics. This is respect for the fact, source of information, audience and modesty of the journalist. These principles have not lost their relevance at the moment.
In 1999, Elena Vartanova’s biography contains an important event - she defended her thesis “The North European Path to the Information Society: Evolution of the Finnish Media Model”. She began her path in a scientific career from a student's bench and went all the way to her beloved university.
In 2000, Elena Leonidovna Vartanova was already a professor at the Department of Foreign Literature and Journalism. In 2001 she became deputy dean for scientific work.
In 2004 she created the Department of Economics and Theory of Mass Media. She also led it.
Since 2009, Elena Vartanova - Dean of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University
Prior to this, for two years she headed the faculty as acting dean. And she waited for approval for the position, which she currently holds.
In November 2009, more than 200 freshmen from the journalism department wrote a regular test dictation. About forty students made less than eight errors per page. The rest made up to 25 errors in the text. These included 15 excellent students who entered the faculty, having 100 points in the exam. The results shocked everyone.
Elena Vartanova denied the connection of yesterday’s low literacy with the Unified State Exam. In her opinion, this is just a verification tool, and no matter in what form it is used. Whether it is an essay, a test or an oral exam - this can in no way affect the number of errors in writing the text. Either the school teaches not what, or it is not what they demand from the students, this needs to be understood.
In addition, the slang spoken and written on the Internet has firmly entered the culture of communication and beyond the network, and this is a big problem. According to Elena, schoolchildren borrow words unconsciously, transferring them later to compositions and dictations. Previously, children read books, now - chats, groups in social networks and forums. This problem is being studied at Moscow State University.
After the memorable dictation, there were no repressions and deductions at the faculty.
Elena Vartanova adjusted classes and curricula, making small changes. Now freshmen are intensively studying the grammar of the Russian language, struggling with illiteracy and mistakes. In fact, they themselves are not against these occupations, they consider them necessary primarily for themselves. After all, they are future journalists. And in this profession you need literacy, a broad outlook and well-read.
Innovations
Since September 1, 2011, a new educational program "Journalism" is being implemented at the faculty. The name of the training area remains the same, but the training is held according to new standards. And these innovations were developed at the faculty of journalism with the participation of Elena Vartanova. Moscow State University took into account the education reform that has taken place in the country. It was also necessary to combine Moscow State University’s own standards with the requirements of the media industry. Digital evolution has taken over the world. In recent years, media have changed very quickly, new demands are being made on journalists.
Now, students under the leadership of Dean Vartanova are studying high technology, multimedia and digital environments. Not forgetting, however, that the basic humanitarian knowledge and professional ethics of a journalist are often more important than an understanding of the technological subtleties.
"Media Communications" - such a direction will soon be opened at the journal faculty
Here students will be trained to work in social media. This is required by modern realities. According to Elena Leonidovna, a revolution is underway in the transition from paper newspapers to innovative digital media. Social networks have become a place not only for communication, but also for the delivery of a wide variety of information. This is news, and events, and incidents. Moreover, information is provided in a shorter, laconic form.
In the not-too-distant future, social media will squeeze paper publications even more. Of course, you have to rebuild, move to the Internet space and actively master it. Although all major publishing houses have long had their sites.
