Complacence ain't hip!

By Ruona Agbroko
Sunday, 21 February 2010 07:31


I haven’t ever listened to my lecturers entirely. This is why instead of working out complex Chemistry equations for my first degree, I was on the streets, gathering stories.

This is also why I took Anton Harber’s advice to “take all you hear from the authorities with a pinch of salt.” Unfortunately, he was the authority, and speaking during the journalism department's reception for new students.

For those who don’t know, Professor Harber heads the Journalism School at Wits and has this thick, curly mop of hair; the kind that begs to be accessorized by a halo.
Kind squinting eyes peering from behind rimless glasses complete the look. But that’s where any semblance with the angelic ends.

Professor Harber says the scariest things, and—wait for it—actually smiles while doing so.

He was at his gremlin best at the event, telling us before our parents to; “get some sleep, because the next months will be spent working hard.” He went on to add, (with the requisite smile in place) that “if you think this is going to be a walk in the park, I suggest you take up easier courses like Medicine, Engineering...”

Underneath the hearty laughter of the evening’s distinguished guests lay the mirthless laughter of the subjects of the discussion.

In fact, a walk across the room thereafter meant Professor Harber had succeeded in scaring most of us. Said a career-entry student: “Oh dear...I guess I really do have to call it a day...goodnight.”

One by one, they left.

Not me. I took Harber’s words with a pinch of salt and headed to The PiG, the postgraduate club nearby.

And it was there, all credit to the twin spirits called Disobedience and Heineken that I gained added insight into Africa’s discontent with reportage on it by “foreign media.”

No, I'm not drunk.

It started like this.

Someone asked what I found fascinating about South Africa.

“The women’s hips”, I replied, without missing a beat.

My five companions all burst out laughing. I explained that as one challenged in that regard, the amazing way in which the smallest of waists sat gingerly atop the largest of hips had my mouth wide open regularly. Think of a UK size 8 waist fanning out into size 20 hips, or for those not conversant with fashion, think of a baby-faced woman whose upper body is like a grain of rice and the lower half like a watermelon.

Those who could relate were all foreigners, so I turned to the South African sitting next to me and asked what she thought. She shrugged; “...can’t say I have actively noticed it. Maybe it’s because I am used to it.”

Minutes later, as I locked lips with my best friend Heineken, another pretty and hip-endowed female walked past. The others didn’t so much as spare a glance.

As someone else switched to another topic, I scanned through my phone and read the following comment on a journalist’s Facebook page; “We in the Nigerian media are dropping the ball again. We have forgotten that there is a fuel crisis...”

That’s when it hit me.

I made a big deal of South African female hips because it was new to me, as a foreigner. But the others were used to it, complacent since it was always in their face.

It is the same with reporting and journalists. Someone replied to that Facebook post, saying “Amnesia Nigeriana” was responsible. I call it complacence, and daresay it isn’t restricted to Nigerian journalists and the news organizations they work for.

Right now it is apparent that many become so “used to” occurrences and then don’t think some things are an issue, or we think too much of an issue has been made of something. It is a condition that weakens the ordinary citizen, and is debilitating to any journalist and news organization.

We only pause to express hypocritical shock when some “foreign” media body looks at the same issues with fresh eyes, or rehashes them at crucial times when they have more impact. The word foreign is now quoted because this is not a Western Vs African media thing alone. Even within countries and towns, journalists occasionally hide their complacence under the blanket of patriotism by playing up the tribal, ethnic, and national or continental card against the ‘enemy’.

It isn’t enough to say foreign media produce malicious reports and leave it at that, even if they do so. The lesson for journalists and the media I think is to continue (or if necessary STRUGGLE) to see our surrounding social, economical and political spaces with new eyes when reporting.

No journalist should ever “get used to” their immediate surroundings, or anywhere else, I think.

I’m not sure who to blame for this inspiring nugget of wisdom; my disobedience of lecturers’ orders, the beer, or the luscious female South African hips.

All I know is complacence ain't hip—all pun intended.



*Agbroko is the 2010 Niall Fitzgerald scholar doing her Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies at the University of the Witswatersrand (Wits), Johanneburg, South Africa. She writes this column for www.vuvuzela.org.za, the website for Wits' journalism department.