DEAR Editor,-
It was with eagerness that I picked up last week’s copy of the South Coast Herald to read a report on an important happening in HCM. It was an event that was given reasonable coverage in both the national and provincial media.
Requiring months of preparation and involving thousands of residents, it took place on October 23. To my dismay, I failed to tag its coverage in this edition of your publication. If it was indeed given publicity, it must be admitted that skillful journalism was employed to conceal its propagation.
In this instance, specific reference is made to your lack of coverage of the by-election held in Ward 29 in HCM. Its failure to appear in your valued weekly tabloid does beg many questions:
• Is a report on a by-election not newsworthy?
• Is a victory for the ANC a forgone conclusion and hence trifling news?
• Is a 77.5% victory in a traditionally opposition stronghold not worthy of publicity?
• Is such news suppressed because it dispels the myth of a collapsing ANC?
• Is there a belief that such news promotes the political interest of the ANC and reinforces its established and growing image?
• Honestly, would you have done the same if another party won?
There is a perception that we are engaged in an unfair battle with the fourth estate. Remarkably and without the need for further detail, evidence like this reinforces such conjecture.
RONNIE NAIR
