Making media for Riebeeck East has taken a semester's worth of long dust-filled journeys and late nights but the tears, exhaustion and cursing at technology has all been worth it as we come to the final stretch of our JDD/CMP course. As journalists, our goals range from finding the inside scoop and reporting the facts to getting that one-in-a-million photo but, no matter what our specilisation is, we all aim to provide good quality media to those who want or need it.
For Riebeeck East, we were given the opportunity to provide media to a community that has been starved of media attention. Besides our media assignments for the course, we got to go beyond our call of duty as a third year journalism students by trying to give back or help the community in whatever ways we could.
At first, we printed 10 page A3 full colour wall newspapers and displayed them in the school, on the gate dividing the settlement from the middle-class area, at the local "spaza" shop and at the local B&B which is visited frequently by tourists and locals alike. We also made soundslides and video clips showcasing what life for a member of the Riebeeck East community was really like. However, after seeing how the community responded to our media outputs, we decided to take it one step further. We made colouring in-books for the local creche which is in desperate need of help and funding; we distributed how to guides to help the community help themselves; we started a campaign to collect stationery and toys for the creche and ensured that as many people as possible who matter to the Riebeeck East community or those who could make a difference had seen or had access to the DVD with the video and soundslide footage our team had worked on.
Distribution was never easy for us as the Riebeeck East area was quite a challenge to get to but no matter the transportation, we somehow made a plan to ensure that the media we made was able to get to Riebeeck East and make a difference. We even managed to enlist the help of a Riebeeck East local who helped us get our final media outputs to the right people.
It's been a long road to where we are now and it seems like the journey has come full circle as the JDD/CMP course comes to an end but, the connections we made with the people of Riebeeck East and the difference our team made, no matter the size, to the community have not closed the circle of hope but have instead made it bigger so that others, who are willing to do good for that community, can now have the opportunity to.
Alex Turner
An indepth look into life in Riebeeck East from the eyes of the community who call this tiny town home.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Final comments on the course
Essentially, public journalism is a revolutionary form of journalism which may at seem idealistic while at other times seem like a concept of social progression. The theory of public journalism conceptualised by Haas, is simple but a major aspect of the theory is missing. One can’t simply rely on Haas’s theory as implementation is bound by so many variables. When embarking on this CMP project we were not given adequate information about implementation in the context of South Africa. We were unprepared for the challenges but these challenges seemed to facilitate a greater understanding of the community we engaged with. Throughout this semester there has been an ongoing ethical debate. Is it ethical to invade a community’s private space, offer solutions and hope and then leave once we have got our academic marks?
Our approach to public journalism was most certainly multifaceted. We made use of developmental journalism, public and alternative journalism. We took a radical role to expose the downfalls of economic initiatives. We focused greatly on the facilitative role by trying to improve the quality of lives through distributing Rhodes application forms and distributing pamphlets containing information for people who need to use the little means they have to improve their lives. One of the major roles we were unable to use was the collaborative, we were unable to access information from authoritative figures who had no desire to cooperate with us.
Our ideas to improve the course will target the problem of only creating a temporary spot light. Furthermore, we have made a concerted effort to make initiatives which aren’t short sighted.
The course has been rewarding as we discussed in the focus group, it has allowed us to leave our closet named Grahamstown and forge relationships with people. We invested a lot of our time into the project yet it would have been beneficial to extend the time in which we had to complete the project. But one could ask, when do you know when the project is truly complete when considering a place like Riebeeck East?
Amy Pattison-Emms
Reflection on Riebeeck East
The semester long course of JDD/CMP has come to an end. Looking back I can honestly say that it has been a great course, one that I as a journalist could truly connect with. Even though the semester was filled with many late nights, exhaustion and communication difficulties, it was inspiring to be motivated not solely by marks or deadlines, but rather in providing quality media coverage for those who need their stories to be told, and in so doing benefiting and bringing hope to a community as a whole.
Riebeeck East does not receive much media coverage, if any at all. This is why it has been so rewarding as a 3rd year journalist student to be able to help the community of Riebeeck East by providing them with media coverage and ultimately trying to give back and help the community in whatever way we could.
