The Rejection of Voxpops

As a journalist something you frequently have to do, depending on the topic, is voxpops.

I have done countless voxpops, but recently I have come to know what the slang term actually stands for – voice of the people.  It is when you go up to the average Jane or Joe on the street and find out their opinion on a matter.

We’ve done several voxpops on Blessers, #Doekgate, the Public Protector, municipal elections and recently about the Free State. Each gets done for various reasons, either to find out what people think or for research.

They all have purpose...

However, there is a difficulty and anguishing side to voxpops that I really want to talk about, the rejection.

Newspaper journalists have it a bit easier because when they do voxpops, the person just becomes another name in the newspaper. There is no image of the person who said this opinion, especially if the person’s name happens to be John Smith, Kevin Peters or Ashley Johnson. There is a level of anonymity.

As a video based journalist, we don’t have that luxury. You are putting a face to the name and those remarks can be directly attributed to someone. You know who they are because you see their face.

That scares people, and in my experience it happens often.

When your opinion on something is directly attributed to you, you become responsible for those comments, and you need to be confident in your opinion to feel okay with it on camera.

Whenever we (those of us who do video voxpops) go out, it gets roughs, especially when recording it on a phone.

You have to put on your best people person attitude, go out and charm strangers to talk to you. This is particularly difficult if you are not in a good mood, or exhausted. Whatever you feel has to be put aside because you have a job to do.

You have to interrupt (read ambush) people on the street and sweet talk them. If you have anxiety about these things (as I do), it means you have to work yourself up to it, but still even when you do that, you experience constant rejection.

It hurts when you have been sweet talking and charming this person, and they are willing to do it, until you tell them “this will be on camera”. Sometimes you tell them this in the start, and they go off talking, but then when you press record they are like a deer caught in headlights.

Video voxpops have the added dynamic of profiling. You have to get a balance of men and women, then you need to get in various race groups, and then across age (depending on topic).

Many times I have counted people on my hands like:

 “Okay, we have a white woman, an Indian guy, a coloured girl, and a black girl. 

We still need an old white guy, and a black guy.”

Yet, for every person that says yes to you, 2-3 people have said no.

The rejection you experience is worse than when you see a hot person out, and try to flirt with them. In that situation you only experience rejection once or twice depending on how many people you try to flirt with.

For me, and others who endure voxpops, you experience rejection often; by the time you come back to the office, you feel like a lowest form of a human being. It also sucks when you are trying to stop one person to interview and they flat out ignore you; like you don’t even matter.

Every single time you get rejected, you can feel your insides squirm, and you want to shrink, but you just smile and say “Thank you for your time though,”

It is humbling, often humiliating, experience that I encourage everyone to do at one point. Promotions people know a bit of this when you are promoting a item on the streets, and people wish you would disappear.

No matter how often you do it, the rejection still hurts the same, and my goodness is it great for your ego (sarcasm).

It is a very unusual yet common experience.

By the time you get a person to say “Sure” you are near willing to actually kiss them.

I think the level of rejection we experience while doing voxpops is why these days we go in pairs or in a group of three. In that way you get to negotiate with your colleague.

“I got rejected by the last person; it is your turn now.”

You share the pain, and you share the joy. Everyone gets to feel equally humiliated and uplifted.

Such is the life of  a voxpop.

Pretty much what we do when we get back from voxpops

Theo. Over and Out.

The Racist Interns

"Hello from the other side!!!"

That title is very misleading, because this has nothing to do with racist interns but rather the interns from the anti-racism campaign, “Racism Stops With Me” that my employer is running.

I’ve taken to calling them the racist interns because it’s shorter, easier and a little provocative if I am being honest. Of course everyone in the office gets a bit on edge when I call them the racist interns but it comes from a place mischievousness and affection.

It has been interesting having so many new interns in the office.

"Ooh child, can you not touch my jacket"

In January there was just a colleague, our team leader and I in our division, and then in February our team leader went on a 3 month course and it was just the two of us, followed by then in March when my colleague broke his hand and it essentially put him out for the whole month.

To save you a large rambling “woe is me” bit, things were rough and I was in a very dark overwhelming place (still in a dark place but that is more due to my emotional state than work). I don’t know how I survived March but I did.

So, things have been interesting time when contrasting how we are now with 4 permanent staffers in our office with 7 interns, and the number of people in our office is still set to grow. We’ve even needed to move out of our office.

Needless to say, things have drastically changed and there are quite a few people now.

What has been interesting and playing on my mind a lot is how I have reacted to all of this.

I was an intern myself up until the end of March and then became a permanent employee, and now I work in an office with interns. They joined us at the start of May, but it has been a very interesting few weeks since they came into the office.

There are so many personalities to get used to, and questions asked, things to be managed, and work that still needs to be done while all of us are still learning and finding out about each other.

Getting things turnt after work. We were hanging the next day.

The thing that has me a bit worried about myself is how motherly I’ve been around the interns. Yes, you read that right. I used the word motherly.

Working with the new interns has been great, I only call them interns because it is a collective term that makes it easier to refer to them than naming all of them (which props to myself, is something I can do because I made sure to learn their names within a day or two).

It feels nice to be in a place where you can share information and skills with each other. Part of the fun is how much I have learned from them as well, but something that I am trying to keep in check and from getting too out of hand is how motherly I have been with them.

I want them to succeed and do their very best. It won’t be easy because I know how it felt a year ago to be a position where you are doing things that you are still adjusting too and it can all be daunting. I want for them to feel appreciated and that that they are working in an environment they can enjoy.

The issue however, which is something I have to be mindful of, is being overbearing.

I can be very intense. I have that type of personality where I can be very intense, but it doesn’t always come out in typical ways. With the interns I feel like I am constantly checking on “if they are okay” and if they need help with anything.

These fools always on that "dropping the hottest mixtape" pose

I have over the past few days been easing up on it, and letting them do their own thing and hoping that instead they will come to me when the need my help, but that has made me worried that they might feel like I am distancing myself from them and that I have no interest in helping them.

I have been learning about myself, and I think that as exhausting as my self-awareness of my behaviour can be, it’s also advantageous. It certainly feels that way in this case.

My boss just gave us a talking to about this and actually pointed out that they will learn things in time. We can't baby them, because in all honesty, no one babied us.

We learned by trial and error.

I think I will ease up on the motherly thing quick enough without being too distanced and nonchalant, while also avoiding being overbearing.

I think what will be important for me to focus on will be remembering what I was doing and guide them along the way; but doing so in a way that that is beneficial for them and helping their own growth.

Also, before I lose perspective - I HAVE MY OWN WORK TO DO. Like duh.

But all thing considered, I am sure they won’t be the only one to grow from the experience.

Theo. Over and Out.

I surprised this guy with this photo. He was not impressed.
Sorry Balo.

PS - These are just some of the interns, not all. There wasn't enough space.