A day in the life of a journalist
A day In the life of a journalist
‘Its not all about glitz and glamour’
Story by Blessing Mhlanga
Being passionate for storytelling is just not enough, there’s a lot of digging, pruning and polishing that goes into producing a mine-worth piece of story and it’s certainly not all about glitz and glamour. Adele Phiyage, a freelance journalist defines himself as more than a reporter but a businessman in the field of journalism as well as an uncompromising and independent truth teller instead of a story teller.
After he showed his matric flames of excellence with a crown of nine distinctions at New Model high school in Johannesburg in 2010, Adele already knew what he wanted: to be voice of the voiceless in his community and exposing nothing but the truth through journalism.
“I come from a family of creative beings; my father was a professor and my mother was a teacher. So I was always surrounded by literature and a bunch of journals around, when I fell in love with reading, I also fell in love with story-telling and not just writing,” Adele explained with a charm of confidence all over him.
It was a two year intern-ship that prepared Adele Phiyage to begin his journey as a journalist perhaps in one of the biggest media companies today, but his hopes dissolved with the rain when no company would hire him after his internship. He notes that the disappointment of not finding work opened his eyes to pursue the freelancing sector which was not only risky but also dangerous yet abundantly rewarding.
“Seating at home daily, watching virgin stories in my sight without any platform to expose the truth was devastating. Then I decided to compile these stories and pitch them to the editors of well-known newspaper such as Daily sun and Sowetan and they loved my stories,” he revealed.
On a daily basis, Adele compiles his story ideas (anything relevant for that type of newspaper which is of human interest to the audience), then he pitches them to the editor who will then decide if the story is fit for the publication. The selected stories are filed and sent to the company’s media specialist to check that legal requirements are met, the sub-editor polishes the article, the copy taster references more stories from news agencies and finally, the final piece is published.
“I write almost about everything, from politics to entertainment, from fashion to lifestyle, from environmental news to education. I love diversity because I learn something new everyday and it renews my creativity,” Adele said.
Adele acknowledges that its quite hard to get published as a freelance initially but slowly building contacts and relations with other experts in the field, has enabled him to have a credible and professional reputation. Now that he is a well-known and reputable journalist he reveals that the big media companies who didn’t want to hire him are knocking daily on his door to join their team because they have also seen his remarkable stories he has produced over the years. However, he continuously denies their requests saying that he is comfortable as a freelance because it gives him to explore uncompromising objectivity, expose raw, undiluted truth and solid independence in his reporting.
“Many at times, big publications have the final say on what story goes on the paper and that is what cripples our work as journalists because some stories are hidden behind the curtain just because the boss said so and just because the owner of the magazine is related or has financial arrangements with the featured person in that story. This is why I prefer being a freelance: a businessman, a voice of the community working for truth not just story-telling,” Adele mentioned.
He goes on to explain that the challenging part about his job is risking his life in some cases just get information from a source, which is why he moved from his apartment in Newtown to Sunninghill after he was attacked by masked men for publishing a story about a wanted drug dealer in Hillbrow. Although he was badly hurt, he is grateful to be alive and is determined to continue writing more stories of truth without fear or favour.
Nevertheless, he notes that the most delight about his job is the peace of heart that he gets when a story reaches and impacts the audience in a deeper way that enables them to change their mindset in order to make a positive change in the community.
When asked about the most dangerous story he ever worked on, this is what he had to say: “I have worked on many risky stories but the most extreme was the article on human trafficking, I remember I had to interview one of the human trafficking boss who was arrested and he literally threatened to kill me if I published that story. But I went ahead and published it, nothing happened to me, it was God’s grace.”
Adele says that his job has contributed to his personal growth significantly, first it has strengthened his courage to speak, do and stand on what he believes is the truth, secondly it has some how increased his love for humanity, which has made him realise that it is not wise to judge a person before you hear their side of the story.
Over the years he has managed to build reputable sources which he uses to acquire his newsworthy stories including community leaders, ordinary members of the community, prominent figures, books, journals, the internet etc. Adele advises upcoming student journalists to have a firm, creative, disciplined and courageous spirit to survive in this field because it’s not always milk and honey.
Ten years from now Adele sees himself running his own black owned TV news channel, whose reporters will all be professional and independent freelancers. His work has earned him seven awards as best freelance of the year thrice in a row, best newspaper article twice in a row and twice feature of the year award for magazine story.
For a world full of controversy and hidden secrets of corruption, the society desperately needs passionate journalists such as Adele Phiyage; who’s not after a fat bank account from his work but after truthful stories that will impact mankind to change himself and change his world.
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