We did this by creating and distributing wall newspapers, sound slides and video clips all showcasing the happenings and ways of life in Riebeeck East. The community responded with great enthusiasm to our work and were extremely helpful in providing us with information and eagerness to be part of the whole project. In so doing I believe the community gave back to us in so many ways by letting us into their lives. I know that I have become a better journalist for it and hope that this is the first of many public journalism experiences that I will have in my career as a journalist.
As the course came to an end we decided to help the community a little further by: creating colouring in books for the local Crèche; distributed how to guides to help the community help themselves; started a campaign to collect stationary and toys for the Crèche; and distributed DVD’s with the video and sound slides we as a group had worked on.
It is truly amazing how such a small and unknown town and community can impacted on our lives. I’m therefore grateful and thankful to have been part of the JDD/CMP course this year.
By Annie Polak
Closing the circle
By Kate Bishop
Through our focus group it is evident that practising public journalism in South Africa is considerably different to Haas’s philosophy for Public journalism. Due to the economical and political status of our country as well as the many different cultures it makes it difficult to assume that people are treated equally and have the same footing in society. Through our public journalism as the WEDP group, we found that people most responded to seeing themselves in photographs. That itself created some form of discussion. The articles aimed at informing the community about the negative and positive aspects that they are facing.
Our final distribution process incorporated Haas’s idea of the journalist becoming involved in the problem solving process. We have started a campaign, “donate a pen and page” for the crèche, which will be continued after the JDD course is complete. We have complied a pamphlet that is a “how to” guidebook for the community. We looked at the areas in the community that most needed help and focused on them in our guide. Due to the lack of building resources and housing issues we researched how to make your own bricks and your own house using those bricks. Our second focus was how to make your own vegetable garden and how to make your own fertilizer. We found this important because Riebeeck East is so far away that it is important that people know how to create a self sustaining lifestyle. Lastly, our focus was on the school, we researched Universities and community colleges and technicons in the Eastern Cape and listed what courses they all offered. This was important to us because so many of the students that we spoke to wanted to get out of Riebeeck East and further their education, but did not have the facilities to find out more.
Bringing it back to the Grassroots
On reflection, the JDD/CMP course has been the best of all my courses at Rhodes in these past three years. Naturally, being a student, this only occurs happen on reflection. Time constraints have been the only major issue and I’m definitely not ready to stop and move on from the community we have worked in such close proximity to.
One of my main concerns about the course was the sustainability. In order to keep the ties with our subjects, a number of plans have been made. One of the first major ways we are bringing our project back to the community is that, as a WEPD group, we are helping the manager of the crèche (Yolande Delport) by supplying her with posters, bookmarks, post-cards and DVDs of the sound slides that she could perhaps hand out to interested sponsors. She will use all of this to advertise the crèche at the Flower Fest Show this weekend 23rd-24th October in Grahamstown. Apart from this, A4 laminated photographs of the children and crèche will also be given to her to display. The idea is that after she has used them at the show, they can be stuck up in the crèche so that the children, who have worked so well and enthusiastically with us, will be able to see photographs of themselves every day.
A public screening, particularly to the parents of the crèche children as well as to other community members, will be organised most likely as soon as we can liaise with Pierre van Vuuren who runs the municipal office, it will most likely be held in the central community hall of Riebeeck East. Along with this we will show the TV productions as well. For the sound slides, it is important that we show them to the community as they need to see the importance of primary education and intellectual stimulation in their children during the development phase.
By helping with such things, we will hopefully create a sustained interest in our project. By putting the crèche in connection with the people it needs, we would’ve built a bridge that will never collapse. We know we have the dedication of individuals like Babalwa Booi and Yolande Delport that will not let the crèche fail, and hopefully we will not fail them either.
-Desiree Schirlinger
One of my main concerns about the course was the sustainability. In order to keep the ties with our subjects, a number of plans have been made. One of the first major ways we are bringing our project back to the community is that, as a WEPD group, we are helping the manager of the crèche (Yolande Delport) by supplying her with posters, bookmarks, post-cards and DVDs of the sound slides that she could perhaps hand out to interested sponsors. She will use all of this to advertise the crèche at the Flower Fest Show this weekend 23rd-24th October in Grahamstown. Apart from this, A4 laminated photographs of the children and crèche will also be given to her to display. The idea is that after she has used them at the show, they can be stuck up in the crèche so that the children, who have worked so well and enthusiastically with us, will be able to see photographs of themselves every day.
