Journalism is a broad term. It encapsulates so many forms and differing aspects that it cannot completely be placed in a box and given a definition. Unsurprisingly this is not something they tell you in High School. No, they let you believe that being a journalist means either writing for the Herald or being a war correspondent for the BBC. Ignorance, I have learned, is nowhere near bliss. As a naïve and overly complacent first year, I had a long way to go before being able to appreciate the impossibility of finding a true meaning to the word. To say that I broadened my mind through doing each course over the year would be a horrific understatement. This is why during this last term I was not particularly shocked when I was introduced to this modern form of journalism: Blogging.
Saying this I can remember my shock on hearing the name of the course. To my mildly embarrassing but completely justifiable astonishment, I was not all that familiar with this specific genre of news production. Actually, I should rephrase that. I knew almost nothing about the genre except small details I had heard from other people about it being something like having an online diary. Not exactly a whizkid, I was rather peeved at knowing that I would have to work twice as hard merely to gain some kind of understanding. Suffice it to say, I was ridiculously relieved when I realized that we would be working in groups. This meant delegation, and delegation meant less of having to crack my brain to accomplish the technological mission. The feeling I had when I finished my first post is still fresh in my mind. The letter to my younger self. I recall thinking how some poor, misunderstood soul might have been given false hope about being able to change the past through writing these letters. Was the exercise honestly accomplishing anything? What exactly was I gaining from it? Then it occurred to me that I had just written a piece based solely on emotion, personality and individuality. I had been given a platform to express myself beyond the confines of traditional news writing and as is typical of “The Life of Me” kind of stories, the world became my muse. My writing was now an outlet, not simply an assignment.
This however, did not mean that I would begin campaigning for animal rights and saving the whales because I had to stay within the characteristics of the group blog. Saving the world one reader at a time was not completely lost nonetheless, as dispelling myths and revealing the truth behind the lies we have grown up to believe can be just as effective as freedom speeches. Who doesn’t like bursting unrealistic bubbles? My group was very good about this particular aspect of the course, and it made it easier to write knowing that each member shared at least some of my enthusiastic pessimism. Consequently group meetings did not end in catfights about whose design was better looking. The creative juices will always flow when one person says something and the rest respond, “ja ja ja, that’s great. Let’s do that.” Support is always crucial. When people say they don’t need compliments form other people to boost their self esteem, they’re lying. It obviously helps to make the members of your group feel like their contributions are not only welcome, but actually purposeful. Even though you saw the reactions of the other members when the suggestion was made and were trying frantically to come up with something new before they all said, “ja ja ja, that’s great. Let’s do that.”
Having to work together on the blog was not really a problem. The problem was in having to integrate the assignments set out by the lecturers into the character of our blog. Being in First Year seemed to be a favourite theme in the topics, and to be frank became rather monotonous. Yes, let’s communicate with the rest of the world on issues that affect society, let’s stop being narrow minded in our opinions, but let’s also make sure it’s all about first year at university. Does anyone else see the irony in that? It’s because of this very fact that our ideas for various stories were rather limited in scope and imagination. As a result, we had a very restricted audience which to appeal to. That was another thing; the audience. Actual people who were not lecturers or tutors were reading what I was writing. This should have in fact left me paralysed and almost comatose but strangely enough it only excited me further. This idea made reporting or the writing process far more interesting because although there was still consideration of the genre, blogging remained an open platform of expression.
Finding the first years to interview and profile was not actually difficult. It was finding the right first years to interview and profile that was challenging. Who was interesting? Why were they interesting? Do they have more to say than “It’s chilled?” Observation became an essential aspect of the blogging experience. Acquiring the detail meant being able to spot the difference in everything. Some people however do not appreciate having the spotlight shining on their difference. One young man had a serious problem with my wanting to write a piece on his homophobic tendencies. According to him, he did not need to be made an example of in such a public manner. I eventually agreed with him after putting aside my own desires of creating an award winning masterpiece on such a controversial subject. Objectivity is very difficult when you have made yourself the subject.
Did I grow from the course? Well, the fact that I can even just ask that question tells me that I have. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would place myself at a 7. Whatever doubts I may have had about giving the public a chance to read or hear what I had to say, simply vanished with that first post. I don’t intend to be the Loise Lane that stole superman’s outfit and added a notebook and pen to the ensemble, but there is so much more to journalism that I cannot wait to explore and I believe that blogging gave me somewhat of the perfect push start.
