By Thabo Mkhize
Education/General reporter, Sunday Times
Johannesburg, South Africa
Hosted by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Journalists learn new things almost everyday and gain valuable experience in the course of doing their jobs or while attending training programs in their home countries. I believe being part of this excellent program has allowed me to obtain knowledge, skills and experience that I would otherwise not have gained in my home country.

Being a Fellow with the St. Louis Post Dispatch for the past five months has not only armed me with skills I need to become a better journalist, but the experience of working in a foreign country and being exposed to new cultures and new people has also helped me grow as a person.

My transition began when my Sunday Times colleagues and former AFPF Fellows Lee-Ann Alfreds and Rowan Philp recommended me for the program. Their confidence in my potential, together with having my stories published in a foreign country, has given me the confidence to believe that I have what it takes to be very good journalist.

Some of the things I've learned might be hard to pin down and put into words, but there has been a significant improvement in my writing and I know a lot more about many aspects of the profession that I did not know before I came to the United States. I hope I’ll be able to share some of the skills and knowledge I’ve acquired with my colleagues back home.

I attended several journalism conferences and workshops where I interacted with reporters from different walks of life. The workshops dealt with a variety of issues ranging from basic writing skills to the more advanced computer assisted reporting—something I had never heard of before I came to the US.

There were a couple of things that my host publication, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, did that I would like to see my home publication adopt. I plan to tell my photography editor about the electronic photo assignment database system used by the Post-Dispatch. Reporters make photo requests electronically instead of using paper like we do back home. This might help reduce confusion and make the department run a lot smoother. The Post-Dispatch also has police scanners, a rich and immediate source of information that enables newsrooms to follow breaking news by listening to police reports—something I hope my editor can consider.

Computer assisted reporting (CAR) is one of the most important journalism tools that is hardly utilized in my newsroom, and probably most newsrooms in South Africa. Before I came to America, I had never heard of Excel or Access, programs used to analyze and arrange large sets of data.

We often spend a lot time trying to analyze statistics released by government departments or private companies and waste time we should utilize for other important things. I attended a workshop on computer assisted reporting conducted by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) at their national conference in Denver, and I believe my colleagues need this skill. It will not only save them a lot of time, but would also improve the quality of their stories as they will have a tool designed to analyze data.

I have limited understanding of the programs but I would like to see my newspaper invest in the software and also find get skilled people to teach reporters how to use these programs.

I also came across a number of websites that are mainly dedicated for use by journalists. They are excellent for reference and some feature tutorials ranging from simple mathematics for journalists, to tips on how to write sophisticated features for specific publications. Most reporters are not aware of these sites. I have a list and I’ll be sharing it with my colleagues.

There are also a number of things I feel my paper needs to consider introducing, such as including reporters’ contact details including email addresses at the bottom of their stories. Readers can also be a great source of information, and by doing this they can write or call reporters directly to talk about follow-ups or to make corrections.

Some reporters forget what being a journalist means and what our job entails. During one of the sessions I attended at The Poynter Institute, we discussed what the profession was about and what is expected from us as reporters. After that session I had renewed interest in my job. I plan to speak to my colleagues about this. Journalists are not politicians, nor are we celebrities, but our jobs are to inform, educate and warn the public, be the voice of the voiceless and also be a watchdog.

Most people I work with have been in this profession for a long time and they know a lot more about it than I do. I can’t just go back to my newsroom and suddenly tell people how things should be done and what they need to learn. The best way for me to transfer knowledge I’ve gained in the US will be through former Fellows Lee-Ann Alfreds and Rowan Philp who can act as facilitators. They command huge respect in the office and I’m planning to use them to pass what I’ve learned on to my colleagues.

I also bought a couple of good journalism books that deal with a variety of issues such as writing tips, editing and computer assisted reporting. I also took a lot of notes that I also plan to share with my colleagues.

The importance of having a happy newsroom can not be emphasized enough. It is up to both editors and reporters to ensure that the environment in a newsroom is conducive to good working conditions. If the working conditions are not good, it is not only the workers and company profits that suffer, but also the public that we serve. When people feel appreciated and are treated with respect they tend to work hard. I hope to speak to my editors about this and hopefully they can make an extra effort to help lift the morale of their reporters and help create a healthy working environment.

I know it might take time for people to be open to what I’ll be saying; some might also dismiss it as nonsense. It is unlikely that I get a reward for sharing what I've learned with colleagues, but I'll know I've done my job and would be satisfied even if one reporter comes to me and says that what I have shared with him or her has made a difference.