A public screening, particularly to the parents of the crèche children as well as to other community members, will be organised most likely as soon as we can liaise with Pierre van Vuuren who runs the municipal office, it will most likely be held in the central community hall of Riebeeck East. Along with this we will show the TV productions as well. For the sound slides, it is important that we show them to the community as they need to see the importance of primary education and intellectual stimulation in their children during the development phase.
By helping with such things, we will hopefully create a sustained interest in our project. By putting the crèche in connection with the people it needs, we would’ve built a bridge that will never collapse. We know we have the dedication of individuals like Babalwa Booi and Yolande Delport that will not let the crèche fail, and hopefully we will not fail them either.
-Desiree Schirlinger
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Focus group report back
1. What our understanding of Halas’s Public journalism is:
- people expressing what they want to see in the paper
- Newspaper is the end discussion point so people can discuss
- Giving the minority a voice and giving the community an opportunity to be a part of their own stories.
- We cannot impose ourselves and our views on the communities we are engaging with and reporting on
- Haas idea of public sphere comes together with all other forms of journalism because we have all other types because it’s impossible to stick to one type of journalism
2. Criticism of Halas’s public journalism in the context of South Africa and as journalism students:
- Haas – examples and perspective from USA – comparison between SA and USA – economic and cultural variations
- In an ideal world where everyone spoke the same language etc, public journalism would work better as debates around citizen, governments and journalist’s agendas could be discussed. Deliberation space would be better and engagement with the community would be greatly improved.
- - SA has so many aspects to its history such as Apartheid that finding a common ground/footing is a problem and being seen as equal and having equal say is problematic.
- As students we probably shouldn’t practice this kind of journalism , because we go in and leave and them we are forced to leave as we have to move on with our lives
- We are still students before we public journalists
- We are not really committed to this kind of journalism as students
- Haas – people know the government structures but in SA, the people don’t
- Public journalism doesn’t work for a variety of issues, cultural, language, literacy, education
- Overall – there was a lack of South African examples and contexts
- Idea of public journalism was turned around due to the format and context for South African public journalism being very different to what we learnt in lectures
- Are basically the only people in Makana who have done this kind of public journalism
- Public journalism is still a new element in SA so we are still finding ways to iron out the problems with the system
- Enthusiasm for the course faded after the challenges became too great.
- Subjectivity is good however it is a bit destructive
3. What is Public Journalism and how it differs from development journalism:
- Public journalism is a “mixture” of all types of journalism
- Public journalism can go either way depending on the journalism
- Development role is defined as a non-radical dog, more lap-dog kind of role
- Development journalism is a more open grassroots role however in co-alliance with authorities
- Development journalism is- the lap-dog
- Developmental journalism is more a collaborative kind of journalism
- Public journalism starts at the grassroots however assist them to find their own solutions
- Public journalism has lot of the elements of developmental journalism
- Radical journalism is less facilitative
- Role as a journalist and how that has changed
- Public journalism requires one to think more critically and there are more moral obligation than in mainstream journalism
- Public journalism is more long term than short term
4. Positive aspects of public journalism for South Africa, and for us as students:
- Public journalism for our group was less superficial due to the contact we have with the community and its members. We found our direction from being immersed in the community. Despite not going frequently, relationships were established despite not being as strong as we wanted them to be
- No longer just stories – they were people who we had formed developmental relationships with
- Made us want to go beyond being journalist and help the community beyond the assignments we were given.
- We were making stories for them NOT us
- -we gave the community exposure to media which they hadn’t had/seen before – a sign of involvement
- helped to develop a culture about news and information about the community itself
- We have to take a stance and make sure that there are reactions from the stories
5. Problems we faced practising public journalism:
- Didn’t cover our ward properly due to limits and problems with time, language barriers and transport (not on resources) therefore didn’t fulfil what has was aiming for the whole community to have a voice
- Did public journalism fully take place with our coverage and reporting on Reinbeck East?
