Welcome to Beijing, Lincoln!

By Annetjie van Wynegaard

This Friday Rhodes University and SPI alumnus Lincoln van der Westhuizen will fly to China to start the next two years as a Master’s student in business journalism at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Lincoln has received an all-inclusive scholarship from the Chinese government and this will be his first time in Asia.

Lincoln holds a BA degree in radio journalism and Afrikaans, as well as a postgraduate diploma in media management (PDMM) from the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) at Rhodes University. He heard about the scholarship through the PDMM course at SPI. Director of SPI, Francis Mdlongwa, had sent out an email that Rhodes University is trying to establish a relationship with Tsinghua University with information about the scholarship. He applied for the scholarship, got accepted in June this year, and accepted the offer shortly after.

Lincoln had received a Primedia scholarship for his PDMM year, and since January until the end of July he has been working for Primedia at KFM 94.5 in Cape Town as an online sports journalist. He didn’t take a gap year after school or travelled after university, because he first wanted to have a degree and experience behind his name. He had planned to travel after he obtained his degree, and with this Chinese scholarship, everything has fallen into place for him.

The business journalism MA course accommodates 10 Chinese students and 10 international students from all over the world. He will be staying in the Zijing international student apartment with other international students. There is an internship component to the MA, and Lincoln also plans on taking extra courses to study Mandarin. He said he will take advantage of the opportunity to travel around Asia.

As for his preparation for the trip, he has decided to go in completely blind. “I haven’t looked at anything; I haven’t eaten Chinese food, read Chinese books.” He has, however, been reading up on social media in China, and he said it’s interesting how they do media without any of the tools we use in South Africa, like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, Flicr, etc. Even Wordpress and Google Docs are banned in China.

Lincoln said his mom’s been sad, because moms are sad, his father’s been stoic, as fathers are, but his family’s been great about his new adventure.

Rhodes University has signed a Memorandum of Intent between the School of Journalism and Media Studies and Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. This memorandum is the result of discussions between representatives of the two institutions at the 2012 Highway Africa conference and at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua, Beijing, in December 2012. It is the intention of the two schools to explore opportunities for co-operation and student and staff exchanges around the areas of teaching, training and research.

SPI pizza lunch was a success

By Annetjie van Wynegaard

Wednesday, 14 August – Despite the fact that hundreds of Rhodes students were marching on the Grahamstown municipality to protest against a nine-day water stoppage, the annual SPI Pizza Lunch still drew a good crowd of interested students.

The Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership (SPI) hosts this informal event each year to provide Rhodes students with an opportunity to learn about the Institute’s flagship Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management.

This year almost 30 interested students attended the gathering where SPI deputy director Peter du Toit delivered a short presentation and three current PDMM students spoke positivelyabout their experiences of the course so far.

Peter said the PDMM target market includes recent graduates and people working in the media industry who want to advance their careers. He said the participation of professionals on the course was a great benefit to both students and lecturers because they ensured the course stayed on top of current issues.

He said PDMM students completed eight core modules during the year and participated in a compulsory month-long period of participant observation at a media organisation of their choice. This time in the field provides students with a chance to reflect on how lessons learned in the classroom can be applied in the professional world.

PDMM student Babalwa Nyembezi spoke about time doing participant observation at Primedia in Cape Town and Johannesburg. She has been invited to return in September to work for them again. “Who knows what can happen when you do this course?” she said. Babalwa was awarded a scholarship from Primedia to study this year.

Zimbabwean student Robin Tatenda Chaibva said a highlight of the PDMM was the way in which the course encouraged students to reflect on the kinds of leaders they would like to be. Robin holds a Bachelors of Science degree and created a fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog called Concrete Jungle before she started the PDMM course. Her blog placed in the top five of the Zimbabwe Fashion Week fashion awards.

Robin said that she was benefitting greatly from the PDMM scholarship she received from the Open Society for Southern Africa (OSISA). “It’s been a very good opportunity,” she said.

MTN scholarship winner Mike Moodie said he had decided to do the PDMM course because he wanted to learn about the business side of media. So far, he said, the PDMM course has given him a good understanding of the industry. Moodie completed his participant observation at the Media24 publication Men’s Health and described his experience as “the best”.

