A objective look at un-objectivity

By Ayanda Mhlanga

Reviewed Blog: The Art of Unobjectivity

I stumbled upon this blog by mistake, while looking for another one, at first glance the seemingly clean presentation caught my eye, the look made me feel as if I could take it seriously and I quite liked the idea of being un-objective. The blog which is by 5 Journalism1 students, seemed set on being un-objective. The initial posts, which seem to be posted by a group of princesses who chose to remain faceless, left me quite confused as one could not really get who the blogs were relating to.

I found some of the early posts laborious to get through even though it was an easy format to read, maybe this could have been because of the lack of illustrations to keep me interested. The princesses proceeded to write in different fonts with different colours, which disrupted the uniformity. The writing picked up after the initial manifestos, and the uniformity returned.
The matter covered is very consistent though with interesting takes on being politically correct and of course the validity of objectivity, though a lot of the news topics were international which disappointed me slightly as I am not particularly interested in boy band members passing away, and love local relevant information, for an international audience though, this is good.

In this blog expect to find many floating URL’s few visuals or extra’s but some good writing on certain topics; the posts I looked forward to reading were Jessica Kate’s, whose writing was clear and interesting. How un-objective are they you may want to know, well I don’t know if I’m the right girl to come to for an objective opinion.

Maybe I'll Get Famous

By Ayanda Mhlanga
I like writing stories, the made up type that don’t need much verification that make the reader want to smile, or cry or jump up in excitement. I do not see how this would pose too much of a problem if I am to become a journalist; these days it seems I would only have to reconstruct press releases, wait for people to phone in and send a few emails to survive in this line of profession, I’ve learnt that you need not leave the office in the construction of a newspaper except perhaps to get the pretty pictures that will shock the consumers into purchasing that particular newspaper, for the most part I could probably sit by the phone and write stories that push unfortunate ideologies all day.

Now that’s precisely my problem with the system, it is warped. I feel there is so much left unsaid, and a few too many things left unseen, no one sees the moonwalking bear. I used to be optimistic or naive and think I, or any person really, had the power to change it all, but as the days go on, the course (Journalism 1) progresses, and my years grow nearer to their closing I tend to lose hope; now I’d just be happy if everyone was aware of what’s going on and trying to make their own decisions.

I, myself, am really keen on feature journalism because it allows one to dig a bit deeper and express a bit more love, features are a bit more colourful and a lot more fun, and I also feel it is a lot less cutthroat than hard news; I struggle with cutthroat. I also enjoy magazine journalism, but not the fluffy ‘how-to’ side, I like interesting literature that challenges the reader, the piece of literature that challenges me most would have to be my Bible and I don’t plan to match that. Just something to brighten up someone’s day or make them think about aspects of life a bit more, things that record life and in turn make life a bit more interesting.
The wonderful ladies who are co-authoring this blog with me seem to be on round about the same page as me on this, and seem really excited about changing perspectives and questioning the status quo, which is great because we are young and are hence allowed to have foolish ambitions and sometimes goals set by such ambitions are met and sometimes they aren’t, but a girl can dream.

I’m talking about when one doesn’t merely want to survive in the journalism profession, but to shine. And maybe I’ll get famous as the girl who dared to change the system, or maybe I won’t.

This is my journey. Join me.

By Sarita Pillay


“So”, she said to the faceless internet users, “I’ll pretend that you care about who I am and I’ll write with all the wit, astuteness and honesty I can muster and perhaps, just perhaps, you’ll read.”

My first writings entered into competitions in primary school were usually of a political nature. Indeed, primary school and politics in the same sentence. A lot of what I wrote was about racism and my own identity issues.

Upon the word ‘racism’, she heard a groan, occurring especially loudly from the corner of the internet universe populated by a rare breed of human, the Rhodes Journalism student. She shrugged this off, typing with ferocity, passion and indifference alike to an ANC Youth League member pledging their support to Julius Malema.

Politics, South Africa and identity still seem to dominate a lot of what I think and write about. This interest-bubble has now expanded to include environmental and human-rights issues. My opinions tend to be well thought out and provoked by what I believe, read and hear. I believe what I like and I read what I like, but I don’t always hear what I like. Often, it’s these dinner table discussions and snippets of corridor conversation which evoke a passionate piece of writing.

She stopped for a moment. She was about to write about the fact that she is objective, but now, after having survived almost 8 months of first-year Journalism at University, she realises objectivity is a naïve concept.

I used to be incredibly pessimistic about journalism in South Africa, until I discovered that that which is mainstream is not necessarily quality and that which is alternative is not necessarily obscure. I’m still not sure as to whether journalism is definitely the right path for me. I’m struck by the fact that journalists are spectators not participants. It bothers me that I may be in a position in my career where I cannot help but only watch. I take encouragement however, from the fact that something I write may spark a greater awareness of an issue and, perhaps, social change.

Somebody called her an idealist once. Some people call her a neo-hippy. One person said she should consider a career in politics. Another claimed that she’s naïve and likely to be dismayed by the world’s evils. She likes to think of herself as a Warrior of Light, as Paulo Coelho would say. She uses writing and reading as a means of understanding herself and this place they call earth.

This is my journey, as an individual and as a wannabe journalist. I learn through my writing about the stubbornness of humankind and the beauty of a purple-tinged sunset. Join me on this journey.

(453 words)