The Bush Radio Newsroom

In the pic: (seated) Nadia Samie and Lunga Guza. (standing, L to R) Megan Hartogh, Busisiwe Mtabane and Bronwen Heather Dyke.

Life in a newsroom is always a frenzied one. The newsroom at Bush Radio, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is no exception. The five people who make up the newsteam are constantly governed by time and driven by a constant stream of deadlines.
As a community organisation, Bush Radio exists to serve the community. Therefore, the newsteam’s most valued source of information is the woman/man on the street.

At least 80 percent of each news bulletin is made up of local news.
Probably one of the biggest differences between commercial media and community media is that the former will source the story from the top down, while the latter will tackle the same story at grassroots level, and then approach the top echelons (be it government or business) and ask what is being done about the problem.

The Bush Radio newsroom currently comprises of a trainee news editor who is a Journalism graduate from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), a reporter who is a Journalism graduate from Rhodes University in Grahamstown and three interns (2nd year journo students) from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (who are required to complete a one-year internship in order to complete their National Diploma in Journalism).
Nadia Samie
Trainee News Editor

We value your input. Want to comment? Drop the newsroom an email to news@bushradio.co.za or to find out more about the Mother of Community Radio in Africa, log onto www.bushradio.co.za.