Reflection

By Alex, Nasreen and Yvonne

As a WEPD group we were required to produce a wallpaper to cover the main issues or concerns and go beyond every day reporting in wards 7 and 8. The target audience was the youth, and through the distribution of the wallpapers we were aiming to create multiple discursive spaces mentioned by Haas in his public philosophy for public journalism. As a group we set out to create a wallpaper that exhibited important issues that the community had raised as seen in the process of setting up our citizens agenda. The main objective was to show the community that although we may not be able to resolve their issues, we can give them a platform on which to voice their issues and get them heard by those people in positions to make the necessary changes. A subsidiary objective was to attempt to give the citizens a sense of the good intentions of our group as budding journalists. That is to say, we wanted to demonstrate that we were not merely using them for story ideas but that were also genuinely concerned and intent on making whatever small difference within the limitations of our capabilities. In our particular case, focusing on the lack of recreational activities for the youth in Wards 7 and 8, our way of developing the community was helping to put together a soccer tournament for the children to participate in and be rewarded for.

In this process of production we attempted to work together with the citizens in constructing the citizens agenda which would then aid us in producing media which had a collaborative underpinning. As such this enhanced in a small way, the process of democracy as the citizens themselves were responsible for what was reported and how it was presented to them. This type of alternative journalism strayed from the norms of mainstream media as the news agenda was not set by the journalists but rather by the citizens of Grahamstown. In this respect, the approach to media production did not consist of the producers acting as the dominant contributor but rather as a mediator between those that need help and those that can give the help. Our approach to journalism attempted to ensure that something long lasting would come out of the coverage and exposure of the main stories by going beyond the confines of typical newspaper stories.

We began the production process by using civic mapping to get a feel of the wards and by acknowledging the complexity of the relationship between the media and the citizens. To begin with we carried out haphazard interviews with the residents of both wards, and using the information gathered we created a survey which asked questions such as what were the main issues in the ward, what their ward councillor was doing for them and the most suitable time for a community meeting. Having gained the relevant information, we began to market the community meeting using several mediums including posters, flyers, word of mouth and the local radio stations. During the meeting, we shared authority with the citizens in an open ended and unrestrained public sphere in which all the citizens had a platform to articulate their opinions and create the stage for deliberation. From this meeting we gained support from the community and valid insight into the private concerns of these individuals. However, there were a few individuals who felt resentment towards us as a result of past experience with Rhodes students who had taken part in this course, as they felt they had been used for story ideas and the students did nothing to back to the community and had given them false hope about having their issues resolved.

Writers report

As a writer many issues came up that were relevant to address and it was decided that the youth was going to be the main focus of our group work. We were designated to look at the issues and problems in both Ward 7 and Ward 8. When entering Ward 8 we noticed that children were playing outside in a huge rubbish dump as there were no other places where they could play. In both areas it was seen that there was a lack of resources for children such as community centres, fields and playgrounds.

As a writer I looked at the rubbish issue, as it was a health concern that children were playing in these unsanitary conditions. We interview the municipality questioning them about these illegal dump sites and their role in trying to solve the rubbish issues. It was seen that every person in the community received a black bag for their rubbish disposal yet often many of them did not use it and resorted to dumping their waste in a illegal waste container. The problem lies both with the municipality educating people about dumping their waste plus the community not taking responsibility for following dumping regulations.

The second story was interviewing the Ward 7 councillor as the Ward 8 councillor was apparently out of town at the time. The Ward 7 councillor said that there was a problem in her ward with regard to facilities as children often resort to getting involved with bad crowds and illegal activities. The problem is that there is also a lack of space in order to build centres for children. With regard to the rubbish issue seemed to be an overarching problems in her ward as well she was trying to create awareness by creating a ‘Keep Ward 7 clean’ campaign.   

Personally, this experience has helped me grow as an individual as there was a constant interacting with the community who was in need of someone giving them a voice. I was often challenged as many people did not want to talk to journalists as they are often in fear of being criticized for their faults and lack of response to community needs.

Designers Report

After working closely with the writers and photographers we chose to design the wallpaper focusing particularly on the youth. In the wallpaper the coverage was led by the special interests of the citizens collaborating with journalists. We used bright colours and striking images along with bold text in order to attract the attention of our target audience. The use of fact boxes displayed important details such as the ward councillors’ details, clinics in the areas and rubbish collection days. The nameplate for the wallpaper was in Xhosa and the rest of the text was in English which may have been problematic considering the issue of language barriers in the areas we were covering. The design was mainly driven by the use of images depicting a lack of recreational activities in the areas and the things that children do to compensate for this fact.  As designers it was important to look past the norms of newspaper design which the members of the community consider costly and expendable and rather concentrate on a tabloid design that incorporated magazine and newspaper styles.

The process of making the wallpaper influenced the way we saw ourselves as designers in the world of the media. In this course we were required to go out into the areas in order to completely understand the audience we were designing for. It allowed us to see past our roles as merely the people who put the contents together but also as influential in the media making process while collaborating and getting feedback from our consumers.

As Christians et al (2009: 127) outlines, the collaborative role sees the media and the state involved in a symbiotic relationship. Collaboration between the media and the state often takes place during times of emergency such as terrorism and natural disasters. Collaborating meets the needs of both parties recognising that media possesses an essential societal resource of public information and authorities often control the supply of news.

Development journalism allows journalists to recognise development as a valid goal. Journalists have an important role in nation building within society as they should promote and recognise national consciousness, tribal based, religious, racial and linguistic loyalties while encouraging co-operation and peaceful co-existence between diverse communities. In this regard, the collaborative role forms part of development journalism as the media acts as an extension of government policies with regard to social, economic and cultural development. The collaborative role goes against the libertarian and professional journalistic roles as it expresses many truths that in some cases would rather be left unsaid. Within the South African context, the media can be seen as a revolutionary tool of liberation from colonialism and imperialism. In relation to this course development journalism and the collaborative role were valid to a certain extent as some of our stories involved speaking to members of the Grahamstown municipality in order to find out more about the barriers to development in the community.

In contrast to this, Christians et al (2009: 126) further state that the radical role of the media aims to expose abuse of power and raise popular consciousness of wrongdoing, inequality and the potential for change. Radical alternative journalism goes a step further than ‘reformist’ public journalism. Public journalism is part of mainstream journalism and works within long-standing organisational, institutional and professional structures. The similarities between these two forms of journalism include opportunities for citizens to voice their opinions and debate on issues, they both organise a platform for citizen deliberation such as community meetings and local civic organisations and in doing so they follow up on issues addressed in these meetings through media coverage. Unlike the alternative journalism, public journalism attempts to reach out to the community in order for a reader response to generate sales. 

These concepts are useful in a South African context because the only way the government can be made aware of the issues is through the public voicing their opinions and therefore being held accountable for lack of development. They have also been useful in the context of this course as we were only made aware of the issues once we had held our community meeting and had focus groups to reflect on our outputs.