Moodie said the PDMM programme provided students with a good chance to meet people from outside South Africa and a good experience to learn from each other.

After a brief question and answer session the meeting ended, and students and teachers gathered for more informal discussions about the courses.

The Sol Plaatje Institute also offers a range of short courses to media professionals. For more information visit their website at spi.ru.ac.za or contact Linda Snam at l.snam@ru.ac.za

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SolPlaatje and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SolPlaatjeInstituteForMediaLeadership

SPI runs third in-house management course for SABC

JOHANNESBURG – Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership has just completed a successful in-house course in broadcast management for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in Johannesburg – the third course specifically run for South Africa’s public broadcaster in the past two years.

The July 8-12 course in the Essentials of Broadcast Management (EOBM) included delegates from the SABC’s regional stations. Howard Thomas, one of the SPI’s trainers on the EOBM, said: “These staff members are always appreciative of this type of training as it brings them together to exchange experiences with people who are closer to the head office and who have crucial knowledge of the operations and audiences of regional stations.

“With broadcasting expanding at an exponential rate, there is a developing shortage of skilled staff in all areas. The SABC is fully aware that as much as people need specialised skills and training, this training is of little effect without the context, the big picture.

“The EOBM does precisely this. In just a week, delegates get a clear picture of the context, the environment and the landscape of the media and how broadcasting fits into all this. Through the various modules of the EOBM course, delegates are given the crucial pieces that complete the jig-saw puzzle.”

Professor Noel Pearse taught modules on leadership and management and human resource management; Dr Mashilo Boloka focused on the emerging regulatory environment for the broadcast sector; Thomas lectured on advertising and marketing, as well as programme management; and Jolyon Nuttall took the SABC staffers through strategic planning and managing the budget. Professor Franz Krüger examined the role of editorial independence and media ethics in shaping credible content for a media company. Most delegates praised the EOBM course, saying it had given them key insights which they would use to improve the management and operations of their work places.

One delegate commented: “This course will enable me to do my job better because I now understand what is happening in the broadcast sector much better.”

Another said: “I now have a deeper knowledge on managing people, the marketing segments, behaviourial changes and egos and in how to deal with the performance of individual staff.”

In the past two years, the SPI has run a successful EOBM for the SABC, as well as another management course, the Essentials of Digital Media Management. Both were held on location at the SABC’s headquarters in Johannesburg.

High hopes for Harare: SPI graduate launches a new free sheet in Zim

Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management alumnus Harry Davies feels the addictive pull of print as the first issue of his paper, the Harare News, rolls hot off the presses.

Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management 2012 alumnus Harry Davies has wasted no time putting the skills and knowledge he gained from the Sol Plaatje Institute’s year-long course to work. Harry is the business manager of the Harare News which launched in Zimbabwe on 1 July this year. The free sheet has a print run of 10 000 copies and can be read online at [www.hararenews.co.zw]. SPI Deputy Director Peter du Toit (PDT) asked Harry (HD) about the launch of the new title.

PDT: Can you tell us what motivated you and the others involved to start the publication?

HD: I have always wanted to work in the media and always wanted to live in Zimbabwe. After graduating from Rhodes University in 2007 with an Honours in literature I lived in Ireland and London for a spell, and then in South Korea for two-and-a-half years. Seeing the way people use technology and interact with the news and each other in these developed nations made me see how far Zimbabwe and indeed Africa still have to go in many areas. I was always seeing new and innovative concepts and services in marketing and communication and the manner in which Africa is leapfrogging technology means that there is a lot of scope for some of the finished products I saw in Asia over here already. I came to the end of my contract as the curriculum coordinator at a government language institute in Korea and started to scour for training opportunities that would invigorate my thinking about how to start a media business. I looked at options in India and America, but kept returning to the SPI website where the allure of the PDMM curriculum beckoned. I was reluctant to return to Rhodes (diversity is best) but ultimately the offering seemed unparalleled. There was a massive absence in Harare of community news other than H-Metro which is a tabloid riddled with mythical creatures and gossip. It was also surprising to me how much good stuff is going on in this city every day. This place is blossoming, culturally, socially and economically. Unfortunately this is not reflected in the big dailies and weeklies which are caught up with political mudslinging. We saw the need for something positive, community-focused and representative. A newspaper with issues that the average reader is actually able to influence. We are hoping to cultivate a bit of grassroots activism around issues that affect us as a community.

