The role of the media is more important than ever before.  Crucial even.  The Fourth Estate have always been the guardians of the truth, the fighters for factual freedom to flourish and the consummate pseudo-secret agents exposing the villains on their airwaves and pages, physical, web or otherwise.  Or has it always been that way?

Journalism is about reporting what, when, where, why and how it happened, and who was involved.  It can be as simple as “Mrs Smith’s dog was rescued after becoming stuck in a tree outside her house on Wednesday”, or juicier like, “President Trump’s tax returns indicate mass fraud and evasion and will be investigated by the FBI next week.”

No prizes for guessing which one is more likely to sell a newspaper or book, garner a website click or share, or cause a listener or viewer to turn up the volume on their radio or television.

And these media houses know which of those two stories you would rather consume.  Of course they do. They have profits to make or else they will go out of business.  Most media organisations are private business entities that exist to make a profit.  They have to sell their product to someone; a target market.  They have already identified who that market is and so some of these entities will sell to people who lean left, and others to people who lean right.  None of this should come as a shock to you, dear reader.

I purposefully mentioned the current U.S. president earlier because he was the subject (the ‘who’ earlier alluded to) in yet another major news story in the last few days.  Trump has already demonstrated a disdain for the media, particularly what he calls the fake news media. As a journalist I am going to say this: Media houses selling their product to the left, liberal-leaning market are unlikely to report stories in a way that Trump will condone.  Likewise, media that sells to a more conservative market will likely be praised by him.

It’s actually quite pathetic.

At the latest White House Press Briefing, CNN’s Jim Acosta became involved in a verbal skirmish with Trump. The American president is a bully.  Bullies specialise in sparring, verbal and/or physical.  I have never met Acosta but would say it was foolish to trade verbal blows with Trump.  There was always only going to be one winner.

Many people rushed to Acosta’s defence post-press conference.  Let me say this, as someone who has covered events as a reporter:

1 You apply for accreditation to these events.
2 Accreditation is a privilege, not a right. I have been denied accreditation by FIFA for example.
3 Press conferences are packed with reporters. There is usually a certain protocol where the subject (in this case Trump) or a media liaison (Sarah Sanders most likely) will point to a reporter indicating it is their turn to ask a question,  In turn the reporters would have put their hands up hoping to be noticed by the subject or media liaison.
4 Generally each reporter is allowed one question before the microphone is handed to the next reporter.  Often a reporter will be allowed a follow-up question for the sake of clarity but then it is someone else’s turn.

Acosta did not adhere to this.  He attempted to ask at least a third, possibly a fourth question.  He then engaged in a shouting match with the bully-in-chief.  I have been involved in such an exchange with the coach of a national football team before. I regret it and before you say Acosta might regret it too, I’d point out he is far more experienced than I was when I had my incident.  Further to that, this is not the first time Acosta has had this kind of bout with Trump, nor is it the first time this scenario has played itself out on live television – the same channel Acosta is employed at no less.

Far be it from me to attack a fellow media colleague, especially one I have not even met, or call out a rival media organisation; remember I am employed at Al Jazeera Media Network.  I am simply trying to point out how things work and that I think that in this case Acosta got it wrong; whether it was indeed premeditated or spontaneous.

I also believe this incident has absolutely nothing to do with media freedom or freedom of expression.  Acosta had had his turn to ask a question.  If his freedom of expression was being suppressed, then what about the other reporters who were waiting patiently, as per protocol, to ask their questions?  If CNN was having its media freedom suppressed, then what about the other media houses who were not afforded their opportunity to ask a question?  And possibly because of a circus-like sideshow that was wasting valuable minutes.

But do not let what I have just explained change your mind.  After all, if you are a conservative then no doubt Acosta and CNN are the communist cabal that lack any social ethics, morals or values and want nothing more than to take all your money and dole it out to the lazy lumps who are on the street.  Similarly, if you are a liberal, then Trump has once again demonstrated that he is an anti-media, anti-freedom fascist, racist, warlord all rolled into one and the genocide of anyone whose skin is a shade darker than pale white is imminent.

I for one cannot wait for this page in our history to be turned.

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Of course community media also plays other crucial roles.  These newspapers, websites, radio and television stations are the link to the towns and cities they represent.  There’s a new school opening down the road, there’s been a break-in at Mrs Smith’s house or a new set of traffic lights are going up at the corner of Church and Main – yes, these are the bits of news you will not find in the national press.  Further to that it is exactly where aspiring journalists can hone and craft their skills and begin to make valuable contacts.

