Bush Radio mourns, Professor William T. McClain (1923-2011)

One of Bush Radio’s board members and a strong anti-apartheid activist Professor William Tilden McClain passed away on Sunday the 02^nd of October 2011.  We at Bush Radio mourn his death.

Professor McClain was originally from a small town inIndiana in the United States, and after his studies served as Deputy Attorney General of Indiana.

His first interest of South Africa began in 1950’s when he went to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the Universityof London.  Initially he was going to study Indian or Middle Eastern law, but was drawn to African law.  At this time he also followed the Treason Trial in South Africa very closely.

In 1961 he was sent by the University to do research and collect documents in Africa.  He drove from Nairobi to Lesotho and visited eight African states, including Swaziland.  This is where he met his wife May Vuyelwa Hillary. 

Professor McClain had a very close relationship with the struggle movement and its leadership in exile especially Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani.  In an interview with a Bush Radio intern two months ago he recalled a story of how he got to give Oliver Tambo his sunglasses.  “Oliver and I were on the plane heading for Zambia.  Just before we landed in Lusaka, Oliver asked me to give him my sunglasses for disguise and I gave them to him and I never got them back”

He became involved with Bush Radio more than seven years ago and served on the board at the time of his death.

Professor McClain has been described as a leader, mentor and a person who was always willing to give. His guidance and generous heart will be sorely missed by everyone at Bush Radio.  He has left a void which no one can fill.  Our condolences go to his wife, children, extended family and his friends.

African TV Journalists on the Move

Bush Radio in partnership with the Deutsche Welle Akademie is currently (18 – 28 July 2011) holding a training workshop at the Bush Radio training facilities to a selected group of talented television journalists, camera operators and technicians from several television stations in Africa. The workshop aims to enable African journalists to “tell their stories” by producing professional TV reports and documentaries, and consequently offering their audiences an African perspective on relevant issues such as environmental protection, economic development, poverty reduction, health, education and good governance.

There are a diverse number of objectives that the workshop aims to achieve, including the improvement of the individuals skills as well as the promotion of African perspectives on social, economic and developmental issues. Trainers, Thomas Rehermann, Robert Donauer, Florian Kroker and Jan Bruck are doing their very best to ensure that the best training is being provided to the participants.

In the first stage the participants are divided up into teams consisting of a journalist, one camera operator and one picture editor. These teams are then given tasks and at the end of the workshop they are requested to produce at least one broadcast-quality report.

The workshop also aims to enhance reporting abilities, including, story selection, research, production organisation, camera work, the basic principles of editing, storytelling and writing for television.

Stages two and three are even more exciting than stage one. In stage two the team who produces the best report in stage one is identified, and then invited to develop these reports in co-operation with editors and technicians from Deutsche Welle-TV. Deutsche Welle will then distribute the reports through various channels to an international audience.

Stage three then allows the top 20 participants the opportunity to visit Germany. During this period, they will exchange views with decision-makers and opinion leaders, in order for authentic African perspectives on international issues to be discussed. This visit will also give participants the chance to learn more about German and European opinions about current issues.

The excitement of the participants is apparent at Bush Radio. Siraaj Larney from Cape Town TV said, “I have truly enjoyed the training thus far. It has broadened my knowledge and it has helped me build my confidence.”

Another participant, Anna Nicodemus from Namibia said, “I have been a journalist for quite some time, and I thought I knew all the tricks to journalism, up until this training. I will definitely be taking back a great wealth of knowledge with me. I hope that I will make it to Germany.”

Pennipher Sikainda from Muvi TV in Zambia said that the course has been excellent thus far, especially because it has been focusing on the training of TV production. She also said that the theme of the course “Africa On The Move” is wonderful since they have seen few stories depicting growth both socially and economically. She said that the lectures are fantastic, because they are sharing great tips that she could use to meet international broadcasting standards.

Richard Khoviwa from Malawi Broadcasting Corporation, said, “I have learnt many things with regard to editing and production. This is indeed useful to me because I deal with technical issues on a regular basis at my company.”

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