Governments shutting people up by banning organisations or detaining people that pose a danger are old tricks exercised through the ages.
This also happened in South Africa on what is called today, Black Wednesday, October 19, 1977.
This was the day the previous apartheid government unleashed a clampdown on the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) by banning 19 BCM-aligned entities and two newspapers, The World and The Weekend World.
This day, celebrated on Sunday this year, is also called today the National Day of Press Freedom.
I saw in the news of the past weekend that several political leaders and icons in the country commemorated and mentioned this day.
I had the opportunity to go to the SA National Editors’ Forum commemoration of Black Wednesday on Friday.
At this gathering at the Media24 boardroom, Doctor Thami Mazwai, who was a journalist of that time, described the situation of Black Wednesday.
He says it was in the time after Steve Biko died on September 12, 1977 and something in the country had to give.
For him October 19 started as always when he went to all his contacts before going to the office.
Arriving at the office he got to know that most of his colleagues and fellow-journalists were detained.
The doctor’s speech for once had put me in the shoes of someone who experienced that part of history first hand.
He was a journalist during the time I started, starry-eyed, with my studies in journalism.
What he went through is something I never dreamed of happening to someone.
I can only imagine how it feels when the newspaper you work for does not exist any more and most of your colleagues are in prison.
But, much has changed since then.
And only if the proposed laws on state secrets and more are not going through, because this will put the media in another place of being muzzled.
I have been a journalist in both the new and old South Africa.
Because I have seen both worlds, I can say reporting now on community matters is far better than in the 1980s.
In the old days because we heard about journalists being detained, many journalists were too scared to cross some borders.
This, of course, limited our scope of stories we dared to do and places we went to.
And I think it robbed many journalists, like me, of some insights we only receive now.
It was only after being away from journalism for a while that I realised how narrow-minded our reporting was and that we were blindfolded writers describing a false world.
We never dared to write anything against the government and never thought of criticising our leaders.
When reading our publications today – printed, as well as online- I see freer journalist writings.
We are far more brave in criticising and highlighting social issues and the corrupt part of government.
Then, with the new South Africa arrived the digital era.
Yes, digital has changed our safe little world of reporting for a community newspaper and blasted our town into the world arena of news.
But I think working for both a website and newspaper is the most exciting occurrence that could get into any newsroom.
Digital is here to stay.
There are many analysts and experts who think the newspaper is a dying species and that only old people and dinosaurs will read it in 10 years from now.
The exciting part of the new digital media is that no-one can say where it is leading and what to expect next.
Because of the fast pace of digital development, news can be dished up in another type of media within a short space of time.
Journalists are becoming ‘celebrities’ in their communities with Twitter handles and Facebook pages.
At Friday’s meeting at Media24 the research of Wits Journalism, under Glenda Davies, was also released.
This research, called State of the Newsroom South Africa 2014 covered various items, but the study done on community newspapers was en-lighting.
What was especially interesting to me were the trends in the world of community newspapers, like Springs Advertiser and African Reporter.
One trend I can relate to is that the main motivations for being involved in a community newspaper are the desire to make South Africa a better place, to give people access to information and to serve the public.
Community newspapers, according to the study also made a significant contribution to diversity in the South African news coverage in terms of content, plurality of voices and serving their communities’ interests.
That’s why I say it is a privilege to work at a community newspaper/website and that we are at the cutting-edge of new trends.This is the engine room for change for the better, first in the town we serve and then in our country.
Journalism is a hard world of stark realities many people will choose to ignore.
But, I say like the study of Davies, that serving a community with unbiased and fresh news is a life-calling that continues to give joy to the journalist and causes someone like me to remain a journalist.
