Catherine White is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and director of Cat White Media. She has worked for some of the largest news publishers in South Africa in radio, TV, print and online video. Catherine, who is originally from Jeffreys Bay, completed her high school education at Global Leadership Academy (2015) after which she studied Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in Makhanda, and graduated at the top of her class. Her recent move to London, England, is in pursuit of an international journalism career with the hope of returning to South Africa as an African correspondent.
Remember when your local Jbay news girl moved to the City of Gold to follow her national journalism coverage dreams? Barely three years later she has opted for another big move: the international world of journalism.
Wait, why am I talking about myself in the third person, because I can!
Back to the story, here is why I moved to London, England: After travelling around South Africa, telling national stories for some of the biggest news organisations in the country, I decided to take the next step: from local to national; the next move had to be international.
“Because I didn’t want to,” is the first part of my response. You heard me. I did the thing that scared me the most. I’m in a phase of my life when I have two options weighed up in front of me; I choose the one I’m most afraid of, the one where if I fall, I fall really hard.
This phase won’t last forever, I can assure you. England terrified me, not because I would be in physical danger, but because I feared being bored to death by first-world journalism stories.
One of the first headlines I read from the local paper, the Watford Observer, read: “Selfish parking on school run”. It had to be a joke. It really wasn’t. That made the front page! The funniest part was that the article was really well written and the paper took people’s concerns seriously, as it should. The local authorities even intervened by updating the road infrastructure around the school after the “incident happened”.
You can’t make this stuff up and one certainly shouldn’t compare the issues, because they are truly worlds apart, but that doesn’t mean these aren’t important issues to these people. Please keep in mind that I worked as a hard news field reporter in South Africa. If the story isn’t of interest to the entire country, we didn’t tell it.
Even then, there were countless ‘big’ stories that simply wouldn’t make the headlines. Looking back, I wouldn’t dream of pitching ‘selfish parking on school run’ to any newsroom in South Africa. There are simply bigger fish to fry. We wish those were our issues, but ours are much bigger.
Look, first world stories are important to first world people, but I’m an African and my heart belongs to Africa, which brings me to my second point.
The other reason I left South Africa to embark on my international journalism journey was that I could. It’s simple. Limiting beliefs are 90 percent of what prevent us from accomplishing our goals: “I can. Full stop.”
I came here because I want to go back. The reason for coming here is literally so that when I go back to SA, I can bring these experiences with me. I don’t believe one ever stops learning. I am enjoying the cultural shift and soaking up my European newsroom experience like a sponge, despite the fact that the mainstream media discourse in the UK and South Africa are poles apart.
Lastly, because if not now, when?
I’m in London so that I can build my international journalism network, which will ensure the stories I tell reach a global audience. Journalism in London is a niche market, just like in South Africa. Getting in the circle is hard, but once you are in, you really are in.
I’ve been in the UK for about four months now and I have plenty to fill you in on, including my travels in Europe.
In this column, I will tell you about my personal journey of discovery, and share my thoughts by making comparisons between South Africa and the UK/Europe.
This is different from anything else I’ve written because I’m going to share my perspective with you.
Please note that this is a personal journey, not a news story.
Stay tuned.
