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