Journalism & Media Studies Dept

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Learning about the learning sector - journalism training in South Africa

Revised version of a paper compiled for Independent Newspapers Editorial Training Policy Workshop, Cape Town, August 12 - 13

by Guy Berger, Rhodes University Journalism and Media Studies Department.

SECTION A: INTRODUCTION

In 1993, then Sowetan managing editor Joe Thloloe read to a conference the following extract of a letter he had received:

"Your highness, I hereby apply to be one of your reporters. What attracted me to your newspaper is the fact that is unbiased. You do not take decision on behalf of the people. ... In my junior degree I majored with Sociology and Development Administration ... I hold a conviction that the knowledge I acquired from the university will contribute to the advancement of your newspaper in reaching the public. In the following year I am intended to enrol Communication course two and Communication Law at the University of South Africa."

As Joe drily noted, this man enclosed a copy of his BA certificate. Said Thloloe: "I could quote more because I have drawers full of this stuff. These are young people who have impressive matriculation results and have credentials from universities and technikons. Their problem is that they are unable to tell me the simple story that they need jobs and they have the necessary qualifications.".

He went on to say that there was another side: but it was only a "handful" of competent journalists who graduated from Rhodes, Natal Tech and Pentech.

Four years later, Graeme Addison toured 19 institutions and had this to say: "the simple truth is that most journalism departments are doing a poor to bad job, and the media have done little to put them right." He interviewed 117 students for potential internships on the Sunday Times and concluded that most:

don't know how to craft a narrative
don't know how to proofread copy
don't read newspapers
don't follow current affairs on the airwaves
don't read good books for pleasure
don't prepare for job interviews
don't know about critical developments in the media
don't know that they don't know.

"The best thing about the current crop of students is that they have an excellent grasp of the democratic role of media," he noted. But in short, they "can't write, don't read, and can't think."

A depressing picture, although I hasten to add (and as is evident below), the trainers themselves do not feel the situation is as dire. This may be because their expectations of what they do, and indeed of the art of the possible, are very different from the expectations within industry itself. But there is no gainsaying that the training institutions could be doing far better.

There are no figures about how many current working journalists are products of such institutions. It is likely to be far less than the 73% that Betty Medsger found in the USA who had studied journalism at one level or another. Perhaps the figure is more like 40% here. Unless South African journalism training at tertiary level picks up, the figure is likely to remain relatively low.

Not that the USA is lacking in problems. Medsger found that the media there found it very hard to hold onto tertiary trained journalists who tended to move on to more lucrative positions in public relations and advertising. Her study showed employers wanting enthusiastic employees, the teachers underplaying the specificity of journalism, and - worst of all - the students wanting to go into Public Relations.

But before newspaper employers toss out the journalism schools altogether, they need to contemplate three things:

- Firstly, these schools are 2/3rds financed by tax money (which they pay);

- Secondly, a number of students emerging from these schools do want to become print journalists and have some preparation towards this.

- Thirdly, and most importantly, newspapers - rather than turn their backs on what they see as a problem - need instead to acknowledge and act on the institutions that help to shape the character of so many potential young media workers. This means not simply looking at the problems, but also at the possibilities.

For a start, if newspapers cannot interest youngsters in working for them, then they will continue to struggle to reach younger readers. It is shortsighted to see things only in terms of trying to fit young people into the status quo; the latter can profitably shift itself somewhat to fit into younger agendas. In this sense, the juniorisation of newsrooms is not purely a problem: it entails unacknowledged potential strengths.

Furthermore, newspapers cannot restrict themselves to seeking competencies for their current needs: they need flexible workers who can adjust to changing technologies, management styles, writing genres, news agendas, etc. Newspapers need to have their entry-level recruits trained, yes. But don't forget the education as well. The distinction is in having people who have learnt answers, and in having those who can also ask - and answer - new questions.

Thami Mazwai once bemoaned a Rhodes student who went out to cover a township massacre and returned without the facts of how many were killed. "I thought it would be more interesting to interview the families than to repeat the parade of body counts," said the student. Mazwai is right - but he ought also to have listened to the value of the student's suggestion, instead of sticking solely to the devalued statistics derived of a host of similar stories.

