Chief Reporter for The Citizen, Ugen Vos spends five minutes with Media Update and shares his views on Kurt Cobain; Joa Silva; and eNews.

1. What was your first job/ where did you start?
I started developing a server-side e-commerce app with a few friends for fun and not for profit, which we never really finished. My first paid job was probably stacking CDs at a nearby music shop, which was great because I’m a big music fan. Then I jumped straight into the community news scene about three years ago (although I’m still trying to decide if I consider journalism an actual job). Right now, I am Chief Reporter for The Citizen in Johannesburg.

2. What made you want to build a career in your profession?
I never planned any of that, it just seemed natural. I remember seeing some brutal photos of the execution of a deposed African leader in a local magazine when I was young (think it was somewhere close to the DRC), and wondering who the guys taking those pictures were and why they did it. Never thought I’d be one of them. And of course, the Bang Bang Club; the Rwandan genocide; and the Watergate scandal in the US made a big impact on me. In the end, I still want to believe that journalism can make a difference in the world, even if it’s just telling people a story they wouldn’t be aware of otherwise. “They stick up at all angles from the chalky ground… and still the dead keep coming,” the correspondents wrote from Haiti recently, and for the first time, I understood that sometimes watching from a distance can be the most difficult thing. For me personally, the most interesting journalism is either correspondence work in that vein, or solid investigative journalism that seeks to expose and explain.

3. Describe a day in your life at present.
Right now I’m covering the Eugene Terre’blanche murder and funeral. I’ve been in Ventersdorp all week; just got back; already leaving again to be there for the burial on Friday. Normally: hit snooze a few times; get coffee; get up; and go to work till late. Then get up again and do it all over. Rinse – repeat. Try not to have a nervous breakdown. What I do mostly depends on what I find interesting on any given day, really.

4. How do you unwind behind the scenes? List your favourite song; movie; and book.
I find metal clubs quite relaxing; hang out with friends for a chat; or watch movies when I have the time. I also listen to lots of music.

Song: Metallica – Nothing Else Matters; Soundgarden – 4th of July; The Pixies – Where Is My Mind; Immortal Technique – The Prophecy. Metal: melodic; Rap: lyricists; Grunge: dirty; Rock: honest.

Movie: Clerks; The House of Sand and Fog; Strange Days; Good Night and Good Luck; Titus; Garden State; The Hours; Waking Life; Fight Club; Office Space; Les Miserables; Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas; Requiem for a Dream; Apocalypse Now; Closer; Screamers; Trainspotting; The Usual Suspects; Sometimes In April; The Shawshank Redemption; Equilibrium, and, and, and…

Book: Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: True Stories from a War Zone by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, and Andrew Thomson; The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan; and Bag of Bones by Steven King. I enjoy the poetry of Leonard Cohen and T.S. Eliot.

5. Who would you most like to meet – dead or alive, and why?
Dead: Kurt Cobain, because his music changed my life. Alive: Joa Silva.

6. What has been one of the most important lessons you have learnt?
Trust no-one.

7. What is your secret indulgence and your three ‘can’t live without’ items?
“Is it really worth the aggravation to get yourself a job, when there’s nothing worth working for – all I really need are cigarettes and alcohol” (Oasis).

8. Who do you think is getting it right in the industry?
I’m pretty impressed with what eNews has been up to - never expected them to do as well as they have.

9. Which person in the industry do you think is making waves?
Dunno. Michael Moore?

10. Who is your alter ego?
The Dark Knight.

11. What is your favourite perfume?
Whatever’s around.

12. Which car would best personify you, and why?
I quite like the old Cadillacs. But I have no idea why.

13. What is your favourite reality TV series?
Kenny vs Spenny on Animax.

14. Who is someone you truly look up to, and which qualities do you most admire about them?
Richard Tomkinson from the Washington Post. A former White House correspondent who embeds himself in war zones for a year at a time. He’s quite a bit older than me, but last I checked he was still in Helmand somewhere. Joa Silva, for living the dream. I would have said Obama, but will reserve judgment as I’m still a bit iffy on some of his recent policy decisions.

15. What’s your stance on social media?
It can be a great tool at times, which can give access to areas we wouldn’t normally be able to cover properly - as evidenced by the Twitter coverage of the recent unrest in Iran. There are also some great independent news sites around, which may offer a viable alternative to the mainstream media (which sometimes does fall prey to the whims of corporate ownership). But, of course, there needs to be a balance: in the end, I wouldn’t just want to rely on the opinion of some random guy with an internet connection to help me make sense of the world. When and where possible, I would personally still prefer to have a trained news team put boots on the ground. I might check out an interesting blog, but I’d be more likely to take it seriously if it was posted by a reputable media agency that I trust.

Extracts from Vos’ 10-second Facebook interview:
The key to success is...
Cheating.

My power animal is...
Angelina Jolie.

What was the best advice you ever heard?
"Never apologise and never explain." - John Wayne

If you choke a smurf, what colour does it turn?
Smurfs are a community of many males servicing a single, egg-laying female. Hence they can be classified as insects. And since all insects are colour-blind, it really doesn't matter.