http://www.npr.org/templates
http://www.npr.org/templates
Ok. I'm not trying to make a point by posting this stuff, I promise. I was just interested to see what you think.
I think what annoys me, more than the obvious hypocrisy, is the amount of airtime dedicated and level of analysis. Of course its to be expected - local news vs international. Its just the warped perspective that it creates here. Or maybe I'm just being naive?
5 comments:
Are the audio reports different from the text? Can't listen to the audio here, so can only comment on the text.
Ja, you're definitely right about the hypocrisy between the two. They were very liberal in their choice of details regarding the SA story. Some of it was quite out of context, in particular the Bullard case.
But a lot of that negativity is generated here, and are not just the take of the foreig press. There has been a noticable shift in the press towards a more negative view on every issue. I think that we've just been hit by so many negative things in a short period of time that there is a definite feeling of despair around, and it reflects in the journalism.
journalists suck! everyone at saiia gets misquoted or quoted out of context all the time, by morons who don't understand the issues they're trying to write about. Many foreign journos don't get SA at all, but some, like the Financial Times guys, the Economist rep, and one or two others, are less prone to this sort of writing. But they're in a different market, one where the shock horror blah doesn't sell papers.
But if you think NPR is being unfair, read the Daily Sun or the Times or the Citizen. Local press is not far off in tone.
I think it's just business, mixed with some ignorance when it comes to foreigners.
oh ja, and thankfully foreign governments rely more on their own staff for information and opinions about SA. These guys are generally more sympathetic and knowledgeable than most journalists. Except maybe the Chinese embassy guys. They be super racist, haaa-so! Har har.
paul - sorry - didn't realise that audio wasn't accessible from SA. and you're right - over the last while there has been such an increase of negativity about SA's future in the media here. i just find it frustrating, cause find myself getting quite ridiculously defensive, and pointing out how its kind of hard to tell the difference between race relations in north carolina and back at home. and then i start wondering whether i'm just glossing over how fucked up things really are. i suppose what this xenophobia issue, and zuma's recent reintroduction of ethnicity-based politics has shown as that its not that easy for a country so deeply divided to just get over that stuff. i suppose i just get frustrated with people's attitudes here, where they can't see how institutionalised racism still is in their own backyards.
No, I just couldn't access the audio from my shitty slow work connection.
Ja there is definitely hypocrisy in their reporting. I guess it's just so easy to be righteous from a distance, but almost impossible to be objective when you are involved.
It's also quite common for people with a liberal mindset to try and prove how open minded they are by damning everyone else as a bigot. I think there's a lot of that in the American attitude towards the white South African community, and it comes through in this article.
But it is completely astounding how whimsical the tone of that article about the prom is.
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