By Adam Wakefield

“I’ve always been a reader. My mother was a primary school teacher and she always encouraged me to write and read. I had a strict dad who also paid particular attention to those things as well. So it’s always been a reflex to read and write, it’s how I entertained myself as a child,” Raborife says.

The watershed moment came when still at high school, when Raborife’s sister was working as a photographer at the Sowetan newspaper. She would sometimes pick her up and go back to the office, and it was there that her love of journalism began.

“Seeing the journalists, seeing the rush to meet deadlines, seeing the atmosphere of the newsroom, seeing the editors sprint and shout across the room … I would see the layout of the next day's paper and the pictures that my sister would be busy editing. That intrigued me. That’s where the first bug bit, in that newsroom,” Raborife says.

The journey to News24 

After matriculating in 2006, Raborife first studied at Boston Media House, then spent the next three years at Rhodes University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, specialising in Journalism and Philosophy. In 2011, Raborife took up a journalism Honours course at Wits, which would unintentionally provide the pathway to her first journalism job in the industry.

A childhood friend who worked at Forbes Africa was on campus for an interview one day, and happened to run into Raborife. Upon returning to the office, Raborife’s friend spoke to her boss, Forbes Africa editor-in-chief Chris Bishop, and several phone calls and an interview later, Raborife was a member of the team.

“Forbes was an amazing opportunity to delve into stories about really successful, wealthy entrepreneurs on the continent, which not even some mid-career journalists get,” Raborife says.

“I really appreciated it but what I still needed was the rush of hard news.”

Raborife’s final push into hard news came from being at the press conference where AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa broke down following the Marikana shootings.

As Raborife observed Mathunjwa’s raw emotion, it dawned on her that she had to be where the action is as it happens.

“That’s when I got this fire inside me and started working towards being in the action. I was frustrated that our readers would be reading about that moment in a month or two, and not on the day that it actually happened. That's how magazines work, and I so badly wanted to report on it, on the day, and tell everyone what had happened that had caused that man to cry in front of room full of reporters,” Raborife says.

After looking around for a position that would give her that opportunity, the assistance of a friend at the SA Press Association (Sapa) saw Raborife eventually land a job at Sapa.

“I was on cloud nine when I got the job at Sapa. My heart was jumping up and down. I’ve been happy ever since. I don’t regret leaving Forbes. It taught me a lot and I respect the people at the magazine,” Raborife says.

“It’s classy, the standards are recognised globally, the stories are rich and it’s important to have those conversations about what's happening on the continent as a whole, but my heart is where current affairs is, where general, hard news is. I need to be part of a team that tells South Africans what’s happening day-by-day.”

Following Sapa’s dissolution in March 2015, Raborife joined News24, where she has been ever since.

“I love my job. I cannot wake up and imagine myself doing anything else. I feel like the reason I got into this industry as a journalist was to specifically play a role of educating the public about the state of affairs in our country,” Raborife says, whether it be on a human level, or politics, or something else.

“I love educating people. I love educating myself.”

The importance of ambition, and some advice

Every year, hundreds of people start on the path to becoming journalists, whether through tertiary education or practical experience. However, as the media industry comes under ever greater revenue pressure, Raborife agrees with the view that opportunities to start a career in journalism are becoming harder to come by.

“I think, emotionally, if you’ve gone to a good journalism school, you should be well prepared for the initial pressure,” Raborife explains.

Choosing the right school was helpful because editors in news organisations know which programmes produce, on average, the best candidates. “They know where the quality comes from. We are thrown into the deep end and are expected to float”.

Furthermore, there is no such thing as a one-medium journalist, with being excellent at a single discipline, such as writing, to sustain a career in modern journalism.

“You have to up-skill yourself with whatever new trend comes into the industry, read a little bit about them. Have the knowledge of taking videos. If you can, buy gadgets that will help the output be better. Learn how to record, download the apps that record phone calls, learn how to record everything that you are at. Video is important, so your phone must be capable of taking good quality pics and videos. Those are the minimum standards of any newsroom.”

According to Raborife, the difficult part is you learn on the job, but, conversely, that is where a reporter “gets their strength and grit from. That’s what the industry is about”.

The future

Raborife is not certain what the future holds, but knows that her future lies in the industry, and that she wants to grow as a professional. Further, there is more at stake than simply her own career.

“I think black women, most specifically, need to be seen in positions of power and as powerful decision makers. I would like to be one of those black women,” Raborife says.

“It’s very important, because if I didn’t see my sister in that newsroom, as the deputy photo editor, as a photographer making decisions about what pictures should going onto what page with what story or giving other photographers assignments, I wouldn’t think a black woman could be in a position of power in a newsroom.”

It is important to Raborife that she repeats her sister’s example for the next generation.

“For me, it is the only way to inspire ambition in someone. By them seeing someone they can relate to, doing something they think they could be brilliant at as well, if they tried it. That's where the seed gets planted.”

For more information, connect with Raborife on Twitter.

Being a journalist is a stressful business. Read more in our article, Modern journalism and the scourge of stress.