- Foreigners within the community so trust from the community was an issue therefore we had to start fresh and build a relationship within a few hours due to visits being limited
- Community opening up us was a bit of a problem – e.g. wall newspapers were admired and looked at but were not discussed with us as a group – could language, trust or literacy be the problem??
- Putting what we have learnt on paper into practice was difficult
- Public journalism in SA is a good thing as we have set the foundation for better communication in Riebeeck East and have set up relationships but due to Riebeeck East being difficult to reach and get to, relationships weren’t as developed as they should be
- Didn’t understand the concept of TV when compared to radio therefore engaging with the medium and expressing themselves through it was challenging for the community
- Most of the news if any reaches them is usually quite old/, out-dated and does not cover stories about their community and town.
- Citizen journalists are all in Grahamstown and there was no assistance from them
- We didn’t have a time-frame as to how long we were to be involved in the assignment
- We’ve been trained to deal create documentaries and design newspapers however now it is difficult to learn how to now deal with the challenges of the journalistic process itself
- The problem begins when we get to the community because as much as we know that we can’t fix the issue s ourselves, it’s the people who think that we are there to help them.
- Ideas and expectations were very high so we should have been better prepared
6. Positive aspects of Riebeeck East and the problems that they face:
- Riebeeck East is actually a very efficient town
- Limited thinking from the residents of Riebeeck East because they are comfortable where they are
- People in Riebeeck East are willing to develop themselves however we struggled with getting to the authorities because they are difficult to get a hold of
- The stories will get to the councillors in the next six or so months
- Challenges in Riebeeck East because of logistics and there are a lot of challenges that need to be dealt with
- One needs a lot more commitment in public journalism
7. Obstacles that Riebeeck East is faced with and negative aspects of the community:
- Awareness is present of corruption and nepotism
- Idea that people are naive shouldn’t sway our decisions as there is an element of entitlement and laziness. The mentality that the government is the only one responsible is still present in Riebeeck East despite the community seeming ok and hopeful
- Power vs. responsibility
- Roles of government, municipality and community members are not very well defined hence the confusion
- How do future generations deal with the fact that there is still a strong presence of apartheid in Riebeeck East?
8. what we would have liked to have achieved:
- - If we had more time, we would try go out of our way to get more hands on with the community – organise sponsorships and solutions
- Leave more behind than our media
- Would like to cover the whole of ward 3 if we had more time and show people what’s going on in the other wards and that they are not alone
- If we had more time, get more involved with the ward councillor so that together we could help better the community
- Stories – show them what else is available to them
- Find a way to link the Roads and Transport training to supplies so that the community can begin to fix the problems they have in the settlement e.g. cracks in the houses
9. What we have achieved/ going to achieve:
- We have got to know the community however we want to go beyond the journalist duty
- We have done lots of positive things but we have disappointed the community
- What did we contribute: Media and opening a debate space, and facilitating conversation and sparking consciousness of the problems that are in their community
- We created a sense of hope
- Most of us went into ward three looking for problems but after working with the community we found ways to develop relationships, help the community help themselves
- Negativity about ward three turned positive after researching and interacting with the community
- Highlighting the importance of areas such as the crèche for the community as a whole
- Help the community see the solution and move forward and improve on what they have
- Seeing themselves in media they are not exposed to
- Changed as journalists – we helped change the community but the community helped changed us
- We have made some positive changes to Riebeeck East despite the gaps in certain areas
- - meeting on Friday to show off sound slides and video
- Pamphlets will be handed out
- Overall we have contributed to the community and no matter how small we still made a difference which will last for longer than the duration of the course
10. Ideas to improve the course in future:
- Grocott’s Mail to carry on with this product for longer than the 8 weeks that we as student s are given
- The project is a brilliant idea however the impact is lost if it’s only implemented once a year
Friday, October 8, 2010
Amy and Alex
According to Rosemary Goudreau, Managing Editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Civic journalism is about enlarging the range of voices on stories, bringing to the surface the values behind peoples' opinions, helping citizens see possible common ground and giving information on how, if they choose, they can play a role in shaping solutions”, and we couldn’t agree more. This semester has seen our group travelling around Ward 3 in search of stories to inspire and motivate the communities we were visiting so that we could lend a hand in helping them help themselves. We wanted to focus on development, solutions and positivity rather than reworking stories about problems which the community are already familiar with, and we wanted to get as many community members involved as possible.
