Veteran Broadcast Journalist hangs up her microphone.
Veteran Broadcast
Journalist hangs up her microphone.
By Lisalee Solomons
Former broadcast journalist Leigh-Anne Jansen. Picture sourced from Leigh-Anne Jansen’s Instagram account.
When one talks about formidable journalists in South Africa,
one cannot form a list of names and not have the incredible Leigh-Anne Jansen
featured. Jansen, who is born and bred in Cape Town graduated from The Cape
Peninsula University of Technology with a Diploma in Journalism and has not
looked back since. She’s won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year award in 2013
for her outstanding reporting on the many different stories she’s had to cover
over the years, so it’s still quite surreal to not see Jansen appear on our TV
screens for news updates.
I put out a call to Leigh-Anne to find out if she’d be keen
to sit down with me for a one on one interview about her career, of course with
any interview requests one has to sometimes wait days if not months for a
response from the person whom you’ve requested an interview with. However, to
my surprise, Jansen responded the same day I emailed her, her exact response
was ‘Always willing to assist student journalists, lets chat!’ I remember
reading her response in disbelief with my eyes literally about to pop out my
eye socket! This is huge, she’s one of the most respected broadcast journalists
in Cape Town, and for her to agree to do this sit down interview with me was
honestly a dream come true since I am in awe of her reporting/anchoring
skills.
After back and forth emailing, we finally decided on a date
and time for the interview. It was to be held at Jansen’s former workplace
eNCA, in one of their boardrooms. I have met Leigh-Anne on numerous occasions
when she’s out on the streets reporting and of course when I job shadowed at
etv back in 2014, she’s an amazing person, very bubbly and genuinely interested
in your life story even if she’s only just met you once.
We sat down opposite each other over a boardroom table separating us, as I took out my recorder to start my interview. I advised Leigh-Anne that this is just for an assignment for University and that I will not be posting it on social media, so she can be as comfortable and as open to me with her answers to my questions. She then fired back indicating social media is a powerful tool and that I should consider posting these kinds of interviews on social media because these are the kinds of things potential media houses look out for when they searching for new reporters to nurture. Of course, she made sense with this statement. I then proceeded with my first question. “You’ve been in the media industry for over 10 years, reflecting back on when you started out as a Journalist, has the media evolved in your opinion?” she smiles, “the media has absolutely evolved since I joined 15 years ago , because back then there was no social media.”
Picture taken off Leigh-Anne's Instagram account
At this point, I’m super calm because our conversation is flowing, she’s
giving very lengthy answers to my questions and as I’m feeding off what she’s
giving me, I ask questions based on the answers she’s just given me to find out
more about what she means, at this point I’m slightly shifting off my list of
questions I have planned to asked her, but no worries, the interview is going
great!
‘You have covered stories that involved
politics, brutal murders, high profiled crime stories, random midnight drug
busts with police and some Entertainment news etc... What would you say is the
story that stands out the most for you?’ a slight sigh is heard coming from
Jansen, ‘It would have to be the Anene Booysen story as well as the Shrien and
Anni Diwani story. I cut my teeth covering both those stories because of the
gruesome ways those females were murdered. The Diwani story took me somewhat 7
years to cover because it was a constant continuation of events and both
parties being dragged in and out of court and then being postponed was just
draining, but the story needed to be told.”
Leigh-Anne
Jansen doing a live crossing outside the Western Cape High Court.
Picture sourced from Leigh-Anne Jansen’s Instagram account
Leigh-Anne has covered numerous protests, court cases, gang wars, midnight drug busts with police, elections and of course the annual SONA, she has been on the frontline exposing corruption in government and then being sent out into the field to cover a variety of stories. She’s indicated on more than one occasion that she loved it, she loved meeting new people and giving them a platform to air their views. “One notable change in broadcasting LIVE is that anything can go wrong, I’ve done countless live tv crossings out in the field and the crew and I have been stoned multiple times, but that’s the nature of the job, you got to roll with he punches and deliver a good broadcast because people reply on you for information”!
As the
conversation continues, I’m reminded of the one night I saw a post Leigh-Anne
had posted on her Facebook account indicating that she will be anchoring the
19:00 prime time news bulletin on ETV and we should all tune in, so of course I
had to ask her about this. “Anchoring a
news bulleting on national TV is liberating, it’s a job on its own, and you
have to be present at all times. But it is something I loved doing, the
pressure is there yes, but I thoroughly enjoyed that part of my career. As our
interview comes to an end, I proceeded to ask her ‘so what is next for
Leigh-Anne Jansen, career wise?” at this point I had absolutely no idea that
she would be hanging up her microphone as a journalist, so asking this question
to her was quite over whelming when I listen back to the interview. Jansen
responded with ‘who knows what’s next for me, l
know that I’ll always be a
journalist by heart, and I thoroughly enjoy my job, but at this stage Lisa, the
world is my oyster and I will go where I am needed”, at this point its very
hard to not hang onto every inspiring word she has to say, I stared at this
beautiful woman with so much admiration. She is really a force to be reckon
with, smart, bubbly and an absolutely amazing journalist.
As we end off the interview, Leigh-Anne signs off
with ‘it’s not easy being a journalist, its definitely not all glitz and
glamour, but if you love what you do, that’s a reward in itself. I would advise anyone to become a journalist
but do it for the right reason and not just because you want to be on TV or on
radio. I had no idea that when I done my
first stint on radio that this is where I’d end up, but if its in your makers
plan, who are you to question the plan.” She smiles at me, pulls me in for a
nice warm long hug. Looking back on that
moment now, I think she knew already that her time has come to spread her wings
further than journalism and at that moment she could not tell me her plan,
which is understandable.
Two months after my interview with Leigh-Anne, social media was abuzz with
the news that Leigh-Anne Jansen has resigned from eNCA to take up the position
as Community Liaison Officer of the Minister of Public Works &
Infrastructure.
There most certainly is no stopping a woman that is
determined to flourish! And we are so here for it!
You can follow Leigh-Anne on social media platforms:
Instagram: @la_jansen
Twitter: LA_Jansen
Facebook: Leigh-Anne Jansen-Mondell
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