Experience

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  Briefly News

  • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

  • News Writer

    • Feb 2024 - Present
    • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

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  Independent Newspapers

  • Newspaper Publishing
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Multimedia Journalist at The Daily Voice at Independent Newspapers

    • Feb 2021 - Feb 2024

  • Multimedia Journalist at Africa Community Newspapers

    • Nov 2018 - Feb 2021

    Responsibilities:• Create dynamic, accurate and original content covering a wide range of local news stories for the Northern News newspaper and online site;• Take pictures, videos and conduct interviews with people and authority figures on the subject of stories; • Compile and publish pages for Community News titles which includes creating suitable captions and powerful headlines, laying out pages and subbing the stories; • Good working knowledge of Quark CopyDesk, Atex Layout, Boabab and OneView programmes;• Highlighted skills include those in production, creative writing, communication, organisational skills, time management, working in a team and self-management.Achievements:• Has on occasion designed and wrote articles for the entire newspaper and have done so successfully;• Is a reliable option to fill in at various papers and has also been dependent on softproofing;• Was responsible for the exclusive article about the pay issues the fire department has had with the City of Cape Town, a story that was used across multiple community newspaper titles;• Articles has gained attention from other outlets such as radio, television and other newspaper titles;• In the unfortunate yet regular occurrence of stories not coming to fruition, he has always been able to find suitable alternatives for all the titles he has worked for;• Always meeting deadlines with a few hours to spare and spending most of the time earned helping other titles meet their deadlines;• Built an advanced network of sources that brings expertise and sophistication to his writing;• Always available to assist younger journalists with story ideas, headline suggestion and designing pages.

• 

  Highbury Media

  • Cape Town Area, South Africa

  • Digital Sports Editor

    • Dec 2017 - Nov 2018
    • Cape Town Area, South Africa

    Responsibilities:• Was the last set of eyes before stories were published on SACricket, SARugby, Compleat Golfer, Team SA and SportsClub online magazines;• Changed headlines and intros to make them suitable for online sites and social media such as Facebook and Twitter;• Worked closely with junior writers regarding appropriate stories to be used for online sites and suggested changes to enhance the articles’ readability and style in accordance with the editorial style guidelines; • Ensured that the correct pictures and captions were used that gave the reader a better reading experience;• Managed and mentored an intern copy editor. This included monitoring her progress and providing her with feedback.Achievements:• Regularly picked up on vital mistakes in articles prior to online publishing such as identifying correct goal scorers in copy, the exact time of incidents in match reports and rectifying mistakes made to historic references regarding record scores and goal tallies;• Created a system that secured an online editor to be available for all major sporting events;• Provided input on style guides that are still being implemented till this day;• Was a reliable source for angles and story ideas for various sporting codes such as rugby, football, cricket, golf and athletics;• Shared contacts to journalists in need of comment for stories of various sport codes;Served as mentor to intern copy editor, who has since gone on to find permanent employment at a publishing company

• 

  Independent Media (Pty) Ltd

  • South Africa
  • Newspaper Publishing
  • 100 - 200 Employee

  • Sports Sub-Editor and Cricket Writer:

    • Dec 2016 - Dec 2017

    Responsibilities:• Designed pages according to editorial and graphic guidelines and goals;• Created cricket articles for the Daily Voice and the IOL Sports site which covered teams such as the Cape Cobras and the South African national men’s team. Those articles included match reports, team news, feature stories as well as opinion pieces;• Was responsible for proofreading pages before it went out to print.Achievements:• Brought a lot of knowledge to the Daily Voice and was able to secure access to European media company EPA, a service that was previously only available to the Cape Argus, Cape Times and Weekend Argus;• Designed every page of the sports section all within deadline;• Was trusted to work from home to ensure that the late copy of matches was correct, properly designed and the correct pictures was chosen;• Wrote opinion pieces about cricket that was mentioned in other media outlets such as television and radio;• Created relationships between the Daily Voice sports team and the Independent Media Sports Hub, which has created many stories through shared database between the two teams;• Despite being in sport, was also able to write a news story for the Daily Voice regarding residents that were wrongfully accused of street racing;Was known as the all-rounder of the sports team due to ability to perform different tasks such as write articles, sub edit copy, proofread pages, design papers and take pictures.

  • Sports Sub-Editor and Cricket Writer

    • Jan 2013 - Nov 2016

    Responsibilities:• Displayed creativity and technical ability to design all the pages and select pictures for the Cape Argus sport section;• Solved complicated publication issues such as balancing advertisements with content;• Generated sports content for the newspaper and online, including multiple lead stories for Cape Argus and IOL;• Performed the last check on pages which included editing last minute changes before it went to print.Achievements:• Along with the late Michael Doman, Junior contributed copy and designed pages of a 12 page tribute supplement for retired cricketer Jacques Kallis;• Always delivered up to date match reports by the final ball or the final whistle of a cricket, football or rugby match;• Quickly mastered page design techniques and was able to add it to his repertoire of skills;• Volunteered to take on the sports result page for the Cape Argus, Weekend Argus and Cape Times, which entails documenting various sporting results as it happens all over the world. His system is still being used till this day;• Was called upon by the Cape Argus news editor to temporary work as a news writer for three weeks and during this time he wrote 14 front page lead stories;• Volunteered to work 12-hour shifts on Mondays to ensure that the Cape Argus’ sports pages were updated for the PM edition;• Due to his attention for detail, he was tasked with softproofing pages within three months of working for the title and was also the first person to be given pages to proofread;• Was key to teaching other sub-editors and layout editors the facets of the InDesign and Quark CopyDesk programs due to his ability to quickly master the programmes ahead of others;• When a team member was ill or suffered a family loss, he stepped up and worked 10 continuous days for the Cape Argus, Weekend Argus and Cape Times.

  • News Writer: Weekend Argus Newspaper

    • Jul 2012 - Jan 2013

    Responsibilities:• Generated news stories for the Weekend Argus. Part of the process included assessing the newsworthiness from events and interviews and then translating the information gathered into a factual and concise article;• Identified story ideas that covered topics such as news, politics, business, children, lifestyle and travel; • Performed suitable research in order to produce concise and unbiased reports;• Completed all stories before deadline – time management and performance management.Achievements:• Secured an exclusive front-page lead in the first week at the paper and managed to build relationships with economist analysts, most of which are still being used by the journalists at the paper;• During his 18 months with the Weekend Argus, received the ‘Journalist of the Week’ award on twenty-one occasions; • Quickly established himself as somebody who would work long hours and was entrusted to do final checks of copy while still serving as an intern;• Due to work ethic and great quality of work, secured a six month extension upon a year-long intern contract within six months of initial contract;• Earned a trip to write about two five-star resorts in Mozambique as a reward for his hard work;• Took the responsibility of providing copy for the Workplace and Jellybean Journal supplements that appeared in the Weekend Argus while still meeting all deadlines for copy required for the news pages.