Community television stations like Soweto TV give aspiring presenters and journalists a chance to hone their skills.
Photo credit: Soweto TV Facebook page

How tragic it is then that community media in South Africa is still owned by the big boys.  The same people who own the major daily and weekly newspapers also own the Randburg Sun for example.  The same corporates running two of the country’s three largest media conglomerates also own all the community television channels.

There really is no point to having Soweto TV, or Cape TV, if they are going to broadcast American televangelists for 12 hours a day.  Personally I think that kind of content would be best suited to a Sunday, and in a country where the majority of people identify as Christian, it would also be good.  But in the week there should be local news bulletins, talk shows, magazine programmes, education programmes – all locally-produced of course.

Community radio stations like Radio KC give young, up and coming hopefuls a chance to hone their skills.
Photo credit: Radio KC Facebook page

Our community media platforms – especially the television channels – are letting their communities down in a bad way.  My hope is that when South Africa finally does switch over to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), the industry will open up in a big way and provide the platform for the truly local journalist, presenter, producer and filmmaker to showcase their skills.

Don’t hold your breath though.  South Africa was meant to have DTT in place ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  The country has routinely missed the other self-set deadlines since then, including the 2015 international deadline.  It is now 2018, the country has yet another new Minister of Communications, and we are still waiting for the day that the criminals who broke into Mrs Khumalo’s house, and stole her high school netball trophy, are named and shamed on her community’s local television channel.

What do you think about all this? Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Or maybe that is what you thought?

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As it turns out your media house is what they call a Non-Rights Holder.  In simple terms this means you have such limited access, that you might have wished you stayed at home.  The big broadcasters pay billions of dollars in order to hold the rights to broadcast these competitions and with that comes the privilege of exclusive access.  I have covered a FIFA World Cup and an Olympic Games as a non-rights holder and in order to achieve any kind of success, you might want to read on, because your news editor (not sports editor) is unlikely to have much sympathy for you and you will be expected to deliver.

I covered the FIFA World Cup in my own country so I will use the 2012 Olympic Games in London as an example of what you might look to do.  I already had experience of being a non-rights holder reporter so I expected limitations but even I was surprised upon arriving in London, despite reading up on the rules beforehand.  On the first day of competition we went to a cycling event.  Well it did not help us when my cameraman was asked to kindly leave his camera at the front door.  What do you do?  How and what will you file?  There are millions of people ready to tune in later tonight to watch Olympic Games coverage.  “Sorry they wouldn’t let us in”, will never be an acceptable excuse.

I set about devising a plan.  We could not enter Olympic competition venues with our camera, but we could go all over London so each of my pieces-to-camera (PTC/standup/link) were shot with a different iconic London background behind me.  Before the Games, I signed up with all the official sponsors’ newsletters.  As it turned out they had daily events and any media house could attend these.  We made a point of going to all of them and by doing that we had several Olympic gold medal legends’ quotes to send back home.  “How did you get Maurice Green and Dick Fosbury?” they asked.  They didn’t have to really know!

We were quite fortunate in that the South African delegation put up their own little media hub so we went there often to interview South African delegates on the progress of the team.  It helped that South Africa won quite a few medals in London and “South Africa House” hosted each of those medallists so that way we got more one-on-one interviews with the South African heroes.

Outside of that, we were on the lookout for pretty much whatever we could use as material.  On a mission like that, there is usually a day or two that will present an opportunity to produce a colour piece.  My cameraman and I were astounded at the general unfriendliness of Londoners.  We wondered how anyone made friends in the UK capital and then one day on the tube I spotted a sign for a dating website and the next thing you know THIS package was put together:

We were praised and criticised for our work in London during the Olympics.  In fact every one save for the news editor was happy but then there is no pleasing everyone.

Here’s a short, summarised check list if you’re going to cover an event as a non-rights holder:

1  Read up on the restrictions beforehand so you know exactly what you’re in for.
2  Make contact with the organisers, sponsors, administrators, officials, ANYONE AND EVERYONE YOU CAN, before the time to establish potential interviews.
3.1  Draw up your own diary for the duration of the event so you know where you are going and when you are going to do it.
3.2  You can use that diary to tell your editors back home what you plan to do the next day
3.3. This will go a long way towards avoiding being told what to do from someone who does not fully appreciate the restrictions that you are working under.
4  Once you are at the event, respect the rules.  Respect goes a long way and you never know, you might just be invited to an event that strictly speaking, you are not allowed to be at.
5  When you interview someone, ask plenty of questions that are not necessarily related to your story.  You can archive these and use at a later stage.
6  Have fun and enjoy the experience.  Even though there are restrictions in place, you can still have a wonderful time covering an event as a non-rights holder.