Finally, it also behoves the newspaper industry to pause before rushing in to the tertiary training sector and restructuring journalism training. The question that needs to be asked is "what is this journalism that is being trained?". In many ways, South African newspapers in the current era need to re-invent their journalism, if they are to succeed in communicating with new audiences. They can enlist young people to help in this re-inventing - particularly in areas where oldstyle journalism is bound-up with a Eurocentric paradigm which fails to appeal to the oral, circular, and narrative cultures that survive in much of our country.

Although various elements are intertwined in the reality of what happens, one can extract and abstract the distinctive factors. That relating to youthfulness (with its cultural and demographic characteristics in 1997) has been alluded to above. This is a mighty factor, and not all the training in the world can necessarily turn it around - even if that were desirable, which it is not. But to the extent that training makes a difference, one can also single out several significant factors: on the student side, there is the raw material coming into the tertiary sector out of the schools. On the campuses, there is the particular tertiary institution - its management, quality and range of subject choices. Within journalism teaching there is the curriculum, the theory-practice component, the pedagogy, the facilities, the teachers. In all of these, the newspaper industry has a potentially large role to play: some of which is explored below.

Addison visited 19 institutions involved in some kind of journalism training in South Africa. But many of these are Communications departments rather than journalism departments. A number are located in campuses that were disadvantaged in the past, and which, while their equipment and salary resource allocations have now surpassed many advantaged institutions, still suffer the legacies of poor management and low standards. As a result, the information gathered for this paper, is limited to the more effective suppliers of entry-level journalists to the market. Still left out are Stellenbosch, RAU and Potch universities which tend to contribute personnel to the Afrikaans language media. Questionnaires were sent to Technikon Northern Transvaal and to Peninsula Technikon, but no response was received at the time of compiling this paper.

SECTION B: SURVEY REPORT

1. RESPONDENTS:

Rhodes University	Journ & Media Studies	Guy Berger
Pretoria Technikon	Journalism	Pedro Diederichs
Natal Technikon	Journalism	Mike Maxwell
ML Sultan Technikon	Journalism	Graham Greer
Cape Technikon	Media Studies	Francois Nel
Pentech	Journalism	Patricia Handley
TNG	Journalism	Dr Bhekithemba Zondo
Potch	Communications & journalism	Prof Arrie de Beer
Stellenbosch	Journalism	Prof George Claassen
Natal (Durban)	CCMS	Prof Keyan Tomaselli
RAU

2. You have had how many visits from working newspaper journalists in the

past year?

Rhodes University	20
Pretoria Technikon	9
Natal Technikon	Effectively there are three regular full-time journos on campus four times a week. We employ working newspaper journalists to lecture modules and subjects within the courses. Areas include Court & Crime reporting, editorial management, newsroom skills and also advice on SAUJ membership.
ML Sultan Technikon	about 10
Cape Technikon	9
Pentech	5
TNG	4
Potch	A few
Stellenbosch	37 incl 5 ediitors
CCMS	Yes
RAU

3. How could the newspaper industry work more closely with your

institution to contribute to your training?

Rhodes	Visits Teaching support Distance mentoring via email Equipment help Contract research and training from us Student jobs and internships
Pretoria	Supply bursaries, Offer regular internships and holiday work, Use students in research for reoports, investigations, readership studies, Invite lecturers to visit freely, Second senior journalists to help teach, Attend and publicise our seminars and conferences
Natal	Sponsorships for equipment, Bursaries for promising students, Further opportunities for experiential training.
Sultan	Understanding role of tertiary training of young journalists, Involvement with curriculum development, Ongoing education of journalism teachers - inviting them to industry trainingworkshops "On how many occasions have Independent Newspapers consulted or discussed their training needs with the various schools of journalism and has there ever been any contact with the various schools that was not initiated by the schools?"
Cape	Second senior staff for a week or two Fund visiting experts Share outside visitors like Garcia
Pentech	By serving on advisory committees By providing bursaries By providing 12-month in-service training posts By seconding mid-career staff to training institutions By funding equipment By holding once a year meetings with training institutions By providing specialised English language instruction
TNG	Consultation in design of relevant programmes and guest lectures
Potch	Take a more direct interest in what we do Become involved in projects (esp on school & community level) Make scholarships available (catch 22 for Potch)
Stellenbosch	Already have a close relationship: guest lectures, visits to media in CT, internships. HoD works without pay once a year iin a newsroom.
CCMS	Internships (field research attachments)- a month's employment of an hons student on a basic stipend. Natal Newspapers should put something into local institutions.
RAU

4. What role should the industry play in accreditation of courses and

definition of course content?

