Gehalte-beriggewing in die buitekantoor van 'n Suid-Afrikaanse dagblad

Abstract

Die medialandskap het die afgelope twee dekades dramaties verander weens hoofsaaklik tegnologiese vooruitgang. Die digitale rewolusie het geboorte gegee aan die internet. Dit het 'n hele nuwe wêreld geskep waar elkeen met net 'n selfoon toegang tot nuus op elke kontinent het. Sosiale media soos Facebook, Twitter en Instagram, asook interaktiewe nuuswebwerwe, maak dit boonop vir elkeen moontlik om 'n mening oor elke denkbare onderwerp te lug. Daarmee saam kan elkeen met toegang tot dié tegnologie nou self nuus versprei. Die digitalisering van nuus het boonop veroorsaak dat die sirkulasie van koerante wêreldwyd aan die daal is, wat beteken nuuskantore moet met ál minder joernaliste klaarkom. Al dié veranderinge veroorsaak dat joernaliste nuus toenemend vinniger vir aanlyn nuuswebwerwe moet produseer en gehoor gee aan die eise van 'n baie betrokke gehoor wat self ook die nuusagenda wil bepaal. Boonop moet minder joernaliste meer nuus produseer. Joernaliste wat nuus alleen in 'n groot gebied moet dek, soos buitekantore van Suid-Afrikaanse dagblaaie, spring dié druk nie vry nie. Terwyl dit nog altyd 'n uitdagende taak was om so 'n kantoor alleen te bestuur teen die spoed van daaglikse spertye, is dié spertye nou soms selfs uurliks soos wat nuus breek en vir aanlyn platforms geskryf moet word. Onlangse navorsing toon die verwagtinge is egter steeds dat joernaliste aan die tradisionele standaarde vir gehalte moet voldoen. Hierdie verkennende studie fokus op hoe buitekantoorjoernaliste by Suid-Afrikaanse dagblaaie hul direkte omgewing kan bestuur om aan tegnologiese eise te voldoen sonder om gehalte prys te gee. 'n Stelsel-en-prosesgegronde benadering is gevolg om hul dagtaak as verskillende prosesse te beskryf, voordat dié prosesse ontleed is. Eindelik is tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat buitekantoorjoernaliste met die nodige insette wel prosesse kan volg wat gehalteberiggewing behoort te verseker. Praktiese riglyne is opgestel op grond van die studie se bevindings oor dié prosesse om joernaliste in buitekantore en nuusbestuurders te help om sulke kantore doeltreffend te bestuur. The media landscape has changed dramatically over the past twenty years, mainly as a result of technological advances. The digital revolution gave birth to the internet, a phenomenon that created a whole new cyber world where everyone with even a cell phone has access to news on every continent. Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as interactive news websites, create the possibility for every single person to voice an opinion about practically anything. On top of this, everybody with access to these technologies can distribute news themselves. Furthermore, the digitalisation of news resulted in a worldwide decline in newspaper readers, causing the retrenchment of journalists in news offices. Al these changes resulted in journalists having to produce news faster and faster for online news websites, and giving in to the demands of an increasingly involved audience who wants to put the news agenda on the table themselves - this in an environment where increasingly fewer journalists have to produce more stories. Journalists who have to cover news in a vast area, like in satellite offices of daily newspapers in South Africa, don't escape this pressure. While always a demanding job to run such an office alone with daily deadlines, these deadlines now sometimes have become hourly as breaking news has to be written for online platforms. Recent research however shows it is still expected from journalists to maintain traditional values of quality journalism. This exploratory study focuses on how journalists in satellite offices of daily newspapers, can manage their direct environment in order to adhere to technological demands, without compromising quality. A system and process approach was followed to describe daily tasks of journalists in satellite offices, before these processes were analysed. It was concluded that journalists in satellite offices can write quality reports if they have the necessary inputs and follow certain processes. Practical guidelines were compiled, based on the findings of the study about these processes, to help journalists in satellite offices and news managers to run offices like these efficiently.