Cybersurf

Hello Good morning and how do you do? And what a how do you do is this week’s edition of Cybersurf, your weekly whiff of what’s happening in our neck of the Cyberwoods. I am your Cyberhost Steven Lang, this week taking you through a couple of local journalism sites.

So if you are interested in journalism in South Africa, if you are contemplating a career in journalism – pay close attention – the rest of you – listen anyway because there is interesting stuff here.

The internet has been kind to most professions, but I think few have benefited as much as journalists. It has opened up a whole new field called online journalism – that never existed a mere ten years ago. It created thousands and thousands of jobs, and is still the quickest growing field of journalism.

Besides all the jobs, it also created a fantastic research tool. Ten years ago we had to go into clippings libraries to search through dusty old files for relevant articles – nowadays – it’s a Google one two and you are home.

In the old days you had to beg a newsmaker for a phone interview – and of course she was always busy for the next three weeks – but now you find that if you e-mail your questions – the intelligent newsmaker will always find time to pop you a few quick answers.

If you are interested in studying journalism – there are many different institutions – some good and some – well … let’s say I’m going to tell you about a few good ones that I happen to know about.

There are two technikons – one in Pretoria and one in Cape Town. And I have had good experiences from both institutions. Special mention must go to Gilbert Mokwatedi, in Tshwane – one of the most dedicated lecturers anywhere.

As far as universities go – you should look at Rhodes and Wits.

The Rhodes, Journalism & Media Studies Department has a site at: journ.ru.ac.za – that is journ - j.o.u.r.n dot ru dot ac dot za. The site is good, but probably not as good as the department. It is really the place to be if you want to study journalism. It offers a good background in reporting essentials, but at the same time has a fantastic new media section where you can learn all there is to know about journalism in the twenty-first century – that includes flash animations, podcasting and weblogs.

Wits also has an excellent journalism department and in this case you should look at journalism dot co dot za. An excellent site that is highly recommended even for practising journalists.

For advanced training there is no better place than the Institute for the ffaaAdvancement of Journalism. It is a first rate site and well worth the visit if you are at all interested in the fourth estate in southern Africa – and the address of the site is: www.iaj.org.za

And as we draw to the end of the journalism edition of Cybersurf – I have to draw your attention to the fact that as we speak, SANEF – the South African National Editors Forum is holding its annual general meeting in Cape Town. SANEF joins editors and senior journalists from print, broadcast and online media to discuss media freedom and other related issues. To find out what is on the agenda, and later – what has been decided on – go to www.sanef.org.za

Finally, if you have missed any of the urls mentioned in today’s program, never fear – this entire script is available on the Cybersurf blog – which you will find at Cybersurf.blogspot.com – one more time – Cybersurf.blogspot.com.

Thanks for listening and remember to keeeeeep on surfing.