Twelve Citizen Journalists received certificates of attendance after they completed the five-week Grocott's Mail Citizen Journalism course, at a ceremony in the newspaper's Citizen Journalism Newsroom on Wednesday.
Twelve Citizen Journalists received certificates of attendance after they completed the five-week Grocott's Mail Citizen Journalism course, at a ceremony in the newspaper's Citizen Journalism Newsroom on Wednesday.
Grocott's Mail Citizen Journalism Editor Kwanele Butana said 32 people had registered for the course, which started in February. “Some people left the course due to personal circumstances; some found employment and could not continue with the course,” said Butana.
He said others had not meet the requirements for graduation. “Some did not submit their assignments, while other assignments were not good enough for publication,” he said.
One of the graduates, Monwabisi Nokhubela, described the course as the “great adventure”. “I learnt a lot of things about journalism, and it encouraged me to cover more stories from the community,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by fellow graduate Fadilah Hoffman, who said she had learnt a lot. She plans to continue to write stories for Grocott's Mail.
Malingwe Maxhawulana said the course was interesting, and thanked the course trainer, Elvira Van Noort, for what she had done for the group. “The skills I got will help me in becoming one of Grocott's Mail's citizen journalists,” said Maxhawulana.
Another graduate, Stacey Conroy, said she had learnt a lot and would use the skills she had gained to write more stories.
Course trainer, Elvira Van Noort, said it had been a learning experience for her. “I got to know the people of Grahamstown better, and the challenges they are faced with through my interaction with the trainees,” said Van Noort.
She said it had been good to impart skills, tools, and knowledge to enable the trainees to empower themselves and their communities. However, she cited some challenges, such as consistency in the trainees' work.
She also said officials often refused to co-operate with the trainees. “Some officials did not understand what the citizen journalists do, and the trainees got difficulty in getting answers from them,” she said.
Butana said the graduates would begin to publish stories on four platforms – Grocott's Online, Grahamstown NOW and Radio Grahamstown's news and current affairs programme. Selected stories would also be published in the print edition of Grocott's Mail.
“There will be incentives for stories published in the print edition. CJs get R100 for a published story, and R50 for a photo,” said Butana. He said the next course would begin early next year. The Grocott's Mail Citizen Journalism Newsroom was officially launched in 2009 at the Grocott's Mail offices in High Street.
