The FCJ Regional Seminars for 2011

Mar 25 & 26 – Western Cape

Apr 29 & 30 – KZN northern

July 29 & 30 – KZN southern

Aug 5 & 6 – FS/NW seminar

Aug 18 & 19 – No Guts No Glory

Eastern Cape (TBC).

Venues to be confirmed, please diarize the dates so long.

By Andries van Zyl FCJ Limpopo representative

The FCJ (Forum of Community Journalists) is an independent, non-profit, non-racial and voluntary organisation striving to promote and express the interests of all journalists employed on a permanent or freelance basis at regional community newspapers in South Africa.

Representing some 500+ journalists from among the estimated 500 community newspapers across the country, the FCJ takes great pride in their duty to safeguard press freedom as the corner stone of any healthy democracy. The national management committee also comprise a group of volunteers, with Print Media South Africa (PMSA) rendering an administrative service in regard to office space and an administrator, Ms Malesedi Dlamini.

Over the last 20 years, the FCJ’s main mandate remained the same: To provide training to its members through initiatives such as their four regional seminars and one national seminar annually. The national seminar coincides with the FCJ’s prestigious Awards for Community Press. This event is regarded as the “Oscars” of the South African community press industry.

The regional seminars include one for Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo (also called No Guts, No Glory), one for Kwazulu-Natal, one for North West and the Free State and one for the Cape. Training is provided free of charge in the form of editorial talks and workshops by industry leaders and members of the country’s top tertiary institutions. Training seminars are scheduled over a one or two day period to accommodate newspapers who cannot afford to go without their journalists for a longer period of time. This is especially the case with emerging publications and journalists from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. Being free, these seminars provide many a training opportunity which, under normal circumstances, would not have been possible or even affordable. The seminars are therefore extremely popular.