“It gives us an opportunity to interrogate the ills of society”
Spotlight
About this page
Never in history has it been so easy to accumulate information. A vast sea of stories flows ceaselessly through the devices at our fingertips. But some days I feel I am drowning in data that does not help me understand the world any better.
Edward R Murrow’s warning about TV in 1958 could just as well be applied to all our modern information sources:
“This instrument can teach. It can illuminate and, yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends. Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights in a box.”
It is what we do with the information at our disposal that determines our destiny.
I once had a news editor when I worked on a small broadsheet newspaper in Cape Town who would cut me down to size by reminding me that my feverish efforts at storytelling would soon be “fish n’chips wrapper”. Undeterred I sat at my Olivetti typewriter for hours until I was happy with the stories.
In 2014 when we launched The Journalist we had a section called News. Our aim was and is to explore the meaning behind the lights and wires. To avoid at all costs becoming electronic ‘fish n’chips wrapper’.
Since then, we have chosen to rework this section of our website and in line with our updated approach it is called SPOTLIGHT. It is a name that evokes images of performers plucked out of the darkness of the stage and bathed in light so that the audience can revel in their artistry.
Spotlight will feature the artistry of our finest writers. Their brief will be simple. Don’t merely tell us what happened. Help us understand why.
If you have an idea for a Spotlight story please engage in the discussion or use the Contact Us page to write and let us know what you are thinking.
If we are indeed the end result of all the stories we’ve heard, as Tim Knight says, choose carefully. The Journalist is committed to help you make that choice and to shed light on the 21st Century clutter.
Fishing communities struggle for justice
Do not let human rights fall through the net
Have our leaders read the Constitution?
“Press holds rights in trust for citizens”
Sharpeville 1960: A Journalist Remembers
The day an anti-pass protest became a bloodbath that rocked the world
A Man for All Seasons: Politician with the Soul of a Poet
Tribute to Ohm Collins Chabane
Meqoqo: Conversations with Linda Fekisi
The Right To Know R2K Campaign
The 1652 debate rages on
‘Van Riebeeck is more honest than Dr Mulder’
Departure and Displacement: Leaving the Public Service
Race is back on the table hiding behind the fig leaf of transformation
Indigenous Liberation Walk: A Human Rights Focus
March is Human Rights month at The Journalist
Holding Us In Check: When emotions are high & expediency beckons
The Constitution & Bill of Rights in a nutshell
Jan van Riebeeck: Nie ‘n held of ‘n skurk nie
Storie is veel meer ingewikkeld – Vryheidsfront Plus leier Pieter Mulder
Economics and budgets
In the week of the budget speech The Journalist focuses aspects of the budget and economic development. Some matters require consideration; can social spending be maintained and increased? How will the electricity recovery plan be financed? How do world economic trends impact on South Africa? For those interested in the budget, you can listen to the speech live on our website or you can read the article by economist Catherine Kannemeyer from the Mapungubwe Institute. But future budgets will be...
I am not proud of the colonial history: says Zelda Le Grange
But Madiba’s former PA says she has to claim her identity
Can we find our way in the dark?
About budgets, energy availability and economic matters
Call Back the Past: To make sense of the present
Photos that speak volumes
Jan van Riebeeck: No hero, no villain
The story is more complex, says Freedom Front Plus leader
The Budget Speech Live
No big changes expected & marginal increase in grants
When public representatives get (very) hot under the collar
The Journalist brings you some pictures from around the world that show the world’s political elites in scenes they themselves would certainly want to forget.
Govt operates at the pace of a village cow
Part of the problem says the Deputy Speaker
Should the JZ performance coach be shot?
When the dust dies down Zuma needs some serious lessons in communication
He Shone Brightly As A Sestiger
And a shining light into the next Century
Remembering Slavery in South Africa
The horrendous practice of slavery lasted for 176 years in South Africa. It was implemented with the most brutal violence imaginable and its legacy still permeates modern South Africa. In this edition, we carry a story written for the online platform Africa is a Country, by academic and poet Gabeba Baderoon on aspects of our […]
Meqoqo ‘Conversation’ with Chester Missing
Meqoqo is a regular multimedia story in The Journalist‘s Spotlight section with host Linda Fekisi.
The 24 years of Madiba
An unerring instinct to include and create consensus
About Us
The Journalist is a ground-breaking media project that provides history and context for key issues facing South African journalists. The Journalist is an independent, not for profit organisation working with the academic community and a range of credible online entities to make knowledge more accessible to the wider public. We don’t only tell you what happened. We help you understand why.
Our Partners
Republish Articles
We want our stories spread far and wide. Feel free to republish our articles, but please credit our writers and authors and credit The Journalist at the top or bottom of the article complete with a hyperlink back to the site.
Donate
The Journalist is a non-profit organisation and relies on public funding. Please consider donating to ensure more issues in the future.
Account name: The Journalist / Bank: Standard Bank
Branch Code: 026209 / Account number: 270320830
