RUTV 3

As part of our Critical Media Production course of 2009 we decided to, in our work, take on our Group’s name, Masisebenzisane (Let’s work together) in a literal manner. This translated into a collaborative approach to making a TV doccie in which the ‘subject’ become more than a ‘subject’ – rather a stakeholder in his own story. This was our interpretation of citizen journalism in the sense that we wanted Mzwakhe to be able to tell his story unmediated by us as journalists. In this way, he was able to shape his own story while drawing on our journalistic experience.

We didn’t want to simply sweep in as journalists hungry for a story. Instead, we spent a lot of time with him at the Egazini Centre, in his home and his community. We met his parents, his nephews and his friends. We asked him to take on the role of reporter – as you can see in the intro of the final doccie. At the showing of the doccie at the community meeting, at which Mzwakhe was present, he was proud of the piece and felt it truthfuly reflected his story. Other community members commented that it was a good representation of the youth in the Joza community and the role that Egazini plays in keeping the youth off the streets and away from crime.

 

Watch this short clip of Mzwakhe and his nephews helping us carry our equipment. This is a rite of passage to all journalists.

 

Watch this clip to see Mzwakhe and Jess, our reporter, taking some time out to get to know each other.

 

Listen to this sound clip to hear Jess and Mzwakhe discussing how Mzwakhe would like to word his standupper for the beginning of the doccie.

mzwakhe-intro

Steps on how to prepare for your ascent up the rock!

According to SAPS statistics, bold crime in Grahamstown is on the rise. Yet when we hear of crime these days we barley blink an eye and taking precautions is a routine part of our everyday lives. Its only when the precautions we take seem inadequate, that we begin to fearfully blink at the thought of our vulnerability. It seems crime is not only on the rise but also the fearlessness of Grahamstown’s felons. Daylight is as good a time as any. Earlier this year two people were stabbed to death at midday in a local suburb, cars and houses are broken into in broad daylight, even when residents are home. Thieves are not only carrying weapons but also bolt cutters to ensure a successful break-in. Hi-Tech security is usually first on the scene with the police trailing behind. It seems locals are realising that their sense of security is a false one.

Grocott’s Mail reporter, Luvuyo Mjekula has been reporting on crime in Grahamstown for years, and agrees that crime is certainly taking on a more brazen nature, “Crime is getting bolder, more out in the open for anyone to see.”  Mjekula recently reported on an armed robbery at Noluthando Hall in Joza, where pensioners were held at gunpoint and robbed of all their money.  Students have also felt the effects of these more major crimes happening in the Grahamstown area.  We spoke to two students who have recently had first hand experience of the increasingly violent and arrogant nature of these crimes.

 Megan DeWaal a third year BSc student, woke up to find three intruders in her digs on Parry Street.  What shocked DeWaal most was the chillingly cool and methodical way in which the thieves went about their business… [podcast]http://rutv3.ru.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/sequence-03.mp3 [/podcast]

Martin Ross, another student at Rhodes, was one of the victims of the recent spike in car break-ins this month. His car was broken into on Milner street between the relatively busy hours of five and eight o’clock in the morning. Surprisingly it wasn’t just his radio that was stolen…. [podcast]http://rutv3.ru.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/crime-bite_1.mp3[/podcast]

 

 Elicia or “Superwoman” as she is affectionately known by her community has taken matters into her own hands. Her community in the township has expressed a complete disillusionment with the police response in their area.

Although bold crime may be on the rise, statistics show that the number of major crimes in Grahamstown have neither risen nor dropped since the figures released in 2002.

If you were in high school less than four years ago I am sure you still remember the feeling of being a learner. Sitting behind the desk and regurgitating what the teacher is feeding you. But things have changed now, the matriculants of 2008 wrote their first examination under the Outcome Based Education system (OBE). The system encourages them to apply what their have learnt in the class room in real life situations and think critically. Despite the change in the education system I still felt like I could relate to the learners on a very personal level. I also went to a high school in a previously disadvantaged community like T.E.M Mrwetyana Senior Secondary School-Grahamstown. The teacher we interviewed mentioned that one of the reasons why they could not successfully implement the OBE curricular is because they school does not have enough resources 

Listen to the podcast to hear more about what the OBE teacher had to say about the system:[podcast]http://rutv3.ru.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/teachermp3.mp3[/podcast]

 

 

 

How we followed the story: – “If it bleeds, it leads”

After brainstorming all possible angles we were going to follow to put together the story. We just noted down possible sources, location for filming and the research. One of the sources we were going to use is Prof. Chrissie Boughey; she is the Rhodes University Dean of learning and teaching. Prof Boughey was quoted in an article published in the previous edition of the Financial Mail. We could not meet with her for an interview so we were going to use her picture as a graphic cutaway in our package and also use her quote. We could not do that because we had to make the package as short as possible. Check out the full article about OBE: 

 

 

 

 

“The Benchmark Tests assess students against a set of ‘benchmark competencies’ — skills experienced academics have identified as necessary if students are to be able to engage with first-year work”.

 -Prof Boughey                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With new found pride at finally being RUTV reporters, Zikhona and I embarked on our story. A simple topic, investigating why campaign posters have been banned on campus, proved to be challenging to film and condense into a focused 1 and a half minute news story.

 

Technical glitches

On our first day of filming – we had set up an interview with Siyabonga Yonzi, a politics honours student – we decided to get to our set location early to be super prepared. To our great frustration and embarrassment, we realised once the camera was unpacked and securely on its tripod that we had stupidly forgotten a tape at home.

Click here to watch a clip of Siyabonga that we did not use in the final story due to an unappealing sniff (or snort) mid-answer:

 

 

 

 Off the record interviews

While “off the record” sounds really journalistic, it turned out to be more problematic than expected. We were told by an anonymous source that Rhodes has not yet legislated the decision to ban campaign posters on campus. The decision allegedly only appears on SRC meeting minutes.

 

Findind a focus

We made the mistake of getting all our visuals and conducting interviews with no clear purpose or story angle in mind. When we finally sat down with all our footage we had to ask ourselves repeatedly “what is the story?” While writing to visuals is a strength of the image school principle, our visuals failed us in that they were not amazing and we didn’t have interesting sequences to work with.

Looking at our final story, I realise that we failed to establish a clear angle. We should have either pursued the lack of a paper trail angle or interrogated the claims by the University that posters harm the aesthetics (the visual feel and appeal) of campus.

Click here to hear Kholosa Loni, Rhodes SRC President, revealing the flaw in University Management’s argument (a rare ‘going against the authorities’ moment):

 

 [podcast]http://rutv3.ru.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/soundclipforblog1.mp3[/podcast]

 

Interviewing a DA leader

Interviewing Mike Lewis, a DA leader for the Makana Municipality, was not that fruitful. He did, however, take a stab at student partying and Pirates Pizza (despite asking him about posters!). We decided not to include him in the final story as we did not want our story to in any way favour the DA or only give a voice to one political party.

Click here to see a Democratic Alliance leader letting his political correctness slip for a few seconds:

 

 

 

We definitely learnt some tough lessons through producing this news story. However, they will prove to be helpful in terms of avoiding the same mistakes in future projects.

Nonceba Mhlawuli, secretary of the ANCYL at Rhodes University, gives her opinion on the upcoming elections. According to her, Cope is no better than the ANC as it is lead by ex-ANC members – “what makes them better now?” – and Cope member have abandoned the legacy of the ANC. She also feels Malema is a bad role model for the youth of South Africa, but, in her eyes, he retains his status as a good leader of the ANCYL.