Monday 6th July
At 3pm, I turn up to my placement set to immerse myself in the life of a TV journalist. Unfortunately, the people that run Coastal TV aren't so keen. Apparently I must learn the ropes of production, then maybe after a week I will be able to go out and actually research some stories. I am given a tour of the offices and the studio. The studio is a sofa for all talk-based shows with some 70s synthetic fibre curtains as a backdrop, then a blue sheet for all other shows. The place where all the vision and sound mixing takes place is about the size of my living room. I am told today I will be observing, then tomorrow I might do something practical. Although I have been told by my project co-ordinator that I will be here for a week before going on to do print journalism, everyone at the station thinks that not only am I really interested in production, I am also here for the month. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming I don't have the heart to disagree. The first hour is spent watching DJ, the guy I am shadowing for the day, click some buttons during a programme called 'Sound Check-' presented by a guy determined to pretend he is on MTV and is kitted out in the latest in indoor sunglasses. Then we have a film- it's kid's time so Beauty and the Beast is showing. Am abandoned by DJ but am quite happy to sit and watch Beauty and the Beast, until my enjoyment is shattered by someone switching the film off during 'tale as old as time.' When I ask when the rest of the film will be shown, I am told "We have to finish film there as there is no more time." After ten minutes of adverts the next programme starts 15 minutes early. Hmm. The last programme that I will be observing before I get to go home is the news. The first news story is that a man has been beaten to death for stealing a goat. The next story is that Cape Coast has run out of cloth with Barack Obama's face on it. Finally, we have a news story on blind tennis, complete with video footage. At 8pm, having missed dinner back at the house, I can finally leave. As I walk along in the darkness and pouring rain, deftly avoiding puddles as I go, I wonder if this is really what I will be doing for the next month...
Tuesday 7th July
In the morning, everybody who has normal placements are out of the house. I contemplate exploring town more fully but it's pretty intimidating being the only white person around and don't want to go alone, so go to the internet cafe and kill some time on facebook before returning to the house to grab some lunch before work. I see the project co-ordinator Eric, and he asks how my placement was yesterday. I tell him that it's not really what I want to be doing as I am interested in journalism, not production. As I leave, everyone else comes back from their placements. Today I am given the job of being sound mixer for the day- something to do at last!! During Sound Check, we have the Ghanaian rapper Shasha Marley come in to talk about his concert to raise awareness of the child prostitution. He confidently states that child prostitution is a particular problem for girls- "For girls, it is a very bad problem because the girls get pregnant and have to drop out of school. For boys it is not so much of a problem as they cannot get pregnant."
I am getting used to being a sound mixer, and I must admit I am quite excited when my name is on the credits after the end of every programme- "Sound Mixer- Daniella Graham." Apparently I am very good at sound mixing. I decide it would be disrespectful to point out I am just pressing some buttons and occasionally turning a couple of switches up and down. Regardless, I feel proud of my success. Whilst this isn't what I came to Ghana to do, I feel that I can make the best of it and have an interesting time. Then Gifty, one of the people who runs the station, comes up to me. She has been lovely and welcoming the whole time I have been here, but now she looks slightly annoyed. "Eric tells me you do not like Central TV and you are going tomorrow to do print media." This is news to me, so try and be as polite as possible. But am secretely glad that tomorrow I will actually be embarking on some proper journalism.
In the evening we go to the festival at Elmina. It's all quite fun until I need the toilet... I have to wee over a hole in the ground. When I need to go to the toilet again I decide I would rather go home than face the hole toilet again. Another volunteer, Nicola, and I are currently being followed by a 16 year old boy who seems to have an unnatural interest in me. He tells me "Anything can happen tomorrow. Maybe one day we will be in a relationship." Unfortunately when we decide to go home he knows the taxi driver and insists on accompanying us in the taxi to ensure we get home safe. When he sees our house, he promises to come visit.
Wednesday 8th July
At last- I am finally entering the world of print journalism! Unfortunately there is torrential rain. I am introduced to Alan, who runs the Cape Coast office of The Chronicle. We are supposed to be going to a press conference, but cannot get anywhere because of the rain, so we spend most of the day chatting. I read the newspaper and the other Ghanaian newspapers to get a feel of the media here and the house style of . Then Alan tells me about Ghanaian politics, a lot about the forthcoming visit by Barack Obama, and the history of Cape Coast. As he compares Cape Coast to Harare in Zimbabwe, things get a little bit heated. Here is a selection of Alan's views:
Iran: the elections were the fairest in the world, and the West is merely whipping up the demonstrations as part of western anti-Iran propaganda. Violence against protesters is orchestrated by the western media.
Zimbabwe: all of Zimbabwe's problems originate from Tony Blair. Mugabe is a fair and honest politician, Morgan Tsvangirai is a puppet of the West who if he gained power would give Zimbabwe to the West. The intimidation, violence against and murder of political opponents of Mugabe and the intimidation and violence against voters is perpetrated by western, especially British, journalists as part of a western propaganda conspiracy against Mugabe.
Ghana: all poverty in Ghana is because Britian did not put enough effort into building a good infrastructure during the colonial era. Britain needs to atone for the slave trade by paying reparations to Ghana, and rebuild the whole of Ghana to make bigger towns based on the model of Zimbabwe.
I acknowledge completely that the slave trade is a shameful period in Britain's history, and point out that nobody in Britain would justify slavery. Alan acknowledges that on the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade the President of Ghana said that he did not think Britain should pay reparations, but Alan confidently tells me this was because he was paid by the West to say this. In the end we agree to disagree, and Alan assures me that t this argument will be forgotten and tomorrow we will get on with some stories.
I head off to the internet cafe nearby- a different one this time- and am impressed by the fact that you can get bottles of coke for the equivalent of less than 30p. I am less impressed by the need to play Westlife on repeat.
Must dash, am now meeting other volunteers to wander around town, then off out tonight!
Daniella x
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