Haas’s public philosophy for public journalism involves giving the public a platform for deliberation. He states that journalists should provide opportunities for the public to bring to the fore their grievances thus setting their own news agenda. In light of this news agenda journalists will report on the concerns of the public and allow a space for citizens to deliberate and come up with goals and problem-solving strategies in order to overcome these issues.
In light of this our group held a public meeting in ward eight to allow the public the opportunity to speak about the problems in the area. One issue that was prominent was that of the children in the area and the fact that they did not have any recreational facilities available to them. As a result the children play in the rubbish dump which is extremely unhygienic and dangerous. Our WEPD team decided to focus on this issue by designing a wallpaper which included in it stories on the waste problem in both our wards, i.e. ward seven and eight, as well as a profile on the ward councillor of ward seven who spoke of a clean-up project.
Seeing as the wallpaper involved children, designers used bold colours as a background, a tint of blue to be precise, with black being used for the body text. Circular fact boxes were introduced in bright red and green with a drop shadow and outer glow effect in order for them to stand out on the page. The nameplate was designed using a shade of yellow with the same effects as the fact boxes. The headlines of both stories where placed at a 90 degree angle on the side of each story in a tint of orange with a black stroke so as to prevent the headlines from being lost in the background. Our main feature was in the form of images. The main image was of a little girl standing in the rubbish heap. This again was done using drop shadow and outer glow effects. Along the bottom of the page were a reel of pictures of children from both the wards and the area they live in.
Although we were quite pleased with the outcome of the wallpaper the feedback we received from Casper, Rod and Gill required us to “tweak” our design by changing the background colour and body text colour to allow for easy reading. The placement of the headlines was also illegible and we were asked to place them above the text. Although the pictures were relevant their placing needed to be adjusted so as to better fit the stories. A photograph of the ward councillor was also required.
Before the meeting was held, all groups had to visit our wards and create civic maps of the areas. For writers, this was done through numerous interviews with people on the ground. Thus, a feel for the connectors, catalysts and important meeting places was established. During the public meeting, we recorded the key grievances in the community. This relates to Haas’s view as he believes that public journalism should be embedded in the idea of the deliberating public. This means that citizens want to engage in common deliberation, and are active participants in processes of democracy. It is necessary for journalists to assist in the creation of an open-ended, unbounded public sphere to which all citizens have access. This was done during our public meeting by having the meeting in a well-known hall. Anyone from the community could attend. Here, topics of concern to all citizens were articulated, deliberated and critiqued. A public sphere should consist of various discursive areas and members of different social groups. In this sphere, they would be able to discuss their concerns. By doing this, subordinate social groups are able to be involved in public deliberation.
The first outputs we produced were wall newspapers and accompanying pamphlets. These were to be distributed in the communities. There were two main stories on the wallpaper. The first was a story on the appalling litter conditions in both wards. There are many illegal dumping sites which children use as play areas. This is unsanitary for them. After speaking to members of the community and the municipality, it was established that many people living in wards seven and eight are responsible for the mess. This story was criticised as it did not provide any solutions to the problem, so it was as though we were telling the community members things they already know.
The second story was about the ward seven Councillor, Nomhle Gaga. She gave us information about parks and play centres that were going to be set up for children, thus providing them with activities during the day. She also mentioned a clean-up campaign that she was establishing in her ward. This story was criticised as we did not provide enough information about the campaign, so this will be done for the next output.
We do not think that anything was lost by using public journalism. By immersing ourselves in the community and engaging with the citizens, we were able to understand their conditions much better and therefore produce media that related directly to them.
In terms of our identity, Haas’s public philosophy, in particular, affects us as it is vital to consider the public’s role in journalism. We have been inspired to form our journalistic identities based on his principles, as he stands for something that promotes national well-being and democracy. The Journalism, Development and Democracy and Critical Media Production courses are based on the citizens of Grahamstown. We now see the importance of providing the public with a useful forum where they can discuss their issues and decide for themselves what is important. They therefore set the news agenda. This means that, as journalists, we work with the people instead of merely providing them with information that may not be relevant to them. Haas believes that problem-solving is an integral part of journalism. Our goal is to help the community find sustainable solutions to their problems.
Our identities have been affected in that we now see the value of alternative forms of journalism, as opposed to the mainstream media. This has been illustrated by the response to our wall newspapers. This showed that even small outputs create a great impact in these communities. Community members complained that Journalism students merely use them for stories and then never go back. Our group is trying to change this perception by giving back to the community in the form of these outputs, and we have received the response that we hoped for.
Our groups split into our specialisations, and because we were focussing on both wards, we did not need to split further. The Television students worked on doccies, the Photojourn and Radio students worked together on sound slides and the WEPD students worked together on the wall newspaper. Stories were proofread within specialisations.
As a team of Journalism students, we had assumed that we would be performing the collaborative role. During times of war or other crises, collaboration between the media and the state is encouraged. Collaboration should meet the needs of both the state and the media, in that the media have the resources to produce the news. However, the relationship is not mutually beneficial because the government has the ability to control the supply of news.
Development is a vital, multifaceted and dialectic process that is varied in different societies. Development journalism involves the concept of nation building. This means that ideas of promoting national consciousness, patriotism and co-operation are fundamental. The media therefore serves to help and encourage communities to empower themselves. The government, in this form of journalism, uses the media as a mediator to realise development objectives and to act as informers to the public about government policies. However, in practice, the relationship between the government and the media has a negative impact on society because of the controlling nature of the government.
The relationship between the collaborative role and the concept of development journalism will now be discussed. The collaborative role of journalism correlates with development journalism in that both involve interaction between the media and the state in order to promote nation building by reporting on positive development programmes and giving citizens a platform. NGOs and other organisations should be brought in to assist the media in furthering notions of development. However, the media should not be drawn into these organisations’ agendas. Often, the government and the media do not work harmoniously as the government has the power to impinge on the media’s role in informing the public.
In theory, these concepts would be useful in South Africa. After apartheid, there was a large amount of hostility between different societies and racial groups. These hostilities persist, 16 years after democracy. Therefore, the concepts are valid because they aim to encourage peaceful co-existence amongst different groups in South Africa. Pragmatically, however, the ideas may not work due to the fact that the government has such a strong hold on the freedom of the press. This is demonstrated by the recent notion to establish a media tribunal, which would limit what the press could say about the government.
In terms of the course, a relationship between the state and the media cannot really be spoken about because, in general, some members of the Makana municipality were very uncooperative in assisting us with perpetuating notions of sustainability and acting as mediators. Therefore, our group took initiative and hosted a soccer tournament, which promoted ideas of unity as members of the community took it upon themselves to organise teams. This created opportunities for people to uplift themselves and created a platform for sustainability.
The radical role also applies to us as student journalists within this course. The goal of this role is fundamental or radical change in society, by exposing the abuse of power. This role is less represented in broadcast journalism due to public regulation and commercial pressure. The role is fulfilled by any media production that can have a high impact on society. This role is similar to public journalism as it aims to improve the lives of the public by exposing them to wrongdoings within their community. Through this, the public could take it upon themselves to affect change. It differs from public journalism as it does not utilise the public’s opinion in creating an agenda and media.
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