We have all seen and heard of the headlines about Marikana, Oscar Pistorious, Zwelinzima Vavi - just to name a few- right? These stories made the rounds in every newspaper in the country and were the trending topics on our social networks. These were the "big" stories that everyone had a comment on, because they were the ones that set the agenda at that particular time. But what about those other really important stories that we never got to pay attention to because they fell in the shadows...?
I had a conversation with a friend of mine a while back and she told me that she didn't know anything about the Medupi Power Station, that is currently under construction in Limpopo, until someone else mentioned it to her. Honestly, that was the first I had heard of it too. Oh and by the way, this power station is a great investment into the country’s future.
I then realised that we are very ignorant young people. The only reason why I was pushed to start watching the news was because of the news quizzes we get in media studies class, otherwise, I just couldn't be bothered - I know this will resonate with many of my classmates.
How many of us knew about the two new universities that are being established in Mpumalanga (University of Mpumalanga) and the Northern Cape (Sol Plaatje University). We would rather spend hours on Twitter going through the list of the most recent "open letter" to one of our local celebrities, instead of catching up on current affairs on News24.
Solution
Here are a couple of tips to help us intergrate news reading into our daily social network lives:
- Follow newspapers and news channels on Twitter e.g @eNCAnews, @TimesLIVE and @SundayTimesZA
- Click on the links they tweet
- Don't just read up on stories you've already heard
- Have an open mind
- Search for intersting topics in the news on platfroms such as Google
I didn't know about the new developments, quite an informative blog. I will Definitely read online news often.
ReplyDeleteIt's important hey. One day we will wake up and importabt desicions will be made on our behalf because we didn't know about it. Look at the e-toll situation.
ReplyDeletehonestly what drove me to following the news was my dad, he always breathed down my neck about how could a Public Relations student not follow current affairs. to my surprise i fell in love with following the news. i learnt a lot and found out i actually knew nothing. so you are correct, reading the front page of a news paper only is nothing, we must learn to inform ourselves always.
ReplyDeleteSo had it ont been because of your father, Ntokozo, do you think you would've taken it upon yourself to start reading?
DeleteMotivating blog I must say. This is very important especially for us PR students and I must say I personally gained interests for news through social medias and it really helped hey.
ReplyDeleteyeah hey...it's always much cooler reading news on social networks...it feels like less of a drag
DeleteNow I'm motivated and ready to go!
ReplyDeleteNICE BLOG AND INFORMING TO THE YOUTH PEOPLE.SOME OF THE PEOPLE WERE NOT AWARE OF THE TWO UNIVERSITIES THAT MZANSI IS PLANNING TO ESTABLISH.I SAY KEEP IT UP GIRL BY INFORMING THEM.
ReplyDeleteAs Puseletso said, it's importnat for us to read and be informed especially as PR students
Deletewith regards to ntokozo i dont think so, we the young generation are just lazy to do even the basic of most basic things, like for example others dont even bath nje, let alone read consistently, if we just did all that your blog advices in regards to staying informed we would be such better people in life though hey, well informed and knowlegdable about things
ReplyDeleteHIGH 5!!
DeleteI think it is a good thing that these Universities are being established because at the end of the year matriculants they have difficulties in finding space.
ReplyDelete