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What does it take to be a great journalist?
There are certainly good schools at Rhodes University, University of Johannesburg, Wits and the University of Cape Town as well as the technikons that are producing outstanding journalism graduates and have a string of successful alumni in the industry.
But I feel that good journalists; really great journalists, are made by themselves. They are the ones who dream of seeing their by-line or on a banner at the bottom of the telly screen, or hearing themselves signing off on radio. They are the ones who from as far as they can remember were curious about the world and uncovering issues-those who longed to become journalists so that they could position their communities in a positive light and expose the decay in society. Very romantic, but isn't that where many career interests start?
A great journalist must want to be a journalist in the way others dream of becoming doctors, lawyers, scientists and artists. Their road to greatness must be driven by passion for the career and not merely to have a job as a journalist.
Just because someone attends a top journalism school such as the ones above does not mean they will be taught to be great. Indeed, maybe the question here is whether you can teach greatness. You can certainly be guided and taught some of the tricks of the trade and necessary skills. But what sets the great ones from the merely good is the desire to want to do it and to do it well. They are the go big or go home kind of people.
I run a Pan-African project called Future Journalists Programme, an initiative of Highway Africa and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa, in which we train journalism students from a variety of tertiary institutions and supplement their curriculum with the practical media productions skills which a lot of the participants do not get at school for different reasons. With all the training and exposure we provide in this programme, we have no guarantee that these enthusiastic and eager learners will become famous investigative reporters such as Andrew Jennings, or veterans such as Mathata Tsedu and Max du Preez, or be able to see through the BS the way Debora Patta can. But should they have the aspiration to be one of them, they certainly can.
I am also not sure how well the industry grooms and mentors young people who want to become great journalists. As a student interning at Pretoria News under the mentorship of veteran arts journalist, Diane De Beer, I was fortunate to be treated as a reporter doing real work and was not relegated to making coffee and playing Solitaire. In fact, I make a really bad cuppa and that would have been my undoing. I understand the cliché about "starting at the bottom", but making coffee and being left in a corner where no one notices you for two weeks of your vacation, when you'd rather be experiencing this exciting world of journalism, can also be a passion killer.
I often hear colleagues speak in depressed tones about their past students who have made the jump into government communications, for instance. The ones who sold their souls. I want to ask them why break your own heart.
Honestly, this whole debate is such a tiring subject. I think we should just let it go and I'm sure I'll be called a traitor for saying so. People will and must do what they wish and we all know that many never end up working in the career they studied for anyway.
We should not be thinking about those who got away because that boat has sailed. Jo-Anne Richards, a journalist and journalism teacher at honours level at Wits, is also novelist and imaginative fiction writer. Michael Mol of Top Billing is a medical doctor, who is doing a better job at presenting the show than most "models" could, and has won awards for it. Wonder how many more hairs his professors have left from stressing about losing a potential heart surgeon. The heart likes what the heart likes. Simple as that!
I believe that those who want to become great journalists will have a hunger and passion for it in the same way others want to be heart surgeons. Does that mean we should just teach those few students or should we teach the 200 students who sign up for the degree and build open-minded, good story tellers, critical thinkers who don't necessarily lose all that knowledge and skill just because they don't end up as journalists?
Teachers must remember that they don't just teach careers, but they teach people and they should not despair about those who fall by the way side because there are many others who exceed expectations and become great journalists.
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Moagisi, I agree that it doesn't matter where a student ends up - as long as their skills aren't wasted. To me it is a tragedy when qualified students, who have cost tax payers and parents a lot of money, do not use everything they have been taught. Tertiary education is not a right, it is a priviledge that must not be abused.
by Karen on November 10 2009, 09:58
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Great article moagisi! All the money paid to schools can't buy character growth of a student. I'd also like to add that; gone are the days when the best careers and positions were reserved for the few. We are living in a democratic country now and we need to stop with the mentality that only a few are privallaged. If any journalism student thinks this way, then they are breaking their commitment to the country by not upholding and realising its aspirations - to maintain social values and protect democracy and human rights. Our institutions need to weave us towards a progressive mentality. I would rather be a bicycle with an old working chain than be a flashy BMW without an engine.
The idea of having the Future Journalists Programme (FJP) proves that there is more to being a great student of journalism than just the school you're in. Great schools are not a free ticket to successful careers.
Great work Moagisi!
by Anele on November 10 2009, 12:23
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i believe that its all starts with what drives you.It's not so much about the college or varsity you go but what kind of person you are.if you are one person who takes every opportunity that comes your way as a learning process,one day you will get there.
by Rawlings Magede on November 10 2009, 13:10
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Hey, gal.
When I was completing third year in 2007, my Economics lecturer said one of the most profound statements I've ever heard about education. He said that it's not the subject matter that makes students studying different courses differ, but the manner in which that subject matter is presented to them. So it's not that I studied Economics and all of my friends studied Accounting that made us different, but the fact that our minds were orientated to think in the specific manner that best served that subject matter.
But in the end, we each really mold our own thinking. So yes you can go to a great school, but has your mentality become all the better by you simply having attended it.
by Mpho Makibelo on November 10 2009, 14:11
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Welcome to our line up.
You will prove to be an inspiration to future journos.
by sandra g on November 10 2009, 14:51
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thank you for this Moagisi! We all loose so much in our obsession with categories! where did u go? who did u meet? are they famous? For goodness sakes!! In her poem The Invitation, Oriah was right" It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back." It is passion that keeps the fire burning, it is diligence to a religion of good practice that produces a great journalist. A journalist who is at once an economist, a politician, a scholar, a health expert all in one because they understand that we are not one or the other, all of these things are the news of our time. It is only those who persist within the ambiguity, those who as you say read between the complex that we all in the end applaud for telling our stories. And as Fanon said, we are constantly re-writing or re-creating our stories and ourselves!
by Siphokazi on November 10 2009, 23:35
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Great Article Mo, I truly concur when you say that not everybody pursues the career they initially set out for. I studied Arabic before I realised my passion for journalsim. While im not yet the pullitzer prize winning journalist yet, I do think I have been fortunate in that I am learning from people I respect and who have been in this industry for a long time.
As for working in government; for me it just shows how important communication is on all levels; even bumbling government types need to be heard ; therefore presenting an oppportunity for those who know how.
Regardless of what you end up doing; effective communication is a skill we should all aspire to.
Nice article Mo, and its about time too!
by Lionel on November 11 2009, 16:15
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I'm putting it up in the newsroom
by amandzing on November 12 2009, 12:07
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Thank You Mo.
When I told my friends that I will do Journalism, they said a lot of things like why not Civil Engineering or Law because you have good marks and all that? But for me, it's not about what you do but the passion that you have for what you are doing. You can go to the best University in land but they will never teach you being passionate because that is something that comes from within.
Thank you very much Moagisi I'm giving this one to all my friends.
by D-Bongz on November 16 2009, 12:46
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Great article Moagisi, well done.
This is an article that everybody have to read. it is not only informative but uplifting to those who have the passion for journalism.
Gone are the days where journalism is taken for granted, it is time that those that love it show how great it is and then others will learn to appriciate.
It is not the institution indeed, but rather the feeling deep in you, that craving for journalism like a child who caves for a sweetie.
It is in you and no fat salary can replace it.
Good job Mo.
by Nadi on December 15 2009, 17:44
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