Two recent encounters have nudged me to take stock as to whether The BEAT publishes what appeals to the broader readership or not.
The first encounter was when a community leader working with Lizzy Bapela in the township made mobile contact with me.
The gentleman was working with others on a community-based project, visiting various families with challenges such as lack of school uniforms for kids.
The gentleman first gave me a brief report of what was taking place, and suggested that the editor needed to be on the ground, to witness first-hand the project in progress.
My response was that I had so much confidence in The BEAT reporters, that there was no need for me to be breathing down their necks while on assignment.
Then just last weekend another gentleman, who confirmed he was directly linked to the same community project, had a one-on-one with me on the side-lines of the burial of veteran educator, Mama Eva Molebatsi.
This other gentleman was even more assertive, advising the editor from publishing this or that front page headline, and rather give the community-based project maximum publicity.
It is very clear from these two encounters that the leaders of this particular project are just not happy with the way things are done here at The BEAT.
Allow me — in a nutshell — to enlighten readers on what mandate editors are employed to take decisions, either at the mainstream or community press.
Fortunately for me I have had the opportunity to work for both mainstream and community newspapers, among others as news editor at Sunday Sun, and a senior editor at a regional newspaper in the North West.
That begs the question: what is the editor’s mandate in terms of re-positioning The BEAT, which is obviously targeted at the broader Waterberg region?
The answer is somewhat the same, compared to all other newspaper editors, be they mainstream or community-based.
The mandate at The BEAT is to produce good newspapers — especially front page material — which should at all times appeal to the broader readership in terms of headline, content and pictures.
That brings us to the next question: what is breaking news?
The traditional Fleet Street (London) home of some of the finest newspapers in the world, have an age-old adage which reads thus: if a dog bites a man, it is not news, but should a man bite a
dog … that I leave to your fertile imagination, dear reader!
On a serious note, only breaking stories with the potential to appeal to the widest network of readers shall find space on the front page.
Other feel-good stories such as charity work shall always be considered on their merits.
For instance, how many times have we been running with stories based on the charitable distribution of sanitary towels?
We do not necessarily publish the latter stories to reach a wider audience, but to encourage others to consider helping out those less fortunate than themselves.
— The BEAT
