An afternoon with Rūta Kupetytė
by Kristijonas Razickas On November 26th, 2018, Vilnius University’s first year journalists had a lecture with radio host Rūta Kupetytė at the Faculty of Medicine in Vilnius University. Kupetytė herself graduated from Vilnius University ten years ago. The lecture started at 13:00 with a quick self-introduction by Kupetytė and a presentation of late 90’s/early 2000’s journalistic equipment. Many students were surprised at how technology has changed in the last 20 years: from a two kilogram tape recorder to a small mobile phone that can record both audio and video, which makes journalists more flexible and capable to accomplish several tasks at once. Kupetytė talked a lot about the first year’s English lecturer, Jeff La Roux and their first meeting while on a plane. They both talked about various Lithuania-related things and Kupetytė was quite surprised at the curiosity La Roux showed about her native country. What shocked Kupetytė the most was La Roux’s fondness of storks that are quite prevalent in Lithuania. Indeed that was not the most common answer when talking about Lithuania with foreigners. She jokingly added that La Roux would make a fine journalist himself if he ever wanted to. Kupetytė has been working as a radio host for Lietuvos Radijas for about eight years. Over the years she has had various personalities on her show including the present Prime Minister of Lithuania, Saulius Skvernelis. She explained much about the ins and outs of the job itself which lifted a shroud of doubt for many students. Towards the very end, Kupetytė showed the young journalists a video containing bloopers that occurred on air over the past years. From technical mistakes to radio hosts forgetting their colleagues’ names, the video had it all. After the lecture’s official end, students and Kupetytė had a photography session in which several group and individual pictures were taken. Over all, both students and Kupetytė were satisfied with how the lecture had gone by. A good mix of useful tips, interesting facts and humor made the day memorable to many. |
Ruta Kupetyte: Sharing Experience
by Goda Maciulyte
by Goda Maciulyte
I’m a first year journalism student at Vilnius University, and on Monday, November 26, our journalism class had a guest speaker, Rūta Kupetytė.
Kupetytė told us her life story as a journalist. Like us, she began at Vilnius University. By her second year, she understood that radio journalism was her passion and at that time she started working at Lietuvos radijas. Kupetytė still works there and says that she is completely happy with her job and where she is in her life right now.
She told us about radio history and how radio had changed during the past twenty years. She started working with old and very heavy recorders. They evolved into microphones that had recorders inside, and now she is recording everything with her phone. Sometimes she goes live into the radio station through her phone.
Kupetytė said that the English language is very important in her job and if she had the opportunity to go back in time, she would have started learning English during the first year. English is so important for journalists because journalist like her go to international conferences. Journalists have to translate news from foreign countries and sources and sometimes, when journalists don’t know English, they misrepresent the facts and the news.
The most memorable thing that she said was that the most interesting interviews are found in strange places. She told us the story about how she met Jeff La Roux, our English teacher. It started on the plane when someone was sitting in her seat. Because the other person refused to move, she had to sit near the bathroom. When she went there she met a lovely couple who started talking with her before she even took her seat. That couple was Jeff and his wife, Emilie. All this conversation lead her into our auditorium where she gave this speech.
Her lesson to us was that we have to show how the person we interview is thinking. We are not required to say what we want to hear. We just have to express the ideas in the person’s mind.
At Lietuvos radijas Kupetytė and her colleagues have a glassy, weird shaped object that symbolises the news. This metaphor means that the news should be clear and that journalists should show the most important information and “the sharpest” angle of the news.
I think this speech will accompany me through all my life and career.