Although his start was unambitious regarding studying, the editor of the show “360 Degrees” managed to complete his faculty studies in two and a half years and became the top student of his generation. He shared about his student days in the “When I Was a Student” section, which we prepare together with “Pivara Skopje.”

Journalism is one of the most stressful professions. To maintain his integrity, a journalist must be very determined and a strong personality. We’re bringing you the story of such a journalist’s student days in “When I Was a Student.” Vasko Popetrevski is the chief and responsible editor of the show “360 Degrees,” aired on TV Alsat. He has been dedicated to professional journalism for twenty years, across nearly all media, but television is where he swims best.

The magic of journalism drew him to Macedonian Radio, Radio Strumica, where he worked diligently during high school. The Faculty of Journalism at the Faculty of Law in Skopje wasn’t his first choice. He enrolled in the Natural-Mathematical Faculty, in Informatics, but as he says himself: “Although I was among the few with 100 points and breezed through the first year, I didn’t feel like that was it.” He excelled in natural sciences and participated in competitions, winning national awards.

“I really loved math and physics. That’s probably the problem for students good in multiple areas. I also finished violin at the Primary Music School. There was discontent at home because I was working at the radio in parallel and often going to Strumica. My parents wanted me to finish informatics first, then pursue journalism,” says Popetrevski.

Sports Reporter on Radio

He remembers his beginnings at the Strumica radio. He was part of a successful team with many listeners. His main focus was sports.

“Every Saturday we had the ‘Youth Channel’ show. At 18, I became a correspondent for the Sports Program on Radio Skopje, which was very popular with two weekend shows. Strumica was a city with first-league teams in football, basketball, and volleyball. At first, they hesitated if I’d handle the task since I was so young. I’m very grateful to the bard Aleksandar Stikov, Pero Momirovski, and others who gave me a chance,” recalls Popetrevski.

Moving for studies didn’t stop his collaboration with Strumica colleagues. Soon he started working at TV Sitell on the desk, but quickly realized work and studies don’t mix, and earning money distanced him from faculty.

“In the fall of 1997, Sitell fired me for insulting Zingo. That was a lucky break because I returned to faculty and dedicated myself. My first year was already lost, the second started. I rarely went to classes and hadn’t passed practical exams. But I was determined and in two sessions passed 8-9 exams to catch up with colleagues,” says Vasko.

He quickly fit into the group, making his best friends from that time. Vasko is godfather to three faculty colleagues—Dragan Nikolovski, Sasho Kokalanov, and Vladimir Mirski—while Stojan Trpchevski, editor at MTV, is his godfather.

Top Student of the Generation

Despite the unambitious start, Vasko finished faculty in two and a half years, became top student of the generation, and received a watch. He says from today’s perspective, the studies were useful, especially because they were interdisciplinary.

“It’s hard to tell a young person to study because it’ll come in handy later. Usually, the principle is ‘I study just enough to pass.’ I partly had that feeling—that knowing more is better for tomorrow, for work. And I was interested in many lectures. Comparing UKIM journalism studies to the now-defunct Higher School of Journalism, their graduates were more practice-focused. We got different knowledge that helped us better understand what we report on. Journalism is learned in practice,” says the editor.

Every student has a professor who left a mark. Popetrevski has several. Among them is Sasho Georgievski, professor of international public law.

“He was especially inventive in lectures and exams. He was an example of what a university professor should be. Denko Maleski was also excellent. I followed his postgraduate lectures on international politics. His ‘realist’ approach versus ‘institutionalists’ in international relations greatly helped me grasp topics I still work on. I loved Gordana Siljanovska’s lectures too. I’m especially proud of the Contemporary Political Systems exam. I took it parallel with a student who later became deputy prime minister. He came unprepared. At the end, the professor publicly said: ‘Where’s the dean to see how my students answer like those from the world’s top universities.’ That’s recognition for a student,” says Popetrevski, adding he’s proud to have been a student of renowned linguist Liljana Minova-Gurkova, Antoanela Petkovska (sociology of culture), Vele Smilevski (journalism), Jane Miljoski on several economics subjects.

Successful Journalism Generation

Vasko lived only one month in a student dorm “Steve Naumov” barrack, but conditions were bad, so he lived in an apartment the following years.

“For years I lived with a lady, Angelina Simeonova, sound engineer at Radio Skopje, who understood journalism and helped me navigate the profession,” says Vasko.

With faculty colleagues, they frequented the “Fontana” cafe (“Mavrovka”), where every 10 earned with index got free coffee. They went out at the Bistro at MNT. His generation did relatively well in journalism: Vladimir Mirski, Dragan Nikolovski, Stojan Trpchevski, Dusko Arsovski, Sasho Kokalanov, Todorche Stojchevski, Aleksandar Mitevski, Anita Petrovska were part of the group.

Popetrevski studied with interest, though confidently saying he quickly learned to gauge exactly how much to study for a 10.

“I knew exactly what grade I’d get,” laughs Vasko.

He believes every work experience is important for a journalist and one shouldn’t be ashamed. While studying, he spent only one day at Dnevnik newsroom. He didn’t show up the next.

“I remember that editorial meeting (Geroski with feet on the table). I was tasked to cover a parliament session where they revoked Arben Xhaferi’s mandate for missing six months of sessions. Bobi Hristov was my mentor; first time entering the Assembly with him. In that building, that atmosphere, he acted like at home, but a first-timer struggles to orient. Bobi communicated so easily. I got frustrated thinking I’d never navigate that labyrinth. I wrote the report, they published it, but next day I didn’t go to Dnevnik,” recalls Vasko.

In 2000, as a reporter for Channel 5, then A1, he started going to Parliament daily. Then he realized he had to endure that first day at Dnevnik.

He joined this newsroom in 2009, followed by the magazine “Gradjanski,” which lasted less than a year.

Excellent Pronunciation

Popetrevski is one of the rare journalists whose hometown you can’t detect due to excellent pronunciation. He says his love for language was instilled by his elementary Macedonian teacher Sultana.

“In those days, language was a serious value and quality in media work. But as more media appeared, language became unimportant. We had three contemporary Macedonian exams at faculty. I approached them with love and desire. And life led me to a proofreader, professor of Macedonian—my wife. I attended some trainings, courses with speech therapists and tutors to master TV intonation, but not excessively.”

Dnevnik newspaper, with its excellent proofreaders team, set high language standards in media.

Popetrevski is firm that in our country, we only talk about this issue without action.

“We’re hypocritical talking without doing. It’s sad hearing proofreading departments close; they’re more important than embassies. In Moscow, I saw Macedonian expert Rina Usikova’s love and dedication keeping the language alive for students. Now, seeing Viktor Friedman’s love for our language, with almost no successors. Proofreading closes. Don’t get me started on public speaking quality, for which media are guilty, but institutions should step in. We haven’t heard from the Institute of Macedonian Language for years. They reacted only to the Languages Law and name deal with Greece, not their competence. Never on spoken language quality, TV subtitles. Why not publicly point out our mistakes,” says Popetrevski.

He believes no topic or field is useless for a journalism student. He advises youth: grades aren’t most important; understand what you read, recognize it as a phenomenon in reality, observe critically.

“For a journalist, nothing comes useless in life. Everything I read during studies, even seemingly irrelevant topics, later helped me swim easier in this not-easy profession,” points out Popetrevski.