I hope this article has been useful to you if you are about to go cover a big event as a non-rights holder.  I would love to hear from you on how you have covered events as a non-rights holder too.  You can comment below.

“It’s not what you know.  It’s who you know.”

I am sure you have heard that one before.  In my case I did not know anyone.  No one in my family had ever worked in broadcasting before and it was my dream to a radio presenter.  One day I was looking at courses at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and noticed a short course called “Introduction to Radio Broadcasting”.  I rushed home and convinced my parents to pay for it.  I was 20 at the time.

During this course I gained invaluable information about the industry.  It would all culminate in me passing with a distinction and achieving the highest score in my class for our practical assignment, which was recording and producing a radio demo.  A demo is a demonstration of your skills.  In television, this is also commonly referred to as a show reel.

My strategy after completing the course was to record a new demo and then distribute it to all the community radio stations in my province, except the one that was 500 km away.  Community radio stations are mostly for volunteers only so moving so far away from home without having a job to support myself was unwise.

Two stations invited me to bring my demo to them.  Radio KC in Paarl (about 60km north of Cape Town) offered me the opportunity I had been dreaming of and on Saturday 20 March 2004 I was on air for the first time ever.  I was so nervous and my first 10 minutes on air were a disaster.  However, after about 30 minutes I settled down and began to have some fun.  By August I was hosting the afternoon drive show and by June of the following year I left to join P4 (now called Heart FM 104.9).

After three years in commercial radio I moved into television as a sports reporter at e News and currently I work as a sports presenter at one of the biggest television news channels in the world, Al Jazeera.

You do not have to follow my exact path of course, but I would strongly recommend putting together a good demo or show reel and distributing it.  You might say you do not know who or where to send it to.  I would answer you by saying, find out.  You are a journalist after all.  Build up a network for yourself.  Use LinkedIn and Twitter and soon you will have contacts.  Not everyone will help you but by way of example, you can follow me on Twitter or add me on LinkedIn and then you have a contact at Al Jazeera.  See how easy it can be?

All of this is very useful information, but I cannot stress enough how crucial natural talent, ability, skills and hard work are.  Those elements trump knowing who to call or email every day of the week.  My advice is simply to help people who are good, or at least potentially very good, and give them a little push in the right direction.

I wanted to be the guy who scored the winning goal or hit the winning runs.  I wanted 100 000 people to cheer my name.  I wanted Mum to be proud but instead I became a sports journalist and this is why.

My earliest sporting memory was the Springboks returning to international rugby in 1992 against New Zealand.  I was only nine but the match left a lasting impression.  Soon afterwards India’s cricketers were touring South Africa.  I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up – a sportsman.

An aggressive collection of sports equipment, shirts, magazines, books, autographs and whatever else I could get my hands on commenced.  I would put on my SA cricket shirt and bowl in the backyard for hours after school.  In winter I donned my Bok jersey and practiced goal kicking.  The large tree acted as the poles.  However, it soon became clear I was hopeless.

I could not run, jump or throw so athletics was out.  I could not tackle so my rugby career flopped.  My fast bowling was on some kind of morphine so I set my sights on becoming the next Shane Warne.  Sadly every ball I bowled was the wrong one!  Oh and of course I could not bat.

My determination endured.  I tried baseball, hockey and soccer – when we lost a pre-season game 11-0 I knew I was no goalkeeper.  Maybe tennis would be my game.  Maybe not.  I got no love from that sport, or squash for that matter.  After being taught how to drive a golf ball my first shot was perfect; straight down the middle of the fairway.  The next 30 shots all went pitifully square along the ground and I knew golf was not for me.

I was desperate to be the family’s first sports hero.  So desperate that when my high school history teacher invited me to try rugby (again) I accepted.  Maybe this time things would be different.  They were.  Curiously I found myself in the front row.  Without knowing how to scrum I crouched, touched, engaged and pulled a muscle in my back.  I did not attend school for the rest of the week let alone walk again until the weekend.

Forced to consider my options, I decided to cut my losses and do the next best thing and I am glad I did.  I would not trade my job for anything in the world.