Well-known TV and radio presenter Tracey Lange spoke during the Media Department’s first lunchtime talk for 2022.
The bubbly Kfm and Tussen Ons presenter spoke about how she has used language as a resource to connect with audiences on radio and TV throughout her career.
She is known for her ability to communicate with her audiences in both English and Afrikaans.
Journalism lecturer Sisanda Nkoala said the main objective of this year’s series was to get journalism students and anyone interested in the role of journalism in society to hear from professionals in the space “and then deliberate on the centrality of news media in how we live our lives”
“The advent of social media and the development of phenomena such as disinformation has raised questions on the place of news media, given that nowadays ‘anyone’ can create and share content online. The speakers in this series will talk about their journeys as media professionals and reflect more deeply on their views on why the craft of journalism is still important, perhaps now more than ever.”
Nkoala said last year’s speaker series had been exceptionally well received.
“The series was opened up to anyone to attend, and we had requests from other journalism education entities for requests to share some of the sessions. More importantly, our students were able to network virtually with media professionals and use that opportunity as a means of getting mentored. The speakers themselves were extremely impressed with the engagements.”
During the online talk, Lange shared with students how she started her career at a law firm and got into a broadcasting career by chance.
She started helping at a community radio station in Somerset West and said, “The doors opened up from there”.
Her first paying job on the radio was at Good Hope FM, where she initially read the news on weekends.
“Within four months, they offered me a weekday position and a drivetime position because it was only for breakfast and drive time newsreaders who read English and Afrikaans.”
“I put in the work, and people started realising that I could easily do English and Afrikaans and switch between them quite comfortably. And now it’s something that people know me for.”
Lange told students that much of what she had achieved has been because she took the initiative to make the calls and send the emails and encouraged students to “open themselves up to just about any opportunity”.
Written by Ilse Fredericks
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