Pictured here are Carol Strodl, arts and crafts sales manager, who’s story about vegetable gardens was published in the print edition. Dabula Maxam, unemployed, wrote about employment opportunities in Grahamstown and was also published in the print edition of Grocott’s Mail. Zoli Sakata, far right in the picture, wrote about a family who received a government funded toilet…instead of a house.

The fourth CJ course, which is the second that is facilitated by EvN Media, will start on 19 April 2010. Application forms are available online.

My first Citizen Journalism class at local Grahamstown community newspaper Grocott’s Mail (GM) is history. Eleven participants this morning learned what a citizen journalist is, what news is and how they can generate their own story ideas.

It’s exciting to be part of the project named Iindaba Ziyafika (The news is coming). “The project focuses on developing innovative ways of using new media technologies to facilitiate community journalism, and is funded by a grant from the US-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation“, explains the GM website concisely.

Part of the training were a number of practical exercises and a slideshow.

Course outline

Week 1: What is Grocott’s Mail about? What is a citizen reporter?
Week 2: A nose for news: what is newsworthy? Basics of good journalism.
Week 3: Writing a publishable news story: the lead and story structures.
Week 4: Interviews, observation, sources, facts and ethics.
Week 5: Photography: how to take better photos with your cellphone. Introduction to basic photo editing.
Week 6: Producing citizen journalism.

GM is excited about the potential that the Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism Newsroom holds for encouraging and empowering all citizens of Grahamstown to more actively engage in debates and discussions about important issues in their lives through producing and publishing their own original content. In short, the Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism Newsroom is intended to foster a keener sense of community awareness, involvement and, ultimately, pride.

Links

For more information please visit the GM website, the Citizen Journalism Newsroom info page and the productions of the previous course.

By Zimkhitha Mbunge

Applications for the third Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism course close at 5pm on Monday 15 February – go to www.grocotts.co.za/cj to register now.
The course, which is free of charge, takes place in the Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism newsroom, and will run for six weeks, from Monday 22 February to Thursday 1 April 2010, from 9am to 11am.

Four groups of 10 participants each will complete the course – one group for each day of the week.

Participants need to have basic computer skills to take part in the course, which will cover a variety of topics geared at turning ordinary citizens into citizen journalists.

Participants will be taught the basics of good journalism, how to write a publishable news story, how to set up and conduct interviews, and how to take good photos with your cellphone.

Course trainer Elvira van Noort says, “I expect this course to be another success story. Participants will leave with a fine set of skills and knowledge that they can apply to assist their community from a grassroots level.
Issues they can focus on range from health, education and crime to service delivery. The plan is to stir the pot a bit.”

Three or four outstanding course participants will also have the opportunity of sitting in on Grocott’s Mail diary meetings after the course is finished.
These star reporters will get the chance to keep on writing for the newspaper and will receive remuneration for their efforts.

Participants in the previous two courses had a variety of stories published, which can all be read in the MyStory section on the Grocott’s Mail website (www.grocotts.co.za).

A themed campaign dealing with the issue of waste management in Grahamstown   Ukucoca eMakana (Makana Clean-up) – saw many wellthought out stories accompanied by photographs being produced and published by course participants towards the end of last year.

If you’re the type of person who takes interest in what’s happening around you and you love telling stories, this course is for you. You can use the skills you’ll learn to tell Grahamstown about the interesting people and happenings in your community or in your organisation.

For more information and to register for the course,visit www.grocotts.co.za/cj or come in to Grocott’s Mail (40 High Street) to fill in a form.

In 2009 EvN extended its practical skills on multiple media platforms, including mobile. Keeping up-to-date with new media technologies and social media is necessary to grow EvN into a company that keeps on the foreground of offering new media solutions to media companies and media projects. The year also presented many new insights with projects related to press freedom and digital activism.

2010

EvN in 2010 will keep on offering the friendly, quick and professional service you are used to. With the World Cup on the calendar it will be a more dynamic year and it is anticipated that EvN will this year work with new clients from all over the world.

EvN Media Solutions in 2010 will continue to offer the following services:

• multimedia productions of hard and soft news  from Southern Africa and The Netherlands
• editing of (South African) English and Dutch articles
• newsroom management during multimedia projects
• newsroom assistance
• academic research into new/ social/ mobile media
• lectures, workshop and master classes about new media/ social media/ journalism skills/ Southern Africa
• media consultancy & Southern Africa travel consultancy
• translating of text from (South African) English to Dutch
• …and much much more…

Please get in touch via our Contact page, we would love to hear from you!

All the best in 2010,

EvN – Media Solutions

We arrived in Djumu in the dark, the skilled boatsman new exactly what he was doing. I met Charles Vervuurd, the director of Apinti Television in Suriname in Bronsberg. He told me that he has been working on getting television into the interior and has just set up a station in Djumu. Charles gave me the number of Captain Albert (capitain is similar to a chief in South Africa, he is a bit like a the major of a town) who was extremely happy to hear that I’m a media trainer. His radio reporters (radio Mai Fei) needed some help.

At Djumu we found out that the TV station is actually at Asindo-opo. Not on our map. The boatsman took us there, we were greeted by Captain Albert and Beatrice who showed us our hut for the next days.

Surreal
Asindo-opo was just surreal. It looked fake. We walked out of our huts seeing the flowing river and another village on the other side. Mango trees lined the grass shore. Heaven. We washed ourselves in the river, explored the village, spoke to everyone who walked into us (people just wanted to find out who we are and why we are there) and ate our white rice (cooked in rain water) on the porch of our hut. Its a very natural way of living, very satisfying.

The media training at radio Mai Fei took from 10am to 10pm. Basic journalism skills, radio production and a computer class…there was a lot to cover. I managed, even though it was very hot and the language barrier slowed us down. It was a great experience that I am willing to take to the next level if it is possible to combine some of the work that needs to be done at Mai Fei with my work at the School of Journalism in Utrecht… Just thinking about possibilities…

We’ve spend some time in Paramaribo now, also visiting Parbode (a local opinion magazine) where some of my previous students are working on a journalism project for 12 days. It was good to see Casper and Timon again, well done guys!

If anyone has ideas about setting up a media project in Asindo-opo / the Surinamese interior, please contact me.

Elvira