Pair Response

Responses on CMP production work

Roxanne Henderson and Zandile Mavuso

Without Water

Our CMP group is group number five which was allocated to ward four and ten. We then further divided ourselves into the two ward-based groups and we then fall under ward four. Ward four is the rural area on the outskirts of Grahamstown which comprises of the Manley Flats.

After being allocated to this ward, our mission was to find out more about the area and the issues that the people in the area might have. We went to the area and spoke to the people there and asked them about their way of life and their everyday struggles until we found something that would be common and thus affecting a great number of people.

The issue of water seemed to be a huge problem and because water is a necessity, we decided to take the issue and make it our focus. As journalists, we were looking for ways in which we could develop the community and probably come up with ways in which will help the community to get solutions for their problems. Thus the approach we used was development journalism whereby we were aiming at telling the story from the grass-root up, meaning; we were looking at ways in which the people could tell their own story and us being just catalysts that would work towards solutions.

After Xolisile had made us aware of the fact that his and about 25 other families were experiencing the same problem, we decided to go visit the people at their homes and ask them about the problem at hand. We found that they all shared similar sentiments. The reason behind this was so that we do not assume that people had the same problem in the area but instead we wanted a direct channel of communication which allowed people to tell us their problems and then could we be able to base our production on what they had singled out as problems themselves. Through this kind of approach, we were trying to establish a sense of democracy amongst the community so that we did not act superior to them in any way, but for them to feel that their views and thoughts matter and that they make a difference. They should not be marginalised but instead they should be able to make the difference that they want to have in their community as we were just acting as links between them and the higher powers that could actually do something about the situation.

Telling the story

We profiled one of the families living in the area that had no water and electricity. We spoke to them about the kind of help and support they could have tried in getting their needs met. We then asked them to act out household activities that needed the use of water and electricity which could not be done when there was no water available. We chose to use one family to tell the story on behalf of the community so that our story could be documented clearly and for it to be effective to the audience so that they could do something about the matter. Because we were using audio and photos to carry our message across, we were restricted by time as the piece had to be no more than 3 minutes long. In that duration, we had to make sure that we carry our point across and that we do not confuse the listener as radio is the kind of medium that has to be done right the first time you attempt doing it.

Our audio was recorded in isiXhosa as the family were comfortable in speaking their mother tongue. The interviewees are illiterate and speak very little English. They were able to express themselves well in their mother tongue; this meant that we could get more information and heartfelt responses from them. Because one of us could understand isiXhosa, communication was viable and we could have a constructive interview. There was no need to go back and record audio sound more than once. We had to go back a couple of times to ask if we could take more photos of them. We found that in photography it takes more time and an abundance of photographs to choose from to tell a story effectively.  We also found returned to the family we interviewed in cases where audio material and photographs were not compatible in telling the story. This was the greatest technical challenge of the production.

Our target audience

Our audience for this story was the ward councillor, projects and organisations that deal with water and the farmers in the area. The reason we chose these people is because we were looking for solutions and ways in which the community could be helped or given ways to help themselves. Ultimately we would like to advocate self-sustainable solutions so that people are less bound by dependency on the municipality.

Challenges Faced

A problem we faced was working around our schedules in such a way that we find time to go back to the area and take more photos. Having only one of us speaking the language meant the one could not go without the other. We had to work around each other’s lecture times and negotiate time to go back while one takes the photos and the other mediates on behalf of the one who takes the photos. The weather also played a role in the difficulties of the production as it was raining heavily the week which we had to go take the photos. This held production up for some time as well as other concerns with natural light that was out of our control. The distance we had to travel is approximately 20 kilometres outside of Grahamstown and it also took careful planning to make as few trips there which were cost and time effective.

The audio being in isiXhosa, we had to translate over, which proved to be challenging as it had to be precise and still make sense to the audience. The story had to remain focussed on its objectives despite the information that may have been lost in translation. When we found people who were going to translate, we had to make sure that they could portray the character of the person whose speech they are translating. This all had to be achieved in a manner which would be least disruptive to the audience, maintaining a clear discussion of the important issue at hand.

Although the approaches we used deviated slightly from public journalism, including development and advocacy journalism, public journalism was helpful in maintaining a clear discussion between ordinary people, the media landscape and elite powers. The public journalism approach aided us in listening to the needs of people and reflecting on those needs instead of setting our own agendas. However, we found it was necessary to include other approaches to journalism as this allowed us to tell more than one side of a story.

Change of Identity

The ideas raised in the course surrounding public journalism have affected our identities as journalists by changing the methods we employ. The approach from the grassroots level up is a way of gathering information that differs from the methods used in mainstream media. As inspiring as this process can be it is also the source of much frustration. This approach is humbling because as a journalist you are directly confronted with the effects of your work and you realise who your work is really helping. Often the results are not what you expect. Doing this assignment has been overwhelming as it has clearly showed us what our limitations are as journalists in helping and changing communities while inspiring as it has helped us better understand our constraints and work effectively within them and to overcome them.