Personal Philosophy

1. I will be working as a student journalist in Grahamstown, a small Eastern Cape town. Though small in size Grahamstown is a true reflection of South Africa as a whole, in the sense that its citizens are racially and economically divided. One finds that Grahamstown has sub- communities such as Rhodes students who are part of Grahamstown but are not facing some of the issues that are faced by everyday Grahamstown people i.e. poverty ( 70% unemployment rate). The town is also known as a “city of saint and academics”, the saints part comes from the fact that there so many churches in the town and the academic part comes from the fact that Rhodes University and high schools such as DSG, St Andrews and Kingswood who have a reputation of producing quality education are located in here in Grahamstown.

There is a rising issue of crime which mostly affects town people and students. Oppidan Press recently published that Oppidan students are hardest hit by laptop theft. The town is part of the Eastern Cape Province as I have stated above, this province is one of the poorest in South Africa, though huge car manufacturing companies (General Motors, VW, and Mercedes Benz) are located here. The province also produced one of the lowest pass rate in the recent grade12 results with just over 15% pass rate. On a more positive note Grahamstown hosts the annual National arts festival which attracts a lot of tourists and brings business opportunities to the locals.

2.

I think we should strive for objectivity though it seems its not really attainable. Its not attainable in the sense that as individuals we have our own personal views of the world that are shaped by our class, race, culture etc As journalist when we write a story these views that we have which are shaped by our environment come out. We may not be aware of this but the proof is in the fact that the same story is often reported differently by various journalists. Why is that? If we were as journalist are so objective or followed the same code of writing, then the stories would come more or less the same but because we use our own experiences of the world to tell stories that we gather, our stories come out differently. The Grahamstown community is very unequal and often the Grahamstown elites get their stories told, I think we should give the “voiceless” more space to have their views heard.

3. I as I have motioned above Grahamstown is very unequal and often the economic successful side of town makes the headline. Without turning a blind eye to the economic successful, stories such as the impact of mini- tornado that hit Grahamstown local. Stories of how people survive though it is said that 70% is unemployed. I believe one can be objective and yet still have a story that has a human and emotional feel to it.