PDT: Who is your target audience?

HD: We are trying to be hyper-local so anyone in Harare really. Our coverage is mass-market.

PDT: Where and how are you distributing the paper?

HD: We are starting with 10 000 copies for the CBD and northern reaches of Harare. As we build capacity and brand awareness we will grow into the southern parts early next year with an additional 20,000 copies. It is being delivered to supermarkets and shopping centres for mass distribution. We have about 150 read-only copies in waiting areas across the northern part of the city -- coffee shops, doctors’ rooms, etc. In being a true community paper, the paper is in most schools and the hospitals too. I have a big map of the city in the office divided into zones. Everyone on the team gets a section to deliver to and monitor.

PDT: What has been the response from the advertising community?

HD: Our first issue was very well received, though the improvement in sales from selling a concept to selling based on our first issue has been slim and hard fought for. A lot of businesses are in a cash-flow crisis at the moment, and the biggest companies have reigned in their marketing ahead of elections. We work for the promise of the future.

PDT: How would you describe the editorial vision for the paper?

HD: Community- driven, hyper-local, accurate, responsive, positive, enabling.

PDT: How do you think this vision supports your commercial objectives?

HD: We are unique in the market and hugely interactive. We cover issues not picked up on by other publications and thus have an appeal to an untapped suite of advertisers. Our social mandate is earning us a response from donors too as we negotiate financial support for various aspects of our business (e.g. sponsorship of female journalists, bulk subscriptions to cover distribution costs, etc.)

PDT: To my knowledge the free-sheet model has not worked in Zimbabwe until now. What made you decide to use this model?

HD: This is true: a free paper folded as recently as the end of last year which was running on a very similar model to ours. We are different to our predecessors because: we have a strong digital strategy (they had none). we are aiming to cover the whole city (they were focused on small sections). the economy is on the mend in several sectors (and will hopefully improve across the board). we have a short term plan to use our core skills and expertise to create alternative revenue streams through partnerships with other companies and people. Other practical reasons include: A desire for some media to reach people for whom newspapers are a luxury. A desire to reach people disenchanted with the news. a simpler licensing and accreditation process for our business and journalists. A means of addressing the challenge of competing with free digital media. The ability to guarantee 10 000 copies are being read.

PDT: The launch of the paper so close to an election could leave people thinking you have political motives. Is this the case? If not, how would you respond to this suggestion?

HD: I would have to say... read the paper. Everything in Zimbabwe is highly politicised, especially at the moment, so ultimately issues around the environment, sport, education, etc. can end up being hauled into the political arena. I would be surprised, however, if anyone found the content we have published so far to have some sort of agenda.

PDT: What have been the biggest challenges you have faced so far and what do you anticipate will be the biggest challenges in the future?

HD: Getting the right people in place and working effectively, managing money, and selling advertising have been the toughest challenges so far. In the future... these will probably endure as our big issues.

PDT: How do you think the PDMM has contributed to preparing you to go into this venture? What particular lessons have you learned from the course that stand out now that you have taken the entrepreneurial leap?

HD: It unpacked my dream into digestible pieces and then brought them all together again into a better-understood whole. It gave me a new vocabulary to conceptualize strategy and planning. I met some awesome people who inspired me and motivated me.

PDT: Do you have any advice for current and future members of the PDMM class?

Start Francis' [SPI Director Francis Mdlongwa] business plan assignment EARLY. Keep all your notes and files; they will be good tools in your library down the line. Start trying to develop your personal time management skills ASAP, they are the cornerstone of everything else that you do. Mine are poor and I sometimes drop the ball on simple but crucial tasks as a result. Working on it though!

ENDS