Entry one

From Disney to reality

“Journalism is nie vir sisies” said Margaret Linstrom in the first year of journalism studies. A 19 year old township girl coming from high school with a dream of simultaneously becoming successful, famous, and being the world’s hero, never understood the quote until she landed in the world of a fleeting medium, the world of broadcast or the world of ‘theatre of the mind’ as they refer to radio. It was during this time after completion of her undergraduate degree when she finally understood what her lecture meant with the figurative expression.

It then became clear to her that this world was not Disney, but a world characterised by pressure to meet deadlines. A world characterised by pressure to be factually corrected. A world characterised by politics and economics. A world characterised by cause and effect. Where what you report subsequently proves to have enormous consequences for others.  A world where producers have an enormous potential to shape the country’s perceptions;  a world in demand of objectivity from the reporter, but where public interest sometimes conflicts with political and economic feasibility so she kept explaining in her class. 

  

It was during her first work experience when the 21 year old started comparing her experiences to what her lecture had told her during the course of her studies. It was then when she started questioning her interest in media. On the one hand, it was also then when her inquisitiveness for journalism and media developed. 

Today in 2016 her interest in the production of radio, the medium that never sleeps has escalated even further and the journey continues…