26 January, 2010

Broadcast vs New Media

Journalism has always been an interesting field, catering and deepening into other spheres of communication. As I approached 2010 I had to choose between two fields of journalism, one of which has lasted for years and the other overtaking the market in recent years.

Choosing between two very prodominent industries is difficult choice. Both of these fields are interesting yet challenging. One requires the intellect of knowing the internet market and following while the other requires you to find a niche in a market already jam packed with reality programmes, soapies and oscar winning movies.

I find online challenging in two aspects, first is finding the right place to advertisement and promote your work as journalist, secondally what you write has appeal far more since you are writing for the imagination and a intellectual group of readers. Words and the way you place words can often cause a reaction of all sorts and what's fun about that is the opportunity to comment on that site or blog.

Television on the other hand requires all the time in the world. Starting with preparation to production and to post production. Pitching an idea is a great experience, but can often be meet with resistance to change or no interest at all. The other challenges is creating something that is not already there in the market.

What I have noticed here in South Africa is that our Online Media is in the growing stages of becoming an empire, hopefully that will not be controlled by an outside entity like newspapers. In terms of the Broadcast Media, unfortunately there is a shortage of producers, scriptwrites and directors that in past two year two of the greatest impacting films have gone outside of South African boarders to recieve funding one of them is District Six.

As a student in my final year I only wonder what impact I can bring to the journalism industry. Going abroad my bring a world of adventurer, but then again one had make their foot print in there homeland. So what would be the next step, what can one change about this industry and what can one do to improve and better it for the coming generations?