MY EXPERIENCE AT FJP

Sthembiso Sithole
@SITHOLEEXPRESS

Studying Journalism at Tshwane University of Technology is a great experience that led me being chosen to be part of Future Journalists Programme in Grahamstown.

FJP is a great programme that I believe has changed my life as a journalism student. It has opened my mind about the media landscape in Africa. Today I know how the western media push its own ideology in the African continent.

Yesterday we watched a short film Kony 2012 that was created by Invisible Children, Inc. It is aimed at raising awareness about Joseph Kony and the crimes that he committed in Uganda.

2012 FJP peers in the news

Everybody has dreams, my dreams are big and I can’t stop dreaming. One of the reasons why I chose journalism, it is because I want to tell those untold stories. I want to be the first to break that story. Yes, you got it right; I want to be the best in the media game.

When I was chosen to be part of FJP, I told myself that this is the time for me to grow and meet new people. I met fellow journos who have passion and love for journalism. I learned a lot from them as they expressed their views about different issues that are facing South Africa and how journalists can bring change.

First day; we learned about news writing and that was one of the sessions I enjoyed. Rhodes University lecturer Simwogerere Kyazze taught us about different ways and methods in writing for news. He emphasized the need for one to write for readers not him/herself.

One of the things that I realized about journalism, it needs someone with passion, talent, love and enthusiasm for it. FJP was a better place for me to discover my strength and weakness as a journalism student.

We were given a task to do vox pops about ‘My Democracy My write’. That was interesting because we went to the streets of Grahamstown.  We asked residents about the healthcare system in public and private hospitals. I must say they were welcoming and that made things easy for us.

Podcasting is one of the things that I am taking with me from this programme. It felt great to know that I can take my radio work in the internet. I think that makes things easy for people to hear my work and that will improve my chances of getting an internship next year.