In the blog planning process, the most important thing that had to be considered was the genre that would carry us through the whole term. The blog had to be a genre that we all agreed upon. The type of genre we could all relate to, in order for us to write articles about. Deciding didn’t take long at all, being a group of four charismatic and (secretly) cheeky girls our blog would suit all our personalities combined. I must admit that even I had to take a step out if the box. Starting with our catch phrase “We’re not feminists, just anti-idiots, hypocrites and idealists” we revealed our slightly tongue-in-cheek attitude. Sitting in the basement of the library, four seemingly shy and reserved girls with a blog so dense in attitude we discussed how to proceed.
First term Journalism was quite a shock to the system. In the first week of term as Rod Amner briefly went through all the assignments due I was having ‘miniature heart palpitations’. In an extreme panic I become an RUConnected junkie, I was as dedicated as a coke addict in rehab. Strangely enough, as I sit today in room 34 John Kotze and reflect, I find many similarities between this term and the first; not only in course content but in the way the lectures are executed. It led me to wonder if there was a manual for lecturers that gave step by step instructions to handling first years: Shock the first years in the beginning, all their assignments require them to dig deep into their souls and wrench out the darkest memories and emotions and so it would continue... If you haven’t had some heart-wrenching history your story doesn’t make the cut although every Journalism lecturer begins with the line “Everyone has a story”. Something I realised in the late stages of the year was that the ‘best’ are usually the ‘bad’. By bad I mean out of the box, shocking, emotional and controversial. This is reminiscent of the Oscars, rarely do the ‘soft and sweet’ movies win, it’s generally those whereby the character had to make some dramatic transformation, gain weight, look dreadfully unappealing and play a psychotic murdering lunatic. I do understand however that this sort of genre is appealing to the relevant audience, it’s the “Oh my God she dared to say that” factor that gets people talking. The reason I mention this is because it’s one of the difficulties I’ve encountered this term, thinking “What’s the most emotionally riveting story in my life that I could tell” but what I realised too is a quote that popped up on the overhead in a lecture, “There are no dull stories, only dull writers”. This resonated with me as it posed a slight challenge to my writing skills.
Our blogging genre seemed like the perfect forum to express ourselves fully, the problem was although the chosen genre was a group discussion, even for me it was really ‘out-there’, displaying extreme confidence in every aspect from the letter to the comic strip. It was an exhilarating feeling though, speaking out, becoming adventurous and knowing the responsibility of being held accountable through the comments which were made in response to the posts – my hand in the ‘cookie jar”. The group work was highly beneficial, we were able to gather ideas quickly and bounce off each others’ train of thought’. Working in a group here at University is fairly difficult as you’re not all doing the same subject at the same time so it becomes harder to get together. This is something you learn to adjust to and the way you really learn about time-management. We did however hit a creativity block with the comic strip; the genre was to be satirical and tongue-in-cheek. We debated around certain ideas that could have been extremely controversial such as suicide, perhaps not appropriate to mock suicide when it’s such as serious matter. Although, then you get cartoonists like Zapiro who continuously mock serious issues to make a point, then again we are just students. This also however leads on the genre of blogging as a whole as well as citizen journalism and new media. Everyone can blog, by the virtue of that fact everyone can make a controversial comic, professional or not. We openly discussed this in out tutorials, despite the fact that our tutor had initially divided us up into smaller groups to discuss whether or not blogging is journalism it turned into a class debate with opening and closing speeches (a bit dramatic) but undeniably fun. I knew I was going to love blogging from the moment I logged onto RUConnected during the September holidays and saw some of the readings already waiting for us. I still love blogging and will continue with it as I want to specialise in New Media.
Blogging in JMS I felt was highly beneficial not only to those hoping to specialize in it but for all students in general. Computer literacy has become of extreme importance and blogging in particular is a way to get your news to the world. Interacting with a global audience as the world becomes more intertwined is the way forward. As a result of the audience being so wide and not just for your tutors’ eyes it made me pay that extra special attention to detail. Subconsciously you wanted everything to be perfect. Dealing with sources as well was a challenge as you would have to explain firstly that all the information was going to be placed for the viewing of practically anybody. This could have in some way constrained the interviewee from giving too much information in fear of judgement or criticism. Despite the fact that blogs are easily accessible for anyone to partake in, it should in my opinion be considered Journalism. Within blogging, you’re engaging with people all over the world, therefore you should provide them with factual information, even if it’s an opinion piece the facts in the article should be based on a real event. However there are those who make comments without knowing the full background, this can be dangerous but then again some could argue that the point of blogging is to get more individuals involved in global affairs, this includes amateurs. I most definitely stepped out of my shell for the process of blogging and to reciprocate the idea of our blog genre. As journalists you write for the people, therefore to target them the stories must be appealing to their needs and desires. People like shock and drama but obviously at the same time stories must be credible, authentic and real.
Lotsa Love
Khatija
