The Future of Journalism

Future of Journalism.

Journalism as a profession, is merely the process of writing, collecting and distributing news events. These are reports about events that are relevant, newsworthy and to an extent do even resonate to the people concerned. It is a practice that has been around for centuries, as societies developed, and expanded into global worlds. The necessity to know what happens around ones life has always been of utter importance, as this aids a better understanding of the constantly developing world that we live in. Just like any aspect of life, be it technological, societal, political or even economical, everything has developed quite massively from its basic origins. This is an inevitable process, as we know that history tells us that things change. It is therefore of for us to look back, consult records, to see where it all began, in order to be able to predict of how vivid or dim the future of journalism is.

Where it all began – history of journalism

Journalism as a profession dates as far back as the 15^th century but began to be a daily activity in the late 17^th century. According to the authors of Open School of Journalism, an independent, international journalism school providing an online/distance program, “Journalism spans history, going back all the way to the 1400s. It really took off in the 1600s, however, when the printing press was created in Germany. Soon after, newspapers and gazettes began to flood the streets, beginning to keep the public educated on the events happening around them. Political pamphlets were distributed, leading to the first periodical to be published in 1655. This was called the Oxford Gazette and it inhabited all of the qualifications needed in a newspaper.” (journalism, 2019)

With the gradual change of the whole world into one global community, journalisms future core essence was influenced with the ever-progressive technological developments. A lot changed from its conventional traditional journalism, into a more dynamic digital space. Publishers had to move with the times in order to stay relevant while being financially profitable at the same time. “In the 21st century, the growth of the Internet had a significant impact on the journalism world. The Internet brought free news and major newspapers saw troubling financial times. Large publications decided to end print editions and go to solely online papers for small subscription fees. Other companies decided to try hybrid publishing, where they would print some hard copy editions and the rest would be available on the Internet. With a whole new world being available on the World Wide Web, publications had a lot to decide in a short time if they wanted to save their companies.” (journalism, 2019)

Journalism, as it gradually developed through various factors, encountered a lot of control and suppressing as the world of politics continued to grow. Some of these factors are prevalent to the contemporary world of journalism that we see today. In the African context, in South Africa to be precise, evidence adamantly suggests there was control, restriction and manipulation of journalism, during the times of colonialization. These factors still do remain visible, to the not so duped reader, in the media off today.

Implications

The political and technological developments in the media have had positive and negative implications to journalism. These factors play a huge role in the path where journalism is heading to. As is the basis of journalism, to be truthful and precise, backed up with facts and only facts, we have seen journalism being manipulated, either for the interest of political agendas or by the introduction of artificial intelligent computer systems that have been gradually becoming a threat to authentic journalism. We know the media has been pulled more than a couple of times by politicians to manipulate the masses, leading to the media failing to empower citizens or to spread propaganda over their counterparts.

Buts lets focus on the AI aspect of journalism. Technological companies are working on AI’s to write news. This has been a provocative discourse amongst journalists, who fear for the careers being replaced by robots. The debate is about how trustworthy and ethical can these AI’s be. Will they not generate fake news? How reliable can they be?

Dave Lee, North American technology reporter writes for BBC, “The AI generates the story word-by-word. The resulting text is often coherent, but rarely truthful – all quotes and attributions are fabricated. The sentences are based on information already published online, but the composition of that information is intended to be unique. Sometimes the system spits out passages of text that do not make a lot of sense structurally or contain laughable inaccuracies.” (Lee, 2019)

With all the various aspects influencing Journalism, I see journalism as part of our lives for eternity. People will always need to be constantly kept informed of their surroundings. Even with the technological influences at hand, AI’s can not be fully trusted to generate and produce news on their own. The human eye will always be needed. The future of journalism is bright, and perhaps the use of AI’s will make it more effective to generate and spread newsworthy content, but yet monitored to ensure the credibility of news.

Theft in student residences

The increasing crimes at and around NMU makes students’ accommodations prime crime targets. Theft in student residences has become a norm and this crime contributes to students’ poor academic success. Find summary of this article on chapter four of the main article and other related articles.

Students of tertiary institutions are concerned with about their safety and security measures around both on and off-campus residences. As a result of vast different factors, ranging from the subtle corrupt relationships amongst students and the residence security personnel, who are responsible for all student safety. Many students have established what they call ‘connections’ with their security guards. This ‘connection allows them to freely allows them to walk into their residences with bags packed with alcoholic beverages. Many students lay complaints that students who drink within the premises of the residences can and do commit a number of offenses including theft. This connection, with the guards, is regarded by other students to be a major contributing factor in student amongst student theft in residences both on and off campus and has proven to be an adverse to students who are victims of theft. It is also disadvantaging to the students who are not involved in this mischievous action, it compromises their safety and leaves them vulnerable.

