SOFJ Movie Review

What do you get when a British Television Personality and a resigned US President sit down to discuss conspiracy and foreign policy? The SOFJ found out during a class field trip to the cinema.

Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard and written by Peter Morgan, is based on the 1977 television interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon concerning Nixon's presidency and the Watergate scandal. While there is debate on the historical accuracy of the theatrical performance, the lessons learned by aspiring journalists, such as the importance of preparation and maintaining direction of the interview, remain intact.

Throughout the film the team of Nixon advisors coach the former president on possible directions of questions and responses. Meanwhile, the Frost Team researches and studies every move Nixon made as president and tries to nail him in a much anticipated confession of wrong-doing. While Frost loses the grip on the interview in the first sessions, allowing Nixon to take control and dodge the real issues, he regains control in the last bit and . . . you'll have to watch for yourself to find out!

All in all we give the movie and good mark for entertainment, and a great mark for usefulness (and fun) for a School of Field Journalism!

--
Darcie

The X files

Based on an interview with SOFJ student, Xetsha Hlongwane, from Zimbabwe.

Xetsha , or "X" as we like to call him, came to the SOFJ from Zimbabwe, where his family still lives. Amidst political instability, humanitarian crisis and experiencing the bias of local newspapers, X looked for a chance to build his skills and abilities of communication to help his parents and community.

"I was disgusted about the way local journalists would report," X explains, "For example, with cholera, the papers wouldn't have anything. Thousands would die and they wouldn't say anything. I thought if I could be a writer myself I could write about issues that affect people."

X comes from a family that supports orphans in Zimbabwe. His parents run a home in a small community taking care of about 80 orphans and children. Before coming to Muizenberg he was part of communicating the needs of the ministry to donors and sponsors. While thousands have fled his home country, X says his parents just couldn't
leave. "I love Cape Town, it is a great place to be, but it will never be home. There will always be that element that misses home."

The church in Zimbabwe is attempting to be a safe place for the people and address issues facing the country, X says what keeps them going is faith and prayer. "It is difficult to address issues that are illegal. For example, border jumping. . . it is not right, but people don't have options. [What they do] it's their only source of income." Pastors in Zimbabwe are finding it difficult to address the issues like not having proper travel documents and money laundering without leading people to be jobless and starving. In addition, X explains that all pastors have to pray before teaching and be well versed with the law, "You really have to be led by God and rely on Him because you never know who would be listening and there is so much you just can't say."

"We are just hoping," says X, "there is hope in the people."
Xetsha is considering doing more studies in communication in the future.

Darcie Nolan

On the Beat

SOFJ took to the streets of Cape Town this week. The assignment? Cover an annual Pro-Life demonstration downtown. With notebooks, questions and cameras, students boarded a train Friday morning at False Bay Station and set out, ready to put to practice classroom teaching on interviewing, photography, slants and newsworthiness.

The National Day of Repentance is held yearly to bring awareness and protest the legalization of abortion in South Africa, which happened February 1, 1997. This year, organizers staged a solemn funeral procession through downtown Cape Town, ending at the Parliamentary Gates in a Prayer Vigil. Students of the SOFJ met with coordinators, participants and onlookers, took photos of the event, and wrote both a
news article and an editorial piece on what they saw.

SOFJ Staff Member, Adam Jeske, commented, "After four weeks in the classroom adrift on theory, they did a great job out in the swirl of real life, producing some quality stories and images."

The coming weeks in the SOFJ hold more practical experience as students begin to tackle investigative journalism practices. Students will work with a team to research and investigate an issue pertaining to South Africa. At week's end, presentations from each group will be used to decide which topic goes on to be made into a documentary piece, which a magazine feature piece and which an internet blog piece.

Is our world view biblical?

With great privilege, the SOFJ has spent the last two weeks receiving
teaching and inspiration from Landa Cope, Founding International Dean
of the College of Communication for YWAM's University of the Nations. She is highly sought to speak to politicians and business leaders around
the globe about the Bible's practical applications in all domains of
society.

