I didn't think it was right, but I did it anyway. Or rather, I wasn't sure if it was right, but I did it anyway. I was taught it wasn't right, but everything I was taught in a classroom doesn't work so well outside of a room bordered by a chalkboard.
"Give her some money," my friend demanded, insisting I paid the woman we'd been speaking with for a future article I'm now at work upon.
I explained that wasn't how I did journalism, but he explained that was how journalism was done here.
But here I was, with a Ugandan journalist friend of mine who was translating for me, and he was insisting I give the lady a thousand shillings or so. Already, our styles of reporting had clashed and I could tell I wouldn't get what I needed to write the story I wanted to write. And since he's a friend, I was trying to keep things smooth and easy.
"You create good feelings when you pay and it's better that way if you come back," he explained.
Things I didn't explain: that I thought people should talk to me because they wanted to tell their stories; I talk to so many people that even if I only gave a thousand shillings or so, the costs would soon pile up; that I thought I wasn't supposed to.
"You're going to get paid for the story, right?" he asked.
It was a valid point.
In some ways, it makes sense - another economic transaction in a system based on economic transactions. In other ways, it goes against what I thought journalism should be about. But things are never actually about what they should be about, and the fact was that I was talking to a very impoverished lady supporting a large family in a slummy neighborhood of Kampala.
What would you do with a thousand shillings?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Journalism 101: What Would You Do With a Thousand Shillings?
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5 comments:
You know, it all depends on how long you plan to stay in Africa. I have been in Niger since 1986 and I never pay for anything that I shouldn't have to. If people don't want to talk to me, they don't, but in the end, they always do because they like to talk. I'm not a journalist but I work with PR and I write about development in Africa. I work for a project that doesn't pay for its success and the authorities come to us asking how we do to motivate the people to actually work. Well, how do we? We just offer what we have to give (help) with no further incentives. A few may recline wanting more, but those are not the people we have come to help. In you case, you should ask yourself, how long am I staying? What kind of relationship do I want to have? Once you start paying, the word goes around and you'll be expected to pay at every time. You may ask yourself what they get out of talking to you, if you don't pay. Well, like everybody else in the world, they get their story told. We shouldn't treat Africans like children even though they find it convenient. It's never going to help them stand on their own feet. The question however is could you do without the feedback you wanted if you took your chances and went looking for the people who wanted to tell your story without being payed?
Greetings from Niger
Hi Ishtar,
So far, I've made it my policy NOT to pay people. I've always told people with whom I'm speaking that I won't pay them but I will listen and I will tell their story. Sometimes they say no, but more often they say yes. This situation felt a little bit more complicated because I was with this other journalist, a Ugandan friend of mine, who directly told me to pay this lady. So not only was I dealing with her expectations, I was dealing with his expectations as well. In a lot of ways, I think the sitation was more about him and me and how we both do journalism than whether or not I gave this lady a thousand shillings (though for her surely it was about the thousand shillings).
Thanks for commenting. And by the way, I'm here for the long haul.
Scarlett
Hi Scarlett!
I understand your confusion; I've also been in situations where people tell me that I should pay. I've lost a good friend over such an issue; he fixed me up with a horse and later tol me to pay for it. I did pay, because I had used the horse, but I let him know that "you are asking me to set a price on our friendship, that is not friendship to me." We talked about it for a long time and I felt that he understood. But I never continued to build on that relationship.
I guess the hard part in Africa is letting people go. Stick to your principles, you are there for a reason, and one of the best ways to inspire is to remain true to who you are and what you want to do with your life. Good luck in the future! I just wrote a long post about this on my own blog (see how you've inspired!) but it is more about the current trend in aid policies than about dealing with issues like these when they arrive. Anyway, will be back!
Greetings, Ishtar
welcome to my world...often people here in beld al sudi, say: you're writing about us, you're earning money. and i'm like 'go hang,' before others come to my aid, saying: if he writes this, may be government will help us,' ...and, by so doing, drowning out the naysayers.//
PS:
may be we should blame the big press (remember the brits held in iran...the media bought the stories?)//
Woah! I just converted 1000UGX into my currency...I couldn't do anything with it. It makes 0.65AUD there is nothing that I know of that I could buy for 65c.
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