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23 January 2020 | Story Lacea Loader

Update: 26 January 2020
Bloemfontein Campus registration process to continue on Monday 27 January 2020


The registration process for students on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) will continue on Monday 27 January 2020 as per the registration programme.

First-year students who have not registered must refer to their email, the university’s self-service portal, and the Call Centre (051 401 9666) for information. Senior students can visit registration venues on campus if they require academic advice.

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393



Update: 24 January 2020
Bloemfontein Campus registration process not to continue the afternoon of Friday 24 January 2020  


The first-year registration process on the Bloemfontein Campus will not continue after 13:00 today (Friday 24 January 2020), but will resume on Monday 27 January 2020.

This decision taken by the executive management of the university comes after a number of students disrupted the registration process this morning and prevented first-year students to enter registration venues.

Constant engagements with the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) and the Student Representative Council (SRC) of the Bloemfontein Campus have taken place since the beginning of the year regarding matters of concern to students, and the executive management will continue to do so. The university management is disappointed with this morning’s disruptive behaviour led by the Bloemfontein Campus SRC, despite these regular engagements.

The situation on the campus is being closely monitored by the university’s Protection Services and the South African Police Service.

 

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

News Archive

Photo manipulation in journalism: evil, crutch or lifebuoy?
2017-09-04

Description: Albe Grobbelaar Tags: Photo manipulation, Albe Grobbelaar, Albe, OJ Simpson, journalism, Department of Communication Science, Communication Science   

Albe Grobbelaar, veteran journalist and lecturer in the
Department of Communication Science at the UFS.
Photo: Rulanzen Martin


Since the 1800s the manipulation of photographs has been common practice, and who can forget the OJ Simpson Time magazine cover in 1994? Albe Grobbelaar, lecturer in the Department of Communication Science at the University of the Free State (UFS), asked in a special lecture on 18 August 2017 whether “Photo manipulation in Journalism” was an evil habit, a crutch or a lifebuoy.

“As a journalist I have always been interested in photography. And the principle of photo manipulation or tampering with photos, as we call it, is something that has interested me ever since,” Grobbelaar said. Photo manipulation is an area that has garnered many academic interest and is not a new trend but a practice that started in the 1830s when photos came into popular use. “It is not always done with ulterior motives, artists played with photographs to get unique effects.” Photo manipulation is not only to create fake news, but is sometimes used to convey novelty and create shock to news readers. 

Different viewpoints for different circumstances
He talked about the spectrum of viewpoints on photo manipulation. Some conservative journalism schools say photos should never be retouched while other feel it is fine to tamper with pictures. “What I tried to convey in the lecture was that one should consider different circumstances differently,” Grobbelaar said. As a journalist he believes that news photos should never be manipulated.

He mentioned the example of the mugshot of OJ Simpson that the Los Angeles Police Department released to the media. “Newsweek and Time both used the photo on their front pages, but Time deliberately darkened the picture so that OJ, a black man, would appear more sinister,” Grobbelaar said. It is, however, common practice in the fashion industry to retouch images that are used in fashion magazines. 

Use own judgment to validate photos
In the age of social media it has become easy to manipulate photos and which has been labelled fake news. “I would advise people to use their own judgment when validating the authenticity of photos,” Grobbelaar said. It is important to verify whether they are from a reliable news outlet.

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