{"id":6728,"date":"2013-10-06T16:18:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T20:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=6728"},"modified":"2013-10-09T17:05:15","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T21:05:15","slug":"critique-unfortunate-undertones-in-a-solid-documentary-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/10\/06\/critique-unfortunate-undertones-in-a-solid-documentary-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Critique: unfortunate undertones in a solid documentary series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:<\/a>

The students featured in the School Year series live in the low-income township of Khayelitsha. Photo: Brandon Jones<\/a>, Creative Commons, some rights reserved<\/p><\/div>\n

I was recently sitting in my kitchen, half listening to The World<\/a> while eating dinner.<\/p>\n

This piece<\/a> came on and grabbed my full attention. I stared at the radio until it ended.<\/p>\n

The story was part of a series called \u201cSchool Year: Learning, Poverty, and Success in a South African Township.<\/a>\u201d This is the project of Anders Kelto, who is The World\u2019s Cape Town-based Africa Correspondent. In the year-long series, which began in March, Kelto checks in with low-income students who attend a prestigious high school, the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT).<\/p>\n

Based on the School Year stories I\u2019ve checked out so far, the series is pretty cool. We really get up close and personal with these students.\u00a0Kelto doesn\u2019t shy away from the veritable horrors that are part of everyday life in\u00a0Khayelitsha (like in this piece<\/a>, which I loved). There\u2019s even an interactive element, too: some of\u00a0the students have been speaking directly with their audience on Facebook<\/a>. I admire that – it prevents the series from being an exhibit for faraway audiences to gawk at.<\/p>\n

One of the students is Tandie Nkosi. In \u201cFrom the shacks to the prom, a South African girl\u2019s night of glamour<\/a>\u201d, we follow her as she gets ready for, and then attends, her high school prom. This is a big deal, because – well, because it\u2019s prom. But especially because Tandie had to save up for months to afford shoes, a dress, and the prom ticket. In her voice, we can hear how important this is, and we\u2019re rooting for her from the start.<\/p>\n

What I think spoils the piece is Kelto\u2019s heavy-handed narration. It\u2019s not really his story to tell – it\u2019s Tandie\u2019s, but his voice overpowers hers. And there\u2019s this other thing – an unfortunate side effect of the narration style and tone, I think. Kelto makes Tandie\u2019s visit to the hair salon, her preparations, her display of the dress, and prom night itself, sound like novelties.<\/p>\n

For a radio story (or any story) to work, there is usually some kind of conflict. For Kelto, it seems like the conflict is this: She wants to go to prom, but she is poor. Okay, sure. I think he should have stopped right there. He plays up the wealth\/poverty dichotomy so much that it\u2019s distracting. And worse, it doesn\u2019t even feel like that\u2019s the real story. To me, the real story is that she\u2019s going to prom, which is a special treat she\u2019s worked hard for, and it\u2019s going to be awesome. The night itself will also be a rare time when she won\u2019t have to think about her financial situation. But Kelto, unlike Tandie, is so focused on Tandie’s poverty, and that feels inappropriate.<\/p>\n

But what do I know? I was not there. Tandie’s version might be exactly the same as Kelto’s. Even so, the piece was jarring – perhaps, because<\/i> she didn\u2019t tell it herself. This was Anders Kelto\u2019s interpretation of what transpired, and something about his presentation felt a little unreliable.<\/p>\n

When I heard this story, I had in mind a recent episode of HowSound<\/a>, which is my former instructor\u2019s podcast. The episode features Catherine Stifter and jesikah maria ross (she doesn\u2019t capitalize her name), who lead a documentary program called \u201cThe View From Here.\u201d The program has a unique and radical approach. They go the extra mile to make sure their stories ring true for the interviewees, partly by letting them do most of the talking. Their goal, as Stifter says, is to put an end to<\/p>\n

the pretense we that we have that we<\/i> \u2013 mostly white, educated reporters \u2013 go out and point our microphones at something, and then we,<\/i> tell you what we\u2019re gonna tell you, we tell you what we told you, and then we tell it to you again.<\/p>\n

We think that our audience is way smarter than that… And there\u2019s kind of a different way to bring those stories to people: to include the storytellers, and the cultural experts in<\/i> these stories, and to allow them to have their scene. To allow that scene to play out, and to not interrupt. We\u2019re not the people who need to translate how that is, or what it is, or what it means to them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The non-narrated (or minimally narrated), scene-driven stories that Stifter and ross produce represent an extreme. Public radio news is not going to jump to that extreme any time soon – and it probably shouldn\u2019t. Those kinds of stories probably don\u2019t transmit \u201chard news\u201d information fast enough. However, I do think news spots are more powerful – and more human – when they slow down and let those scenes play out, at least for a little bit longer than what is customary. I think slower radio does a slightly better job of answering the question: Whose story is it, really?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was recently sitting in my kitchen, half listening to The World while eating dinner.
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