Although theft is an inevitable issue that is evidently ubiquitous, in this article we will explore the various issues that fuel theft amongst students in university institutions, explore the measures in place to counteract theft, look into how victims have managed to cope with the issue of theft and explore how the security and safety department of the institutions goes about into finding justice for those who have been victims, because students report that this issue escalate to levels where students face outside intruders who can have the intention to cause harm when they break into these houses.

Although it typically ranges from minor petty thefts amongst students, it has been significantly traumatizing when outsiders invade student residences and commit thefts with the intent to cause aggravated harm or injuries. The amount of thefts committed in off-campus residences by outsiders is high compared to that of on-campus residences. This is because of the indifference in security measures applied both on and off-campus residences.

To get an expert insight on this matter, we had a talk with Mr. Simphiwe Nkosa who is Head of Department of security and safety Nelson Mandela University and find out the reason for these indifferences. He said to us “If incidents happen off-campus, we have no jurisdiction. But on the off-campus residences still phone protection services when an incident happens. But as an off-campus establishment they need to have their own security. Their own security needs to deal with the issue there. Their own security fails to deal with issues there and rather throws those at us. Amongst the accreditation criteria of the institutions is that they have their own security”.

Evidently, there isn’t much that the security and safety department of the institution can do for student’s off-campus, it is solely on the responsibility of the security provided by the residences. It kind of raises concerns, because one would expect students to be given the same care, as all these are students of the same institution. The institution is responsible for ensuring that every student is assured safety, whether residing on or off-campus.

The issue of theft in residences is a complex matter. It can not only be viewed from one side, as there are a number of reasons that lead to it. But nonetheless, its outcome is detrimental to the victim. Amongst students, finding a cellphone, a book, a tablet, a USB flash drive or any other belonging that is not their property it is viewed as luck, whereas to the other person it can be a great loss. According to FindLaw’s team of attorney writers and editors, “the term theft is used widely to refer to crimes involving the taking of a person’s property without their permission. But theft has a very broad legal meaning which may encompass more than one category”. So as lightly and not too serious as it may seem, taking another person’s belonging is theft especially in the occasion that the owner does report it missing or miss placed. Very few students do take it upon themselves to report or take to ‘lost-and-found’.

Many off-campus residences have resorted in the installation of CCTV cameras to help aid the identification of the culprit in the event that an act of theft has been reported. But often times, it has proved to be futile, either because the cameras are of low quality or cannot clearly show the identification of the culprit. Sometimes the locations on which the cameras are installed do not have a full view of that particular area, living a huge space unmonitored.

According to a student of Nelson Mandela University who requested to remain anonymous who has been a victim of theft within the vicinity of his off-campus residence “I went out of my room to the bathroom for a few minutes. When I got back, I couldn’t find my phone. I had left it charging. I immediately went to report it to the securities. They couldn’t immediately look into the footage, because they had to first report it to the residence manager who had access to the CCTV footage and was not around the building at that particular moment, because the incident happened in the wee hours of the morning on a weekend. Fortunately, the manager was called and came to the building immediately and looked into the CCTV footage. But as the images weren’t clear, a positive identification couldn’t be made, and the suspected guy denied any involvement and the search of his room was to no benefit. The matter had to be dismissed because the was no clear evidence. The matter was never reported to the institution”. Other students attested that they have been in similar ordeals, but their matters have never been resolved. Because of the low quality of the cameras or how prior incidents have never been resolved, they just saw it futile to even report their situations. Many of these students say that it is better of on-campus residences because they believe that the institution toughens security there more than off-campus houses.

To get certainty on how students feel around campus and off campus, we did a survey around campus and asked 56 students how they felt about their safety. Of all the 56 students interviewed they all responded that they felt safe on campus and none said they feel safe off campus. About 16 said they had been victims of crimes, but not within residences, only on their way from the institution to their designated residences. We then asked them if they had reported these matters to the police or the institution’s safety services, only about 5 reported the matter. Those who did not report their incidents said that they knew their cases would not get anywhere so they decided to keep quiet.

Another student from a different student house, who asked not to be mentioned said she reported her incident. She says she left he off-campus residence in the morning and went to class. She came and found her laptop, speakers and a few clothing items missing. She immediately went to report the issue to her caretaker who immediately called the police. The police did arrive and inspected her room, but it was decided that nothing could be done because the student and the caretaker had searched the room and interfered with any evidence that could have been extracted. Also, a window was found opened and suspected to be the entrance the robber might have used as a point of entrance and departure. There is no camera facing the wall from which the perpetrator is believed to have come from. The student says she didn’t feel the need to report to the institution because there was no evidence as the police had stated, and she just thought it would be time consuming and useless.

