This past Tuesday, my first article published about a panel discussion held on campus recently as part of Transformation Month — the month of March aimed to discuss identity and the idea of transformation of thought at UCT. I attended the discussion, took notes, spoke to attendees afterward and interviewed the organizer of the event.
For some reason, I expected the reporting and writing process to be somewhat different here since I’m in a different country, but what I’ve learned is that the formula of journalism is altogether similar despite the place.
This realization was reaffirmed at a writing workshop for Varsity that I attended on Saturday. At the workshop, we went over basics of reporting, ways to find stories, what to look for when editing and overall guidelines. There really wasn’t anything that I hadn’t heard before, and I mean that in a positive way. The basic principles that I’ve been taught and practice at USC and various internships are the same here in South Africa. I knew that an article carries certain standards despite where it is written, but it was nice to hear that wherever I go, I will be able to use and practice what I’ve learned about being a journalist.
The few differences that I’ve noticed are:
-Interviewing via e-mail is acceptable, and I was told that it is sometimes preferred since the person’s thoughts are more clearly stated.
-A biweekly paper cannot break news. Many of the news pieces in the paper are news analysis articles rather than hard news articles since the subjects of articles could have happened up to a week and a half before the paper prints.
-The letter “z” is not used in words like “realize.” Instead, the letter “s” is used and spelled like, “realised,” for example.
Click here for the online edition of the latest issue of Varsity, including my article on page 3, “UCT considers identity.”
Click here for the online edition of the latest issue of Varsity, including my article on page 3, “UCT considers identity.”
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