piątek, 3 grudnia 2010

Professional journalism still exists



Today I would like to present more serious content to my blog. This is an article written by me for one of my assignments. Enjoy reading and be critical.

Having studied three years Media & Communication and seen different examples of journalism from different part of the world made me reflect that nowadays, media are more about entertainment and commercial gains than real professional journalism. As we all journalists know, media should inform, educate and comment. We are opinion makers for society. But, how does it look in reality? ‘Infotainment’, ‘tabloidization’ and commercialization are the most popular phenomenon in contemporary media. As a well educated reporter who is at the moment doing a master programme in Global Journalism, I must admit, this is very irritating. More and more often I arrive to the conclusion that real journalism does not exist any more… But since I had a chance to talk to Gcina Tsaluba, I can breathe a sigh of relief

You can wonder why one conversation could change my way of thinking. What is more important, who the guy who changed it is. Gcina is an investigative reporter from South Africa. Despite being very young (24 years) he has been a journalist for the last five years and he had done many investigative journalism stories. One of them is about woman who was renting rooms to inhabitants of King William's Town's in South Africa. The main issue was that she rented homes designed for single families up to 20 tenants. She charged them each about R2000 (210 euro) a month for a dirty, unfurnished and shared room. Maybe we do not know South African conditions but it is a lot of money, especially for students. Gcina lived there undercover for two months. His main aim was to stop exploiting current tenants and prevent others from dealing with that woman. He knew that he could help them. That is why, he lived and spoke to them and then contacted authorities about the illegal practice - and finally, he confronted slumlord herself. He published this story both in a newspaper and on-line. It was extremely an good piece of journalism. And, what is most important, he succeeded. Some of the houses were closed and there is a strong possibility that the woman will be taken into legal action.

Gcina, who is personally a really nice guy, was kind enough to give us some tips how to practice good investigative journalism. To make a good story we need to remember that we have to take it deeper than average journalist. It usually lasts more time but it is worth it. Apparently, double checking information is important, since when we publish false information we will be sued and will lose our reputation. Gcina underlines also working with different tools. The most basic is simple diary, which helps to remember everything that we experienced. He is also capable of working with search software like ‘Searchworks’ and is connected with organizations that always can help journalists. He is a member of Forum for African Investigative Reporters. Research before working in the field is extremely important because it lets be us on better position than person who we are investigating on. Probably the subjest would not expect us and may have no idea who we are. Then we have an advantage. Gcina confirms that the profession of journalism is not an easy one and it is even risky when doing a story. “We usually try to reveal facts that someone wants to keep hidden’ – he says. That is why we can expect being threaten or offered a bribe. Gcina admitted that once he was being chased by guy with knife but he has never experienced a bribe trial. Still he does not think that journalist should be taken into special security. This is a risk – he ends. For the future plans, he is moving to Johannesburg, capital of South Africa and he wants to work with young journalists.

The case of Gcina gives me a hope that journalism still has a mission and the profession that we all are inside is still important. Through our work, we can do much. This is very important for us and I hope that we will be able to create such a story. We are the future of journalism. I believe in us and I believe that professional journalism still exists.  

Gcina as himself on the picture:

3 komentarze:

  1. I am glad to see that you are doing what you love....!
    Keep going!
    Best - Marta.

    OdpowiedzUsuń
  2. As reported by Stanford Medical, It is indeed the one and ONLY reason women in this country live 10 years more and weigh on average 19 kilos less than we do.

    (By the way, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with genetics or some secret diet and really, EVERYTHING about "HOW" they are eating.)

    P.S, I said "HOW", and not "WHAT"...

    Tap on this link to reveal if this little quiz can help you unlock your true weight loss possibility

    OdpowiedzUsuń
  3. Did you realize there's a 12 word sentence you can speak to your partner... that will induce intense feelings of love and impulsive appeal for you deep inside his heart?

    That's because hidden in these 12 words is a "secret signal" that fuels a man's impulse to love, adore and guard you with his entire heart...

    =====> 12 Words That Fuel A Man's Love Instinct

    This impulse is so built-in to a man's mind that it will drive him to work harder than before to to be the best lover he can be.

    As a matter of fact, triggering this all-powerful impulse is so essential to having the best ever relationship with your man that the instance you send your man one of the "Secret Signals"...

    ...You'll instantly find him expose his mind and soul for you in a way he haven't experienced before and he will perceive you as the one and only woman in the universe who has ever truly understood him.

    OdpowiedzUsuń