Introduction

I came into the journalism industry knowing absolutely nothing! Of course I only realised this after I entered the newsroom. Not to say that what we learn in university is useless, but it honestly does not prepare us for the amount of learning that we had to do in an actual newsroom.

The best way to start any story is always to start from the beginning. The year is 2010, the country is excited about hosting the World Cup, the atmosphere is filled with joy. I on the other hand am stressing, I have to make a decision that will change the course of my life. I am a matric student and before me is a C.A.O form that I have to fill out, stating the possible careers that I'd like to study towards. Like anyone else from a Black family, there is so much pressure from both parents and relatives, each of them have their own ideas of what I should study. With my mom being a nurse, she'd really like for me to study towards becoming a doctor. She knows well and good that open wounds freak me out and I can't stand the smell of medicine. Not just that, I don't believe in western medicine at all, which means I don't take medication, as in ever! So imagine the irony of studying towards a medical degree. Crazy right?!

My dad on the other hand is obsessed with the law and everything surrounding it. You can wake him up in the middle of the night and ask him to recite the constitution and he will without any trouble. So it's no surprise that he wanted me to study towards a law degree. His side of the family wanted me to study Tourism, imagine! I'm an A student studying Physics and doing pure Maths and these people want me to study Tourism??! Of course there's a reason behind it, my cousin had recently got a job in the tourism industry so they felt that was a place I was guaranteed a job after graduating because my cousin would have to pull some strings. I was hearing none of that! I'm anti-social, always have been and probably always will be, so I definitely would not survive in a tourism environment. 

I on the one hand have always been obsessed with words and writing. From as early as I can remember, I've been writing poetry and short stories. I've always known that I want to end up in the media space. I have to be honest though, I thought I would be on the entertainment side of things. No, not in front of the camera, I wanted to be writing, producing and directing soapies and that kind of thing. On the other hand I'm obsessed with crime channels and investigation shows. On the Case With Paula Zahn, 3rd Degree, Cutting Edge... all of these are shows I always fantasise about working for. So by now you can clearly tell that I am very confused.

In the midst of my confusion, I was invited for a radio interview at a community radio station close to where I lived. The presenter on the show loved my voice so much that she offered me a news reading gig on the spot. I was very excited so I agreed. That was my first taste of broadcast journalism and after that I was sure what I wanted to study after school. I was going to be a journalist, a broadcast journalist to be exact. And so I studied towards a diploma in journalism at Durban University of Technology and had three years of bliss, frustration, triumph, tears and so much more. At the end of it all I felt I was ready to face the world... but not before I completing an internship. 

My first taste of practical journalism started at an investigative journalism organisation called Roving Reporters, run by award winning journalist, Fred Kockett. I was there on a six-month internship... which I desperately needed to complete if I had any intention of graduating.