We had a talk with a third-party company that does patrol around a residence off-campus and we asked him a couple of questions concerning student safety around off-campus. He said that when an incident arises, he reports it to the SAPS. We asked how do they make sure that a case is followed up, because many students said they don’t report many issues because they usually disappear into thin air without any report backs, he said to us that this is the students responsibility to follow up on their reported matters in order to be aware of the progress of their case.

The issue of theft is evidently a complex matter. It is clear that a lot is being done to try and counteract, but it is clear as well that a lot still needs to be done. A lot of students do not attest to feeling fully safe around residences of the institution and those who have been victims of crime consider it futile and time wasting to even take it to the police or campus security. There’s clear slow movement from off-campus residences as well from not thoroughly communicating with the institution on all matters that occur off-campus, so the institution can be aware of the problem and perhaps implement strategies to strengthen safety for students around all residences.

Khayakazi Tapile – The Visionary

Khayakazi Tapile is a visionary, who strongly believes that it is up to the youth to make a change.

At first glance Khayakazi Tapile, may look like the ordinary girl you encounter in everyday life, until she grasps your attention with a warm, wide welcoming smile, that assures you she is more than just a beautiful young lady, but carries within her an enormous loving heart. It is no wonder that she is fondly appreciated by those who know her, for the amazing spirit she carries within her.

Khayakazi Tapile is a 24-year-old young woman from East London in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. A law student who juggles around her academic endeavors with a mixture of social activities that serve to see that everyone around her, especially young disadvantaged kids, see social equality and equity through education. Not only is she a law student, she also serves as an Academic Officer for law Student Society (2019) at the Nelson Mandela University, she is also a social rights activist, Vice Chairperson and founder of The Rising Sun Foundation Board.

“I’m a relatively bubbly person, very kind hearted, generous, helpful, energetic and full of life. I love people and I believe that since as a country we are not doing very well to establish equality we should establish equity through education. What that means is that even though people do not come from similar backgrounds they should have access to the same facilities and opportunities.”

Khayakazi Tapile is a visionary, who beliefs in taking the right steps in implementing change and making a difference to the community, rather than wait on the ever-slow government to deliver services that alleviate many of the socio-economic challenges that our communities face. “Township and rural schools should have campuses which encourage children to go to school, play sport, better textbooks, laboratories, desks and chairs for everyone, etc… and give teachers pride to work there by having better looking staff rooms… It’s important to give our children the dignity to want to go to school and be driven. Better facilities encourage children to believe that it’s possible to go University and the right to dream instead of going to school with no dreams or purpose.”

Khayakazi is genuinely loving and caring. She easily portrays this through the various works she does for those less fortunate around her. It started from a very young age, where by she always noticed the little indifferences from kids who came from homes with working parents and those who came from non-working parents. “I grew up very critical as to why we do not have the same social standards as people. I was very critical as to why children my age do not have the same vision that I have, where a 16-year old girl like me wouldn’t believe that she can go to varsity, she doesn’t have the same social responsibility that I have, she’s got more responsibilities than I have, maybe she doesn’t have parents because of the HIV epidemic. So, I thought, what do you do with that 16-year-old vulnerable girl. How do you keep her in school, how do you keep her motivated to be in school and things like that?”

Khayakazi realized that there’s an indifference amongst kids who were fortunate enough to attend Model C schools – a defunct of semi-private government schools, and those from poorly managed government schools. This drove her to the initiative of starting a foundation, along with co-founder Lumka Cubeni, that would be aimed at counteracting some of the many challenges faced by disadvantaged kids. “Once I and Lumka started to go around communities here in Port Elizabeth, we discovered that these kids are not dumb, they’re just demotivated. They’re not certain as to where they’re going in life, they’re just drifting with no purpose. So, the best thing we can do is educate a person, so they can have purpose. Education does not necessarily mean well for us, it entails telling them that, you are going to university, there are funds for that, all you guys need to do is study hard and pass.”

After realizing all these social-ills, Khayakazi Tapile and her co-founder Limka Cubeni, established ‘The Rising Sun Foundation’. The foundation was established October 2016 and is a non-profitable organization, aimed at empowering the youth and bridging the gap between model C and township schools by helping disadvantaged kids on the many challenges they face. Some of the many services they provide is tutors to help these kids with their academics as well as unearthing all challenges that may be causing these kids not attend school. They also provide sanitary pads, for young girls who can’t afford sanitary pads, who have found themselves missing out on school, because of their menstrual cycles. They have worked with many schools around P.E and continue to do their work with various orphanages as well.

With her sense of optimism, Khayazakazi Tapile, co-founders and all members of the foundation have managed to spread their organization and have opened branches In Johannesburg, East London and Port Elizabeth.

Khayakazi Tapile is a visionary, who strongly believes that it is up to the youth to make a change. “Instead of constantly being told by adults that education is important, its up to us to fix our own society, even though we’re not the ones who contributed to the breakdown of our societies.