Africa Media Matrix a feature portrait

This is a feature article written on the Journalism and Media Studies faculty building more commonly known as the "Africa Media Matrix"

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The Africa Media Matrix building is a lab dedicated to the Journalism and Media Studies course offered by Rhodes University. It has had a longstanding history in the production of world-class multimedia practitioners.

Front of the AMM building_Dalicebo Mseleku_

As the rain peppers down onto the brick-patterned ground, journalism students rush to find shelter inside a structure that has undoubtedly become a home for their chosen vocations.

The Africa Media Matrix building is exactly what its name entails, a hub for all of Africa to come together united by media and the plethora of stories that have been and have yet to be told.

It is a place where many of the students and teachers of Journalism and Media Studies find themselves visiting weekly either to labour for hours to satiate the flame of their passion or to find something that will ignite it

One of the pictures framed on the walls of the building_Dalicebo Mseleku_

The Africa Media Matrix was founded by noted poet Guy Butler and it has served as an example of the University's motto "where leaders learn". Construction of the building began in 2001 with an investment by the Ford Foundation of R24 million, an investment into the future of the media industry pioneers that would be born in and raised by the school’s new journalism department. It was finally unveiled in 2006 ("Africa Media Matrix", 2021)

One of the busy journalism students in the building said something inspirational to me, "this building just feels like a safe place for me to do the things I enjoy doing, it lets me be myself with no one to judge me for it you know?" (Mbangi, 2021). This simple statement speaks volumes about the special place that the structure holds in the hearts of some of its regulars.

Cultural artefact on the walls of the staircase_Dalicebo Mseleku_

A great testament to the department's success exists in the form of those who have since left its colourful and environmentally friendly corridors. Many of Rhodes' Alumni have gone on to edit for prominent media forces such as Business Day, Financial Mail, Diamond Fields Advertiser, Evening Post, the South African Press Association and many more. Other graduates sit in managerial positions within Independent Newspapers and even in the South African Broadcasting Commission ("Africa Media Matrix", 2021).

These are the bright lights that have gone out to illuminate the possible paths for others like them to follow.