Rhodes	Dynamic interaction rather than a direct dovetail
Pretoria	A more direct role could be a good thing, although US trend is towards portfolios rather than regulated accreditation. Active role by industry does entail financing. Alert: what about different training for various types of journalist?
Natal	The industry already plays a significant role in determining course content and syllabi, through our liaison committee meetings and regular informal contact. Bear in mind that we teach both broadcast and print journalism (which is further broken into newspapers, magazines and cybermedia) and thus our agenda is broader than the newspaper industry itself.
Sultan	Industry should play a far greater role in accrediting courses, schools and teachers. A model similar to that in the UK should be introduced. As I understand it, the NUJ and the BJU have a joint training and recruitment policy. To work as a journalist you have to be a member of either union and have to pass their joint accreditation test/exam. Furthermore, the accreditation board accredits not only the teaching institution but also the trainers / lecturers. I believe that they withdrew the accreditation of a college in Ireland for training more journalism students that the unions deemed suitable.
Cape	Industry advisors should be involved in curriculum development. PRISA is already involved in the SERTEC accreditation of PR courses at Technikons. The newspapers will need to be involved in the SAQA bodies being established, in line with the initiatives of the Dept. of Education & Dept. of Labour (SEE: Green Paper on Training).
Pentech	Advisory
TNG	Direct role by industry in determining, defining and accrediting courses
Potch	Same as in the US (cf accreditation work by AEJMC)
Stellenbosch	Closer involvement, but industry should not prescribe.There should be scope for the variety of specialisations. Should rather be an informal alliance, such as ASNE and trainers in the USA. Accreditation is debateable: let market decide which students are in demand.
CCMS	Closer relationship, liaising on courses. But we would be reluctant to subject courses to industry accreditation.
RAU

5. Should there be a formalised relationship with the newspaper industry,

and what form might it take?

Rhodes	SAQA board, PLUS other fora
Pretoria	Industry is represented in advisory comittees (compiled by us on invitation), which meet at least twice a year for liaising on syllabi and feedback from industry. Current members are: Sid Pote PMA; John Frewin OH Frewin, Middelburg (partly Perskor); Piet Muller x-Rapport + Naspers; Chris van Gas cadet school Independent; Tom Ferreira SAAIE; Malan Otto SABC; Martie Meiring freelance; Mohamed Shaikh x-SABC.
Natal	Should a more formalised relationship develop, it could take the form of a commitment to our training programmes, not just at an undergraduate level, but also in terms of ongoing staff development within the various newspaper offices. The quid pro quo would be sponsorship for teaching staff to various institution (eg Poynter, LSP) to ensure that their skills are kept current. After all, the pedagogic role is our specialty area, which equips us to better impart information on new trends and technological developments.
Sultan	Via a Training and Accreditation Board.
Cape	Dispel the us-&-them notion of academia vs industry. Education is merely an arm of the industry & academics should be included in all fora -- with full membership (eg. At the Cape Town Press Club an academic is an Associate Member). If academics are welcomed into the fold, there will be no need to create special groups; training could just become another portfolio.
Pentech	We do have regular Advisory Committee meetings with newspaper industry members, but they are poorly attended Lecturers should be offered refresher spells in industry
TNG	Formal partnership with specific industry
Potch	Yes
Stellenbosch	Don't overformalise. Should be bursaries for disadvantaged students to choose tertiary institution of their choice.
CCMS	not applicable (Media Studies, rather than Journalism)
RAU

6. Training profile

	How many years is course, excl internships?	How long are internships?	Skills training: broader media issues
Rhodes	3 years (BA) 4 years Bjourn 1 year Higher Diploma 1.5 years MA	Optional 2 months	40:60
Pretoria	2 years diploma 3 years degree	9 months	50:50 incl internships
Natal	Exit points after 1 year (National certificate), 2 years (National higher cetificate), 3 years (National Diploma)and Four year (B.Tech).	6 months	55:45 (National Diploma, 20:80 for B. Tech (fourth year)
Sultan	3 years diploma 4 years degree	5 - 10 months	30-40% practical
Cape	3 years: National Diploma 4 years: BTech	9 months	70:30
Pentech	2 years: National diploma 3 years: BTech	12 months	60:40
TNG	2.5 years	6 months	40:60
Potch	4 years BBK (Bachelor's in Mass Communication)	2 weeks off campus, on campus work at final year	Ranges from 60:40 to 50:50 in diff years
Stellenbosch	Hons: 14 months M Phil: 2 years (one year residential recognition if student has the hons).	8 weeks	75:25
CCMS	Hons: one year MA: one year	One month	20:80
RAU

