What they don’t teach you in journalism school

While in the process of completing your studies, you reach a stage where you need to start applying for apprenticeship, in-service or internship programmes that would help you get your foot into the door of the industry.

Depending on how good your curriculum vitae or resume looks or how easily you’re able to talk your way in interviews, finding a job after university can be daunting if not a walk in the park. For some it could take a month, while for others it could take months if not years just to get that work experience.

Media, Educators & Government Discuss the African Story

Sthembiso Sithole

@sitholeexpress

Nqakula told panelists that positive government stories need to be published.

The media is most people’s only window to places outside South Africa and through television screens, radio and newspaper reports people can be transported to countries across the African continent. But this picture of Africa depends on how the journalist and the news organisation they work for cover the rest of the continent. From their angle, people sitting in their homes across South Africa would then formulate their own picture of other regions in Africa.

Many would remember how the North African countries of Libya, Egypt and Tunisia dominated the news in 2011 as people were revolting against their governments. Libya’s was the most difficult as that country’s president Muammar Ghaddafi was refusing to step down until the rebels started hunting him down and eventually killed him. Nato also declared the airspace over Libya a no-fly zone and then started shelling the country. That is the story of North Africa from 2011 many would remember. The dictators who led those countries are no longer in power and as there are fewer protests, no shelling of the region and a bit of calm, the stories from there have also stopped. There is also a huge possibility that many who watched those conflicts would not know a North Africa without conflict as they’ve never seen it through their window.