The end of a new beginning

Nicole Bloch

The Journalism Democracy and Development and Critical Media Production Course have broadened my horizon. It has given me a chance to leap out of my narrow minded journalism box. Though, I am not saying I am narrow minded, but I realize that my journalism practises have been.

I started the course with a lot of apprehension and frustration. Like many other students, I feared that we were going to exploit our subjects for the purpose of our lecturers’ research and our own grades. Our first public meeting only emphasised my concerns when a member of the community questioned our project and raised many valid points, like our timing and if we were going to give something back to the community.

However, we soon started to create bonds with other members in the community, and raised some of their issues in our documentaries, sound slides and wallpapers. We concentrated on the overarching theme that was raised in the public meeting, that of ‘emptiness’ and ‘youth’, as there is a lack of service delivery in wards 7 and 8 and children have little recreational space. They are often seen playing in rubbish dumps or on graveyards.

I believe that the soccer tournament was therefore extremely successful and rewarding, as it gave many children from ward 7 and 8 a chance to play and to bond. Our main purpose was to help the youth organize themselves, so that they themselves too could organize such events. However, the project seems to be unsustainable as no other soccer event has been arranged by the people in the wards. One of the reasons is that the soccer ball is flat and they do not have another ball yet. There are also several other reasons why the project is unsustainable which are mainly due to our lack of foresight during the planning of the event.

Nevertheless, I have learned a lot and I have mainly realised that, to be a good journalist, I do not have to stay within my box or role. I have learned that I can use for example marketing skills and activism in the fight for chance and social equality.

As a television crew, we have decided to convert or AVI files to mp4 files and Bluetooth them via telephone. Many people in our wards do not have DVD players so we thought this would be a better way of reaching people. Many people in our wards do have cell phones to which they can load the documentaries.

Yesterday myself and Tim distributed the 2010 Makana ward focus DVD’s, which has all the documentaries and slideshows from the different wards. It was a satisfying journey as people could not belief that they got a free DVD. They all wondered what we wanted in return, and for once, we could assure them there was nothing we needed in return. We just asked them to watch the DVD and pass it around or show to other people. This final part of the process was a rewarding end of a new beginning.