7. Ratio of print to broadcast skills training

Rhodes	60:40 (2nd year); specialise separately 3rd and 4th year
Pretoria	First two years 50:50, year 3 and 4 separate
Natal	Students may take both up to B.tech level, but the option exists to specialise from third year onward. The basic journalism training encompasses both print and broadcast in many aspects. As there are equal numbers of broadcast and practice of journalism lectures, I can only answer this by saying that the ratio is approximately 50:50, but this does not really reflect the diversity of the syllabus, or the areas withing modules which are exclusive to print or broadcast.
Sultan	Only at 4th year, separate.
Cape	Students do not take print AND broadcast
Pentech	Print and broadcast offered: students must take both streams, ratio is 50:50
TNG	print AND broadcast as alternative streams
Potch	Two in-house publications and a school newspaper, radio station and video productions.
Stellen-bosch	Print & broadcast compulsory, ratio is 60:40
CCMS	No print training
RAU

8. In training for print, what are the proportions of time spent on:

	Rhodes	Pretor-ia	Natal	Sultan	Cape	Pentech	TNG	Potch	Stellenbosch	CCMS	RAU
Research & sources	20%	5%	8%	15%	10%	20	5%	5%	very integrated
Inter-viewing	5%	5%	12%	20%	5%	20	5%	5%
Writing	45%	50%	45%	50%	40%	20	30%	50%
Editing	10%	10%	15%	5%	15%	20	10%	10%
Photo-journalism	5% (option to specialise - 40%)	5%	5%	At 2nd year, 5 weeks	10%	option	10%	10%
Layout & design	5% (option to specialise - 40%)	20%	15%	10%	20%		40%	20%
Report-age	10%	5%

9. Do your students work on actual publications on campus?

Rhodes University	optional
Pretoria Technikon	training newspaper and newsletters, brochures.
Natal Technikon	quarterly full colour tabloid magazine, community newspapers, charity projects etc
ML Sultan Technikon	3 teams work on student publications
Cape Technikon	compulsory
Pentech	yes
TNG	some
Potch	yes
Stellenbosch	yes: Stellenbosch Journalism Insight, Die Matie, other publications
CCMS	Crticial arts, books, newsletters, student paper
RAU

10. Do you teach specialised topics (eg. media management or business

journalism?) List the most prominent:

Rhodes University	SA media history, news sociology, mass media & society, ethics, freelancing, law, policy, media pedagogy, CARR, arts and culture journalism, film theory.
Pretoria Technikon	Editorial management, entrepreneurship, political science, business reporting, feature and reviews, environmental journalism, community journalism.
Natal Technikon	Business Reporting Editorial Management DTP specialist modules include: Pagemaker 6.5, QuarkXpress 3.3, Photoshop 3, MS frontpage, CorelDraw 7
ML Sultan Technikon	Editorial management, financial reporting, labour journalism, parliamentary reporting, to be introduced at 4th year.
Cape Technikon	Computer Assisted Reporting Publication Management
Pentech	Business reporting, feature writing
TNG	Labour, environmental
Potch	Industrial journalism (cf SAAIE)
Stellenbosch	Media management, Science & Technology journalism, etichs
CCMS	Marketing & advertising, Media and Culture, Research methods, Political economy of the media, media sociology, Media, democratisation and development.
RAU

11. People profile:

	% black students	% female students	Staff: student ratios in print courses	% of print teachers with newspaper experience
Rhodes	25%	65%	1:45	100
Pretoria	35%	70%	1:17	100
Natal	75%	42%	5:80	60
Sultan	100%	45%	1:88	100
Cape	30%	70%	1:65	100
Pentech	100%	52%	1:35	100
TNG	100%	52%	1:30	20%
Potch	10%	90%	1:100, to 1:20	100%
Stellen-bosch	20%	43% (usually 60)	1:26, to 1:8	100%
CCMS	60%	50%	1:16	n.a.
RAU

