We came across a potential story idea in Ward 2, Extension 7 of Joza, Grahamstown which we believed we could tackle as student journalists in terms of Haas’s public philosophy for public journalism. When we first came across the Little Flower Daycare Centre, we merely sat with Lungi Mtwalo and allowed her to speak to us about the centre which she opened up early last year. By doing so, we ‘lost’ our ‘expert’ position and became people who she could talk to freely about her grievances and positive aspects about the centre. By losing our ‘expert role’ as journalists, Lungi had the power and opportunity to voice her views, which then allowed us to gain a better understanding from her side, rather than just from an outsider’s point of view. We spoke to Lungi in her own home, meaning that she had the freedom to speak her mind, as she may not have spoken freely had she been in front of an authoritative figure like a Ward counsellor. According to Haas, by having an authoritative figure absent during our meeting with Lungi, we were able to gather more rich information from her, because she was the one who had the power to speak freely. After we had spoken to her, we knew that the story had the potential to be great and the pathway which we hoped to investigate and report on the story was clear to us.
By using the bottom-up approach to public journalism, we were able to successfully gather information and an in-depth story which may not have been covered through regular journalism. Although the story may not seem as ‘big’ or as ‘important’ as other stories which normally make the press, like robberies or crime, to Lungi, this is an important story and we were able to give her a voice.
According to Haas’s public philosophy, we became facilitators in the actions which Lungi wanted to take in terms of the Little Flower Daycare Centre. While we were working with Lungi, she had approached the co-owner of Pick n’ Pay, Mr Jon Campbell and had asked him to help her in terms of donations from the public. She took initiative and control of her situation and did something active about it. We merely acted as facilitators in helping her achieve this. Once Lungi had seen Mr Campbell, we went back two weeks later to discuss how we could help make a difference in Lungi’s life and the Little Flower Daycare Centre. We showed him the soundslide which we produced and he reacted positively towards it. He decided to help by collecting donations of food and other items like toys, by placing out trolleys during the month of November, donating excess bread to the daycare centre and holding a Christmas party at the end of the year for all 60 of the children. By contacting Mr Campbell, we built on from what Lungi had started, meaning that it was her that had the power to change her situation and we just helped move it along a bit faster.
As student journalists practicing Haas’s public philosophy, there were a number of different issues and situations which we came across, which changed the way we saw ourselves as media producers. We live in our own little bubble on campus and don’t even realise how many issues and problems people in Joza are faced with. By regularly going into the location, we began to feel a lot more connected to the area. We meet some amazing, colourful characters who made us realise that Grahamstown is a lot bigger than just Rhodes University. When we came across Lungi and the Little Flower Daycare Centre, we just knew that we could make a difference, even if it was just a small one. We felt that we needed to play a bigger role in Lungi’s life, than just merely coming into her home, finding a story and then leaving without giving her nothing in return.
It also gave us a greater understanding of what Haas was trying to explain in his public philosophy, as we began to actually practice what he had written about. Because of this, we also began to feel a greater social responsibility towards the community, and especially Lungi and the children in the daycare centre. Our experience with Lungi humbled us, as we were welcomed into her heart and her home. We felt that public journalism not only allowed us to discover story ideas which weren’t heard of, but also allowed us as journalists to actively play a role in facilitating positive change in the community.
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