SA press freedom to be staged on Dutch TV

Journalism students Olivia Manders (20) of Arnhem and Gerben Solleveld (22) of Wageningen, from the Ede Christian University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, are currently based in Potchefstroom in the North West Province.

“We are hoping to portray the struggle of South African journalists who bring out objective and honest reporting, and at the same time research and discover SA journalism and see how the media functions in a completely different country,” Manders told Bizcommunity.com last week.

“We want to get a deep insight of SA media by, among others, looking beyond the face of journalists who find themselves ostracised because of their critical tone and free voice,” Solleveld pointed out.

Reach a large audience

All the interviews, coupled with the real picture of SA's political and social situation they are hoping to get here, will feature in a TV documentary that will be broadcast on Dutch national TV, hoping to reach a large audience and get the debate rolling.

Furthermore, Solleveld said the project will help them emphasise the importance of open and honest reporting, and compare the Dutch media system to that of SA and demonstrate to the Dutch audience that there can be differences with other media worldwide.

Manders added: “We are young and ambitious journalists who want to be heard, so we are hoping that Dutch national TV will provide us a platform to reach as many people as possible, compared to other TV stations with limited audiences.

“We are only a small team, taking care of all tasks such as filming, editing, researching and producing, and we hope to wrap up everything by end of April [2009].”

Collaboration

The Ede Christian University, which is in collaboration with the North West University, is the sole funder of the project, which is due to last for three months.

In the past few years, a lot of activities of Dutch educational activities have been taking place in SA, with Dutch students and academics flocking to the country to undertake various nation-building projects.

Solleveld explained, “We believe that South Africa is relatively safe compared to other African countries. Another reason is that Holland and SA share a history.

“Furthermore, the Dutch education has always been widely promoting the importance of study exchange programmes.”

The team is also expected to travel to Namibia, Botswana and cholera-hit Zimbabwe.

SA was ranked 38th in the 2008 World Press Freedom Index published by Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF). Africa's bottom countries on the list include Ethiopia (142nd), Tunisia (143rd), Rwanda (145th), Egypt (146th), Swaziland (147th), DR Congo (148th) and Zimbabwe (151st).