Enrolment of first year students in journalism leaps up by 30% in 1979. Why?
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"Possibly because the Information scandal has made journalism seem like a glamorous profession." At least this is the opinion of Journalism staff who compare the jump in numbers with a similar phenomenon at journalism schools in the United States after Watergate.
Of course, the increase may also be linked to the growing reputation of the Rhodes department, the only one of its kind at an English-language university in South Africa.
Bulletin, 1979 (2): 3
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Africa Media Matrix (AMM)
Background, construction and visuals
Voice
Source and material
Photograph by Simon Pamphilon
Guy Berger was behind the ambitious Africa Media Matrix (AMM) project that entailed massive planning, fundraising, curriculum revision and future projection; as well as conceptualizing the facility and getting it built.
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The Africa Media Matrix (AMM) was intentionally designed to train media practitioners to navigate the complexities of democratization, development and globalization in a changing media landscape.
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The backing of the university for the Africa Media Matrix went beyond providing the site, it also included the first-ever establishment of a deputy head of department at Rhodes.
Senior writing lecturer and editor of the Rhodes Journalism Review, Anthea Garman, was appointed to this position so that Berger could concentrate on the Africa Media Matrix which was completed and opened to the big world in 2006.
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Take a tour:
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Photographs: Guy Berger; Shalen Gajadhar; Christiaan Louw; Simon Pamphilon; Gregor Röhrig Design & Layout: Shalen Gajadhar May 2006