‘The cameraman’ Jon Alpert

Ettioné Ferreira On the last Saturday of the National Arts Festival, whilst the streets were filled with festival-goers, the journalism students huddled up in the boardroom of the Africa Media Matrix to get an opportunity to meet renowned American documentary filmmaker, Jon Alpert. ‌Alpert discussed some of his documentaries as well as experiences around the filmmaking

‘Becoming Who I Was’

Ettioné Ferreira In 2013, Rhodes University School of Journalism alumna, Jin Jeon, joined a documentary film project later known as, ‘Becoming Who I Was’. Little did she know that she would spend eight years in the Himalayas and later receive an award for the work at the Berlin International Film Festival. Jeon produced and co-directed

James Oatway and “The Killing of Emmanuel Sithole”

Ettioné Ferreira James Oatway won big at this year’s Standard Bank Sikuvile Awards and the CNN Multichoice African Journalist awards Oatway won the News Photographs category as well as the SA Story of the Year at the Sikuvile awards and the Mohamed Amin Photographic award at the CNN Multichoice awards for his photostory “The killing

Yusuf Omar: SnapChatting his way to the top

Ettioné Ferreira Rhodes JMS alumnus, Yusuf Omar, is this month’s IJNET (International Journalism Network) Journalist of the Month and recently won for the first time ever a Snapchat award, the Ghosties. Known for his #SELFIEJOURNALISM innovations in the South African media, he has made a significant mark in the industry. Born in the United Kingdom, raised

Sherwin Bryce-Pease wins Emerging Old Rhodian award

Ettioné Ferreira Sherwin Bryce-Pease was awarded the 2016 Emerging Old Rhodian Awards at the luncheon held on 27 August 2016 at Rhodes University. Bryce-Pease graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism at the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies in 2000. Bryce-Pease grew up in East London and came to Rhodes to study a

Not just an average Joe

Ettioné Ferreira At the heart of the Africa Media Matrix, I found Joe Alfers sitting quietly in his office. The same office that will become an empty shell for the next few months. The School of JMS is losing not only our Technology Manager but a mentor; a visionary and a friend. Alfers closes his

Life through the lens

Ettione Ferreira A typical cameraman with long grey hair, a beige waistcoat and comfortable clothes, Eric McKeown is visiting the AMM. His laid-back style and easy-to-talk-to mannerism make him a perfect mentor for the TV students at JMS. The freelance cameraman is here for a week to tell students about his experiences and the freelance

Highway Africa: Social Media from margins to mainstream

As you might have seen on my Twitter account, I attended the Highway Africa conference from Sunday 06 September to Monday 07 September 2014. The conference explored whether social media and new technologies are still on the margins in Africa or has it crossed over to being mainstream. It is difficult to throw Africa under

AJ+ hip and happening

I recently applied for a fellowship programme with AJ+ which is run by Al Jazeera. Before this I never really paid attention to the AJ+ site and mostly went straight to Al Jazeera – what a mistake! The AJ+ site is hip and happening with only online resources to spread the latest news relevant to