Danielle Petterson was the editor of The Mamelodi Voice for the 2012 edition. Here she talks about how she grew attached to the paper, what it was like working with her team and her advice for future editors.
When I applied to be editor of The Mamelodi Voice, I never dreamed that I would get the job. I thought it more likely that I would be chosen as news editor, my second choice. Imagine my shock when I was announced as the editor.
Entirely overwhelmed and no idea where to begin, I was the boss and everyone was looking to me for guidance.
Working on The Mamelodi Voice had its ups and downs. Looking back I probably would have done things completely differently. But that was the point – to learn.
Between the copy editors who thought they were only proof readers and the ones who thought it okay to change quotes, I had my work cut out for me. Not only that but the layout artists had zero experience and some of them seemed to have difficulty following the very clear instructions set out for them, like font type and size. I felt like the editorial team spent a lot of time doing the jobs of some of the copy editors and layout artists simply because they didn’t do their jobs properly (or in a few cases, at all). Despite this, we managed to pull together a newspaper.
The editorial team spent long hours editing articles, rethinking headlines, choosing photos, fixing layout… the list goes on. We disagreed often and several fights ensued. I guess you could call it a clash of completely opposite personalities. At times it seemed like some of the staff members were trying to take over. On the other hand, some did nothing unless given a specific task along with clear instructions on how to carry it out. Despite all this, I couldn’t have done it without them.
When you spend as much time working on a newspaper as I did, you grow attached. I began to see it as my baby and kept referring to it as my paper rather than our paper. Despite this attachment, it was a relief to finish and see the final product. Looking at the paper now, there are lots of things I wish I could fix. But who puts a newspaper together perfectly on their first try?
To call us amateurs when it came to putting together a newspaper would be an understatement. As much as I learnt from the experience, I am in no rush to take on such a mammoth task again. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it. When it’s midnight, you’ve had a few glasses of wine, and you’ve been fixing things like spacing and alignment for the past few hours, you can’t help but laugh hysterically at everything and have fun.
Working on The Mamelodi Voice really opened my eyes. I never dreamed that I would ever go into Mamelodi, talk to the people there, learn about their lives. But after having about 15 pre-schoolers hanging on me at a time and listening to the teachers talk about their passion for their jobs and love for the children, despite all their difficulties, I developed a great respect for them. They were some of the kindest, friendliest people I’ve met. You should never judge people you’ve never met because of their situation. People have the capacity to constantly surprise you.
My advice to future editors of The Mamelodi Voice would be just to start. We started very slowly and wasted a lot of valuable time. It’s scary at first, but the sooner you get going, the sooner you get the hang of it. Delay will only cause you great stress and a lot of late nights. If you end up in that position, keep calm and drink wine.
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