12. What % of your print students each year join:

	Rhodes	Pretoria	Natal	Sultan	Cape	Pentech	TNG	Potch	Stellenbosch	CCMS	RAU
newspaper	20%	mostly	75%	50%	5%	95%	30		60	5
cons-umer magazines	10%	less than 5%	15%		5 %	1%	20		10	10
indus-try & corpo-rate media	30%	second most	8%		20 %	1%	15	70	15	0
public relations & advertising	20%	less than 5%	2%		70%	3%	20		10	10
other?	30%			50% (incls broad cast)			15		5	70

13. Comment on the quality of print-oriented students you are producing:

Rhodes	Students good at critical thinking, inexperienced in reporting skills, a minority interested in newspapers/
Pretoria
Natal	They vary, but all are basically competent in terms of reporting, DTP and photography. There are others who excel in particular areas and many of our students are writing front page bylined stories for The Daily News, Mercury, Sunday Times, Sunday Tribune, Post, Sowetan and almost all the Caxton community newspapers, in their second year, let alone when they leave us for experiential training.
Sultan	Our print students are well accepted. Approx 6 a year find permanent appointments with Natal Witness and another 3 with Natal Newspapers
Cape	An alumni survey amongst 1995 & 1996 graduates has shown that we have a 2% unemployment rate amongst our graduates. Of these many land up in the writing end of PR: Press releases, publications. Obviously, as Media Studies is only one of six subjects students enrol for in the course, the emphasis on this is much less than in journ courses -- but employers are clearly impressed. As for internships: we currently have about 30% more employers than students.
Pentech	Hampered by staff and equipment shortage, and a timetable that militates against simulating the newsroom and reporting environment
TNG	Average, but quality is fast improving
Potch	Students going into mainstream print can write, sub-edit on a par with other entry-level graduates.
Stellenbosch	Market determines that quality is good: students all find employment. Dept is 20 years old and has produced 20 editors of newspapers and magazines
CCMS	-
RAU

14. Any other remarks on the topic?

Rhodes	No training institution can simulate real experience, so it is unrealistic to expect ready-to-roll graduates. The issue is how prepared are they to deal with what exists, and how flexible can they be in terms of responding to new challenges with new ways of doing things. Students need to learn why, and not only how.
Pretoria
Natal	We have found that by having working newspaper journalists on our lecturing role, our relationships with the publications they come from has become particularly close. This enables us to place students more easily and the employers to gauge potential reporters and subs in the academic environment before actually offering them work. Also we find that students get non-experiential work (i.e. before their third year) regularly, since they develop a contact network early through the part-time lecturers. We are obviously fortunate in having a large number of publications within our immediate environment, and as such we are able to exploit the opportunities these provide.
Sultan	Time for newspaper industry to get far more involved in journalism education, especially at senior management level where policy decisions can be taken.
Cape
Pentech	To meet current industry needs for basic skills (esp. Language and computer literacy), diploma should be pared down to focus on these. (Could help simulate a newsroom and reporting environment) Increased input in courses from industry Regular contact with industry & and mutual commitment to advisory mechanisms Updating and re-training the trainers has benefits.
TNG	Industrial involvement is crucial, but it would appear that industry has very little time for institutional training
Potch	Trend to more Afrikaans-language women students, though this is not the mission of the university. Scholarships/bursaries and community projects funded by industry will help alleviate this.
Stellenbosch	Don't over regulate. Let the market decide.
CCMS	Suggest the Ruth Teer Tomaselli report for Independent Newspapers is read
RAU

SECTION C: CONCLUSION

Visits: there are visits taking place, but there could be more

Industry support: visits, bursaries, training staffers

Industry influence: welcomed, but allow flexibility

Formal relationship: institutionalisation supported, but not control

Training profile: 3 year average, internships, 40-50% practical training

Print:broadcast ratio: 50:50, then specialisation

Print priorities: writing, layout design.

Student work on publications: common

Specialised topics: at senior level

People profile: one-third black, 45-70% female

Staff:student ratio: 1:17 - 1:88

Teachers with newspaper experience: mostly

Student career paths: newspapers 5% - 75%

Self-assessment: students competent, well accepted.

Additional comments: time for industry to get involved.