'Fatherhood' in practice

Fifty percent of the children in South Africa don’t live with their fathers. “I never knew that the number was that big and I always thought that it was something in our water that caused neglecting fathers”, says Christie Jacobs who is one of the photograph students in the CMP course. What she learned from the fatherhood subject within this course is that it isn’t in the water. “The number of fathers that don’t live with their children is ridiculously high. But when we look at the policies of South Africa, when it comes to fatherhood, we can make the conclusion that it might not be the water that causes this absentness. Fathers that are not married to their children’s mother do not have any rights. Therefore the mother is able to keep fathers away from their children. This was a real eye-opener for me because I never gave thought to that idea.” The main aim from Christie’s story, which she’s producing together with Bryan Vlok (radio-student), is to show that it isn’t necessarily the fault of the fathers that only fifty percent of South African children don’t live with their father, but that the bad policies increase the number. They want the policies to be changed. They do not know for which NGO or organisation their slight-show is going to be, but they did found a man who cannot see his twelve year old son because the mother won’t let him. His name is Julias Jass and after seven years of contact with his son (the mother and Julias Jass weren’t in a relationship anymore), the mother forbade him to see his child ever again. He sees his son secretly by visiting him at school. (See picture)

I find it exiting that the CMP students are making stories that are going to be used. They put in a lot of work and in the end an NGO (for example) will use their material. That is such a price, I think. In Holland we also have the same kind of thing with different courses and students need to do freelance-work in their third year where their work is being published. I think that the way the fatherhood subject works in this course is pretty good because the students are forced to do good research, to think about what they want to achieve with their story, to choose and find an NGO with their public in the back of their heads. I could tell that Christie new what she was talking about and she was very interested. I think that it should count for everyone since this is in my opinion the best assignment one can have as a journalist student. You can come up with your own story and idea, something that you find interesting. You can choose who is going to use your work (if they want it) and it is real journalism. I think that this is what journalism is about. Finding stories that can send a message out there and thinking about the public are very essential things in a journalist life. At least that is my view of a ‘real’ journalist. Not waiting around the office until someone gives you story, but using your own head.

In the JDD course we learned a lot about different kinds of journalism and about democracy and journalism. To be honest I didn’t get what it had to do with ‘fatherhood’. But I see now what the point is. Christie’s story about Julias Jass is a form of ‘development journalism’. “It is development because we produce media that can be used by NGO’s.” But also investigative journalism and solution journalism fits in their story. The dots are starting to connect.

“What I learned about the JDD course and the whole fatherhood subject is that we want to produce media for the majority of the country, but the majority doesn’t understand the ‘western view of media’ the way journalists tend to use journalism.” The mainstream media, which is a very western form, contains TV’s for example, which the majority of South Africans don’t have. “Lots of fathers don’t know that there are options to get some rights to see their children. They don’t know where to go. ‘Fathers for Justice’ is a big organisation which is concerned with father’s rights. But it’s an organisation that’s on the internet, something that the majority doesn’t have access to. But there are other options, like social development centres, but fathers mostly don’t know that they can go there”, says Christie. I think that this course therefore is a good way of showing the students that there is a job to do.

Before I end this blog I would like to add that I specifically focused on the radio/photograph students. And I liked what I’ve seen so far. I think the stories that are being made are very interesting, as far as I heard about it though. I put some question marks at some interviews because they are in Xhosa. It’s my personal taste, but I rather listen to the voices if the interviewees than a voice-over. But it’s worth it if the story is interesting enough and if there really isn’t another option. The idea of the slight-show sounds nice to me and I really liked some pictures that I saw were made. So what I really want to say is that I am quite positive and I am really looking forward to the outcome! There is a lot of potential and I hope the maximum will be reached.

introduction

Since this is my first blog I would like to introduce myself. I am Myrna Lemmen, 20 years old and I study journalism for almost three years now. I wanted to become a journalist when I was about 15 years old. My mother always told me that I should work for the police because I find equality, rights and justice very important. When I was very young I already paid lots of attention to these things; for example the fact that I thought the coke should be equally divided among my sisters and me, I went quite far in that. I don't do that anymore, but I still have the same values and I consider myself an optimistic and romantic journalist.

In the last three years I learned a lot about journalism by studying it in Utrecht. The most important thing is that my romantic view of journalism that I had drastically changed. Journalism is hard work and most of the time you’re in full speed trying to make your deadline. Yes, you meet interesting people and you write about things that matter, but it’s rushed, there isn’t a lot of money, there’s competition and your freedom is not always that broad. Besides, the image of a journalist nowadays is that it is an annoying person who tries to trick everyone to get some information.

I don’t like to rush, I really don’t like deadlines (though they keep me going), and I hate to stalk people. Does that make me a bad journalist?

I was kind of stuck before I came to Rhodes. What am I going to do as a journalist?

Coming to Rhodes gave me lots of new perspectives about journalism. In the JDD course we studied about alternative media and to find the ‘gabs’ to bring the important stories out there. It reminded me of my old ‘romantic’ view of journalism. That was very interesting to hear. It made me see that there are a lot of differences in journalism between the Netherlands and South Africa. For example in the Netherlands journalists have more freedom to write about whatever. And the politics in the Dutch media are very irritating and it doesn’t improve journalism. ‘What will sell’ instead of ‘what is the most important’? It seems like we’re heading that way in the Netherlands. Newspapers don’t sell; television and internet are the new things. Sensations will sell! I think that in South Africa sensation also sells but because it is a new democracy and a developing country journalism plays a very big role in South Africa. Maybe even more than in the Netherlands, though I will never say that out loud. What I learned in the JDD course is that journalism plays a big role to develop a country like South Africa. There is a lot that needs to be done in this country and journalism/ media can, I believe, help with that. I found it very interesting to see that the status of the country makes the status of journalism.

There are a lot of challenges for journalists in this new democracy of South Africa. The world of journalism in this country is definitely not perfect, but it is very interesting and there are a lot of opportunities. And it is probably a country for optimistic and romantic journalists like me. There is a lot of need for critical journalists ‘that find the gabs and seek for alternative ways’. Journalism in South Africa is so much more than just the information role and entertainment role. I am not judging Dutch journalism; there is definitely a big need for critical journalists. But it has a whole other meaning and a different level because we cannot compare South Africa and the Netherlands. South Africa’s journalism has got my attention and I hope through Rhodes I will learn more about it. I’m glad that I signed up for this exchange programme since I hoped to get new perspectives about journalism. I've got them.