Journalists should know the difference between reporting the story and becoming the story.
This was the message sent to the University of Fiji’s Journalism and Media Studies students by the Vice Chancellor Professor Shaista Shameem to commemorate Press Freedom Day, celebrated internationally on May 3rd.
To examine the essential high bar qualities of reporting, the University’s Journalism and Media Studies staff and students will host Fijian journalists to the film ‘Civil War’ on Thursday 7th May at 7 pm at the UniFiji Central Campus Lyceum in Suva.
Professor Shameem said the 2024 dystopian film depicts veteran and rookie journalists trying to cover a war-torn America and a government in crisis. The plot follows a group of war journalists travelling from New York to Washington DC to interview the President of the United States before rebels take the capital city, she said.
There is no better film to highlight the role of journalists as professionals occupying the highest moral ground, which is often slippery and unclear, she said.
“The University’s JMS Programme is focused on teaching journalism beyond sound bites or picking stories out of social media. We need our students and graduates to understand the duty of a reporter, and that is to report. Personal beliefs, politics and prejudices should be left at the door when you, as students, arrive in the classroom on the very first day in the JMS Programme”, Professor Shameem told the students.
Journalists should also know that their job is a dangerous one. Despite best efforts at protection, no one can guarantee safe passage for journalists. They must enter the profession, not as any job, but as a vocation.
They must aim to uphold the highest standards and derive strength from that principle. “Journalists are like soldiers, knowing that they do the job at their peril, but doing it anyway. Those are the journalists that history will remember”, Professor Shameem said.
She said the film ‘Civil War’ depicted the joys and pitfalls of press freedom in stark reality unmatched by any lecture notes that the JMS course could provide and would also serve as a refresher for established journalists in Fiji.
