Mandela news blues

28 Jan 2011

NEWSWATCH: South African editors want to be kept informed on the state of health of Nelson Mandela and are not happy that there was a news blackout yesterday, reports News24. Meanwhile, acting president Kgalema Motlanthe addressed the media today, Friday, 28 January 2011, on the former president's state of health (yes, he's still alive and has been discharged), according to various media reports. On a different note, the guys at Mail& Guardian are feeling a bit hacked off, and Daily Sun is asking 'Who the hell is Simphiwe Sithole?

(Image: Courtesy Executive Office of the President of the United States, via Wikimedia Commons)

A question on the lips of many South African journalists on Twitter is how did the international media, such as the BBC and Reuters, manage to get more information than the local media.

For more:

Bizcommunity Twitter list: http://twitter.com/#!/list/Bizcommunity/madibapresser A list of journalists who were present at today's press conference on Madiba's health at Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg.
Google News Search: Mandela press conference
News24: Keep us informed about Mandela - editors... Dead right. As anyone knows, when there's a news blackout many people tend to assume the worst and/or start and spread rumours. Even if a press conference is called to report "No change"', that is better than nothing at all. Subject to reasonable norms on right to privacy and so on, there is no need for any sort of paranoid secrecy. Madiba has been in the public arena for decades; now is not the time to bury him under a blanket of secrecy.
IOL: Motlanthe will brief media on Mandela... Now we're getting somewhere. According to acting president Kgalema Motlanthe Madiba is "alive and kicking" and "hasn't passed on" - so he will be addressing the media today to tell them just that and, presumably, pass on any other information that may be relevant. Good. As the beer advert has it, it pays to 'Keep it real'.
Mail & Guardian Online: How we beat Russian hack attack... It seems the site's IT team hardened the site, but Russian hackers applied a 'soft touch' - and hacked into the site anyway, but our local heroes soon sorted them out.
Daily Sun: Who the hell is Simphiwe Sithole? It's a bird... It's a plane... It's a doctor... it's not! The case of the doctor that wasn't, the man that wasn't and the employee who isn't...Which is why Daily Sun's editor mystified and asking: "Who the hell is Simphiwe Sithole?"