Landa brought a challenging word to the students, encouraging them to
gain God's perspective as it is revealed in Scripture. She also taught
the importance of asking good questions and being bold in the
proclamation of Truth.

The week prepared the students for writing their first big assignment
over the weekend. Each student focused on an issue of their choice and
brought a Biblical worldview to the piece, while still writing for
mainstream media. Topics such as prostitution, Sharia Law, farming,
and human trafficking were all explored in the light of God's word and
His principles.

We look forward to continuing our study on news-worthiness this week
and meeting with the God of Communication!

Building Globally

The SOFJ is in full swing! Eleven students representing nine nations have come together to dive into the field of journalism and share hearts and visions for communication in Africa.
Here are two of the inspiring stories that brought students to this course:

Emmanuel
Petauke, Zambia
DTS 2006 in Zambia

Admiring a number of the BBC correspondents, such as former Focus on Africa editor Robin White and columnist Steven Sacker, Emmanuel was inspired to become a journalist through contemplating the genocide in Rwanda and realizing media's influence. He says, "I would like to acquire all the necessary skills for front-line reporting. I feel like doing it from those areas that are hard hit by war or natural disaster."
As the first to move out of Zambia, he is supported by a proud family who expect great things.

Marie
Boras, Sweden

Born and raised in Sweden, Marie (pictured above with desk-mate, Lydia) joined YWAM in 2004. After her DTS she staffed several schools in Australia and led Discipleship Training Schools.
Following her heart for writing, a recommendation from a South African friend and a stirring for Africa, she came to the school to gain practical skills and learn more about the African countries that have interested her for so long. Marie says the most challenging part of the school will be putting everything into practice that will be learned during the three month lecture phase.

Other students include:
Solomon, Nigeria; Rivka, Venezuela; Micah, United States; Cristian,Argentina; Darcie, United States; Xesha, Zimbabwe; Lydia, South Africa; Nicolas, Nigeria and Agnes, Uganda.


--
Darcie Nolan

Building team around communication

One of the highlights of Week 1 of the SOFJ was the team-building events. Bec Gibbons, from the EuroCom team, happened to be in Cape Town for a few days on vacation and she agreed to come and facilitate some activities with her friend, Linda. It was great to get the school off to a good start and to observe the different communication and interaction styles of staff and students.

We have 8 different nationalities represented on the school, which makes for some interesting cross-cultural communication! The team-building times provided a safe environment for some of these differences to show themselves, and an opportunity to process together. Sometimes the classroom might not feel quite so safe, so this was great.

Not only do we have a new student body, but our staff team needs to bond too. Five of our school staff have worked together as part of AfriCom but four are new to the team. Bec and Linda spent an afternoon with us as staff and we had a lot of fun, observing our differences and commonalities.

Relating well is all about communication!

School of Field Journalism begins!

Today saw the official opening of the School of Field Journalism that we are running as part of the Communication faculty of the University of the Nations. We welcome 10 students from places as diverse as Venezuela, Sweden, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

As part of our first day of vision casting for the school, we were thrilled to have Landa Cope join us. Landa is the founding Dean of the College of Communication and she was instrumental in designing curriculum for the original School of Journalism. It was great to hear from 'the horse's mouth' how this training program came into being and how she sees its future.

Landa will be with us this week teaching on '360 degree thinking'. It will be a challenging week of recognizing how little objective or biblical Truth we can claim to know - about the world or about ourselves - but it will be a rich week of learning and processing. She is also with us next week to continue teaching on issues relating to a biblical worldview.

For those readers who would like to support us in prayer, we have a special request: in Week 3 of the school we hope to host Veronica Schaab who pioneered the School of Journalism in Argentina. Although it will be very strategic for her to be part of our training program, both she and us are struggling to raise the finances for her plane ticket. Please pray for financial provision - thanks!