Obstacles faced by news journalists in investigative reporting: analysis of four Botswana newspapers, June 2008 - October 2008
- Authors: Pule, Kediretswe
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Investigative reporting , Journalism -- Political aspects , Journalists -- Legal status, laws, etc
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:8398 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/869 , Investigative reporting , Journalism -- Political aspects , Journalists -- Legal status, laws, etc
- Description: In this research study, the researcher investigates obstacles faced by news journalists in investigative journalism in a democracy as experienced in Botswana. Investigative journalism and democracy have a symbiotic relationship. This relationship serves to make the public sensitive about, and aware of, injustices and undemocratic practices and it could, ultimately, contribute significantly to the process of democratization (Faure 2005: 155). Unfortunately, in their endeavor to keep up with the ethos of investigative journalism, journalists meet obstacles that range from legal to financial issues. The author investigates those factors that reporters in Botswana rate as having the greatest impact on their investigative efforts. The study also assesses the attitudes of journalists in the country towards the roles and responsibilities of the fourth estate, which supports investigative reporting. Investigative journalism is centered on disclosure, described by six elements: public interest, theme, accuracy, follow-up reports, consequences and questioning the status quo (Faure 2005:160; Marron 1995:1). The researcher interrogated the current practice of investigative journalism in newsrooms in the Botswana context, by means of a self-administered questionnaire. A cumulative sum of scores of each rank order for each obstacle was used to observe the one rated the most impeding by Botswana journalists. Elementary descriptive statistics in the form of percentages were used to assess attitudes of Botswana journalists towards investigative journalism. The same method was used to assess the proportion of investigative stories in four sampled Botswana newspapers. The contents of the respective newspapers were assessed against the five elements of investigative reporting that include: theme, public interest, questioning the status quo, accuracy, follow-up reports and consequences.
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- Date Issued: 2009
The role of leadership in a successful rural secondary school in Namibia: a case study
- Authors: Sinvula, Leonard Masene
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (Namibia) Educational leadership -- Namibia -- Case studies School management and organization -- Namibia -- Case studies Education, Secondary -- Namibia -- Case studies Rural schools -- Namibia -- Case studies Education and state -- Namibia -- Case studies Education -- Parent participation -- Namibia
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MEd
- Identifier: vital:1872 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004925
- Description: The primary purpose of this qualitative case study research was to examine the role of leadership in a successful rural secondary school in Namibia. In Namibia, the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ESTIP) was initiated to provide, amongst other things, effective leadership in education. In addition, the Ministry developed a policy on the National Standards and Performance Indicators for Schools in Namibia to complement the objectives of ETSIP. The policy emphasizes leadership practices in schools such as professional competence, commitment, ability to direct, inspire and motivate interpersonal relationships and teams. The study drew on leadership theories and findings from related studies to make sense of the role played by leadership in this particular rural school in Namibia. The study uses the interpretive orientation as the methodology for investigating the leadership's role. This is in line with my attempt to determine stakeholder's experiences and perceptions of the leadership in the school. I collected data from three sources: semi-structured interviews, observation and document analysis. The findings of this study suggest that the leadership had a significant influence on the school's success. In particular it emerged that the school leadership played an instructional role to ensure there was effective teaching and learning and that they encouraged teamwork extensively in leading the school. The leadership provided internal support structures as well as external networking to garner support for the school from the wider community. The study has also revealed that there are challenges facing this rural school's leadership in terms of poor parental involvement. Challenges such as lack of parental commitment to the school, illiteracy among adults and a communication breakdown between the school and its parents are still rife. The school leadership addresses this challenge by participating in village meetings and utilizing them as a platform to discuss school matters with parents. Further research on this topic would be useful, including such institutions as rural primary schools, private schools and colleges in the Caprivi Region, as very little research has been done on leadership roles in schools in the rural areas of Namibia.
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- Date Issued: 2009