Vice-Chancellor invites Journalism Alumni to take hands with TUT
The media are often different things to different people, and whether we love them or hate them, we cannot live without them. For almost four decades, the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) has been instrumental in the training and provision of competent journalists to the media industry.
This milestone was celebrated in grand style at Leriba Lodge, during the VC’s Annual Alumni engagement of 2024 that focussed on Alumni from the Department of Journalism. The Advancement and Partnerships Office (APO) hosted the event.
Reminiscing about his early memories of the media, Prof van Staden said, “As a young boy when I was growing up, the cry of the street seller Read all about it …. Read all about it … to sell his newspapers, was an all too familiar and reassuring phrase – it guaranteed a new addition of the daily paper packed with information and entertainment.”
“In the digital age one doesn’t hear that anymore, instead the ping of a phone or computer now announces a fresh stream of information and news coming in be it from recognised media houses or the new generation of content generators,” he added.
If the number of heads in the audience bobbing affirmatively was something to go by, Prof van Staden’s memories struck a familiar cord with the audience.
In his welcome, Prof van Staden recognised the important role journalists play as the watchdogs of society, “Despite the current changes in the landscape, the media has, and always will be, the Fourth Estate, who keep a beady eye on governments and society to ensure that the truth about what happens in institutions is uncovered and shared. A free media is the cornerstone of any democracy, especially since we rely on journalists and the media to provide us with information and context to help us make sense of the world around us. It is encouraging that South African journalists take their role as watchdog so seriously. Your tenacity has ensured that corruption, the attempted state capture and many other serious political and financial issues have been and continue to be exposed.”
Acknowledging the challenges the higher education sector currently faces, Prof van Staden emphasised the importance of cementing good relationships with the media, and more specifically our own Alumni working in the media. “We will always respect your objectivity and the fact that you need to investigate issues. But I look forward to have a much closer, more beneficial relationship with you and that we will become partners on the journey of taking TUT to higher places.”
In her word of thanks, Mari Booysen, Director of APO, commended journalists for the role they play in keeping society on their toes. Her announcement that this was only the first of many annual engagements with Journalism Alumni to come, was greeted with a huge applause.