Personal Reflection

We decided as a team to report on Julius Malema’s outburst, the potential closing down of the old gaol, the SAMWU strikes, a soccer cinema in the township and local music on radio stations. We felt that our choices covered a range of issues to interest a diverse range of cultural groups.

The Malema story and the local music stories were both beyond Grahamstown, but they matter to South Africa, as they affect SA on both a political and economical level. It however has little relevance on the major issues in Grahamstown so a large scale story should perhaps be limited to one.

I believe we ‘stretched the boundaries’ by representing different social groups in Grahamstown. The old gaol represents to a certain extent the students who go there, the SAMWU strikes represent the residents and the soccer cinema represents the people in the location. Problems were identified and political solutions were expressed, such as the backpackers opinions in the old gaol.

As I have said in my personal philosophy, subjectivity is very important so as to spark debate. I felt that we covered an efficient range of sources, not only from people in authority but from ordinary citizens. The story that I individually reported on however only had a voicer, which meant it lacked in credibility and depth. Next time I will put in sources, perhaps 1 or 2 from someone in authority and from a witness/citizen. It was an important story though, as it is an important issue that has affected residents and workers for separate reasons, but the story covered both their concerns.

I think for the next podcast, in order to comply to the agena more thoroughly, we should keep to the stories that concern the residents of Grahamstown the most. The last podcast was lacking in an economical story, and the property story I am looking into now for instance should be included as it concerns thousands of residents. The soccer cinema story is a good idea into bridging the societal gap, but only 150 people went to see it, so those types of stories would make a bigger impact if it involved more people.

The diversity of the stories and the sources is very important, so we must keep that for the next podcast.