As Journalism 3 students, we have been given a wide range of opportunities to expand our journalistic skills and broaden our perceptions and knowledge of the world around us through-out our three years of study. However, we have never had to complete a task as big or as challenging as our JDD/CMP course. Challenges arose almost instantly when it came to putting Haas’s theory of the role that public journalism plays in society and the amount of responsibility that the movement has towards equality and democracy between the public and the journalists within the public sphere into action. Not only was it difficult to get to the various areas of Ward 3 but it was also increasingly difficult to get in touch with government or municipal leaders for the area who could help us achieve our goal of developing a better sense of democracy and communication among the various communities and their residents. After numerous attempts to try and gather information on all the towns in Ward 3, we decided that due to transport, communication and time problems, our group would focus on Riebeeck East only. This decision, though necessary, seemed to contradict Haas’s idea of public journalism as we were not giving the whole of Ward 3 a voice but rather Riebeeck East a voice. Therefore the equality we meant to create between the towns in Ward 3 faded very quickly.
However, all was not lost. After numerous visits to Riebeeck East, the range of possibilities to help the community help themselves became more and more abundant. The community began welcoming us with open arms and story ideas began to flow through-out Riebeeck East’s streets. We went in with an open and honest approach, telling the community that we would do what we could be we could make no definite promises which is why we think we were accepted into the community so easily. Being a journalist is not easy but becoming a civic journalist overnight and earning the respect of your community is probably much harder to achieve. However, we have managed to become civic journalists as well as members of the Riebeck East community. Through the relationships we have built and the tasks we have been given, we have developed journalistic, communication and people skills that will be beneficial to us in becoming the best journalists we can be. This course has enabled us to experience the fine line between objective journalism and emotional journalism and how hard it is to separate the one from the other. We came into this process to create different forms of media and get a good assignment mark and are coming out of this course as changed people. Journalism isn’t enough anymore. Writing down, recording and publishing stories is no longer the fix we thought it would be. We have become attached to a community that is in dire need of help and have in part become Riebeeck East’s media crusaders. Instead of using our media to just gain marks, we wanted to use it to help them and help other people to get involved in the process of helping someone else outside of their Ward or area.
We designed a 10 page A3 full colour wall newspaper which focused on main issues in the community which are affecting everyone such as the schooling problem and the Roads and Transport jobs being the only ones available in the community. We also looked at influential people or community members of Riebeeck East such as Cary Clark and Babalwa who are both working hard to do what they can to make a difference. Our publication was has both English and isiXhosa articles but the main focus was on the photography as we wanted the paper to have visual impact first then content impact as we needed to draw the community’s attention to the paper itself as they are not used to reading newspapers as they receive very little to no media. We are now in the process of starting an advertising campaign for any items which people are willing to donate to Riebeck East. We will then do a four page spread in Grocott’s Mail which will be mainly campaign focused as we will be appealing to the greater Grahamstown community for help in collecting items for the Riebeck East community. We want to take our media from an just an informational medium to something that can be beneficial to the community and in turn help us achieve our Ward 3 goal of helping the community to help itself which is why we have chosen to design pamphlets which have beneficial information on them such as influential members of the community contact details, how to grow your own veggie garden and what lies beyond the boundaries of Riebeeck East.
Overall our group achieved what we set out to do at the beginning of this course but we are now trying to strive beyond that by trying to use our journalism to help give back to the community we have been working with. Riebeeck East has provided us with an opportunity to grow, not just as journalists, but also as people and has taught us to look beyond what you are so used to seeing everyday to find the bigger picture. We entered the public sphere of Ward 3 as young journalists willing to learn as individuals but we leave as journalists willing to make a difference as a team.
References:
Haas, T. 2007. The Pursuit of Public Journalism: Theory, Practice and
Criticism. Routledge: New York.
Criticism. Routledge: New York.
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