FOUNDER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE MONGOLIAN MINING JOURNAL
Bolormaa Luntan was a true pioneer of modern Mongolian journalism. She wrote on a range of political, social and economic subjects, and also specialized in the business and mining industry. She was named Journalist of the Year in 2003 for excellence in newspaper journalism, and Journalist of the Year in 2015 for excellence in magazine journalism. She was renowned for her investigative journalism and received a Transparency International award and the media freedom prize “For the Truth, 2015”.
Bolormaa graduated from the University of Mongolia’s faculty of journalism. Her career started in 1998 at Unuudur, the country’s premier daily newspaper. During 2001-2008 she served as head of the Economy and Business Section, Deputy Editor and then Editor-in-Chief. She was not only a talented journalist but also a reformer. Her major achievement was to give a new orientation to print journalism introducing a totally new style of writing and design concepts in post-socialist Mongolia.
She studied at the International Institute for Journalism in Inwent, Germany and also at the World Press Institute in the United States, specializing in economics and financial reporting. The time she spent at The Washington Post and The Grand Forks Herald helped her to gain further experience.
In 2008, Bolormaa founded The Mongolian Mining Journal (MMJ), which is the first bilingual magazine in Mongolia on economic and mining issues. It is grounded on objective information and analysis, and fully independent from any particular organizational or individual interests. The magazine is staffed by a team of professional journalists. The Association of Mongolian Journalists recognised the MMJ as the Journal of the Year in 2008, 2012 and 2013.
Bolormaa contributed enormously to press freedom and professional journalism in Mongolia. She established Khugjliin Tuluu Setguulzui (“Journalism for Development”) in 2010, a non-governmental organization devoted to assisting and training journalists in modern and more effective ways of writing on economic and mining issues. It runs regular refresher courses and study trips for young journalists. She also worked as an economic and mining consultant, and helped in monitoring and analyzing performance through her company Zavgui (“Busy”).
In 2011 Bolormaa set up a TV studio Hugjil (“Development”), which ran economic and mining programmes. These programmes have been regularly aired by Eagle, C1, TV25 channels, and are well known.
In 2007 Bolormaa published her book “Daashinztai Survaljlaguud” containing a set of interviews and articles including her interview with Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary-General and her reports from Afghanistan. Her other book “Zavgui” is about modern journalism management and was published in 2013. Both books have become important handbooks for journalism students, teachers and editors. Her final book “Chimeegui Lugshih Buteelch Sudas” is about the post-socialist period of democratic transition of Mongolia and was published posthumously in December 2015.