Grahamstown is a small city in the Eastern Cape, situated between Port Elizabeth and East London. Grahamstown appears to be very small to an outsider, however the neighbouring townships (unseen by many Rhodents) show how much bigger the town really is. The city consists of a mainly white population whilst the townships are home to the black and coloured majorities. Most of the people in the townships find employment in the city centre. Grahamstown has come to be known as a student town because of the number of students attending Rhodes University. The University boasts the motto, “Where leaders learn” and many students are actively involved in the community. Students participate in community service, start their own businesses and help raise awareness on issues that are faced by the marginalised.
Given the nature of Grahamstown I feel that it is necessary to be an objective journalist. In the Glasser reading, the negative side of being an objective news reporter in stated. Glasser notes that objectivity takes away the journalist’s creativity and independent thinking, also that objectivity is in favour of the status quo, meaning it promotes the ideas of the elite and prominent. In my opinion, it is the journalist’s job to be objective and by this I mean, show all sides of the story. Complete objectivity is impossible however; the aim is to represent all parties involved in a fair way thus objectivity is something journalists should strive towards. This is all dependent on the news organization a journalist works for and their methods and practices.
Stories about the community should be told. Of course, hard news is about capturing and covering news that is timely, relevant and of interest to the majority; however, news about ordinary people in the community is important. It would be of interest to show the interaction between all members of the community, scholars, officials, those who work in managerial positions and those who work the grounds, those who start their own businesses or turn their houses into homes for the down-trodden. These stories may be hard news, perhaps highlighting the effects of young student businesses on the businesses of local community members. The stories may also be of a feature or profile nature, which would bring the light the lives of ordinary people in the community.
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