INTERNSHIPS AT BIG MEDIA
Big Media runs internship programmes for writers that provide on-the-job training to promising youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds, or to those needing practical experience to complete diplomas. Courses are usually six months or a year.
Skills taught include writing, research, interviewing, understanding the media, writing for the internet, digital photography. We also offer internships for webmasters, focusing on HTML coding and working with content management systems. Graduates have gone on to news media, internet companies, and government communications.
NEWSPAPER DESIGN
Big Media’s creative director, Irwin Manoim, joint founder and editor of Weekly Mail (now Mail & Guardian), is the country's most experienced newspaper design and editorial consultant. He produces prototypes for market research and redesigns existing publications.
He trains newspaper production staff in design, providing workshops across southern and eastern Africa tailored to clients’ needs. These can range from a single day to fortnight-long sessions.
Irwin also teaches journalism at the University of Witwatersrand.
BELLAVISTA COMPUTER CLUB HOUSE
The Bellavista Computer Club House, run by the City of Johannesburg, offers a safe space for children from eight years to spend their afternoons learning computer skills. Programmes are run to build their confidence and give them life skills.
Big Media is involved in one such programme – the publishing of a magazine. Our journalists run workshops for teenagers to learn how to put together a magazine; from coming up with story ideas to doing research, from interviewing to writing, from creating images to designing the magazine. They mentor participants throughout, and the teens learn organisational, leadership and problem-solving skills – and much more.
