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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Publications
Of the j-school
Through the times there has been a busy programme of print media being produced in the journalism department for both internal and external use. Below are a few of these publications.
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At the time of its establishment in 1979, Bulletin represented the only English-language academic department of journalism in South Africa engaged in training journalists. It sought to sustain debate on the quality of journalism and to be a watchdog on the watchdogs, commenting freely on the performance of the media and analyzing the values implicit in their news and views. It no longer runs.
In the 70s and 80s
INQUIRY
First launched in October 1978, this was a special issue of an intermittent departmental publication. It was almost immediately banned for possession as well as distribution.
RHODES JOURNALISM REVIEW
Launched in 1990 by Kerry Swift, Rhodes University Journalism Review, was produced to be "a vehicle for the historical record and a forum for research and opinion across the entire media and communications fields," (Swift, 1990: 5). Its name was later shortened to Rhodes Journalism Review (RJR) and it continues to run to this day.
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You can read the digitised archival editions here: Rhodes Journalism Review digitised editions
JOURNALISM & MEDIA STUDIES AT RHODES
Previously this was an information leaflet reflecting the new developments, facilities and critical thrust of the department to help meet the spate of enquiries received from prospective students. Today it is an online webpage: JMS at Rhodes
FREE-SHEET
Free-sheet was the newspaper to the Freedom of Information Conference (hosted by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies and the Institute for Multi-part Democracy in 1995), it ran three four-page editions. It was very much an in-house affair produced by Catherine Knox, Jane Burnett, Student photographer Angie Lazaro and a Nashua copier.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CONFERENCE
This is a historic 300-page document prefaced by Guy Berger who co-edited it with Louisa Clayton.
STUDENTS' HANDBOOK
The pilot issue of a new user-friendly and inclusive annual guide to the curriculum, syllabi and departmental protocols was published in 1995 and continues to be published today.
JQ
JQ was a quarterly newsletter published by the department. The 1994 annual report was presented in the JQ format and served as its first volume. It no longer runs.
CUE
Cue was the official newspaper to the Standard Bank National Arts Festival for 30 years. In 2017 it hit an end of an era as the publication went digital and transformed into a new journalism project called CueMedia.
JD
JD was a magazine of student work and in 1995 became institutionalised as part of senior electives on writing, editing and design. It no longer runs.
OPEN SOURCE
This is the daily newspaper of the Highway Africa conference.
MAKANA SHARP!
In 2016 and 2017 this supplement was produced for Grocott's Mail by the fourth-year Writing & Editing class as part of their coursework; 4-8 pages of content geared towards the newspaper's younger readers was produced each week.
QUOTE
Quote was launched in 2009 and evolved from Journalism Quarterly (JQ). It was a high quality, bi-annual digital publication produced by the staff and students of the School of Journalism and Media Studies. It reported on the ins and outs of the Africa Media Matrix. It no longer runs. It no longer runs.
SOURCES
Swift, K. 1990. Editorial. Rhodes University Journalism Review. Retrieved on 25 September 2018 from http://www.rjr.ru.ac.za/rjrpdf/rjr_no1/no1_editorial.pdf