World Cup Media Angst

Ahhh, the great Kiwi knocking machine! Nice dodge.

So how about addressing the comments of your colleagues in journalism - Richard Boock, Andrew Mulligan and Rikki Swannell - on Deaker on Sport last night? Or are they just part of the knocking machine also?

Exactly what was the news value of that segment in the township? It seemed to me like a classic case of the news becoming the news. A white film crew drives into a black township creating a stir and then broadcasting it as "news". Look! Scary black people! The "real South Africa"!

Oh, and I never said it would be good if you got attacked, just that it seemed like that's what you were after.

Why don't you show that piece to one of the many black South African journalists you will no doubt meet over there and see if they consider it a balanced view of the "real South Africa"?

EDIT: and yeah, reading some of the above, I do not mean to attack you personally Craig but I still think that piece was racist.

terminator_x2010-06-10 21:22:04

IMO Craig was exploring the parts of the city that the AWs were based in. Seriously, nothing wrong with that at all! I go exploring all the time when I go to a new place. I don't do the tour bus thing. Man, I'm not even white and I didn't see ANYTHING remotely racist in that piece.

Seriously!

I have been a strong critic of media coverage of football in recent times (on this website and beyond), and I've been realy disappointed with TVNZ for a long time.

Keep up the good work Craig,Ive been pleasently suprised by the amount of coverage the WC has been getting. brettdale2010-06-10 22:13:40

It's just that I am already getting sick of the almost constant and complete presentation by the media of South Africa, and particularly black South Africa, as nothing more than a dangerous place full of criminals. Craig Stanaway's piece did nothing except reinforce this negative view. It seems like the only counter-point to this at the moment is FIFA themselves, who are just as bad with simplistic rhetoric about how football is bringing the rainbow nation together blah blah.

This blog by a South African freelance journalist does a pretty good job of explaining what I'm trying to say.

Well you must admit that popularising the vuvuzela is pretty criminal.

Right up there with cowbells.

I read that blog (and Im a pretty liberal guy) and thought it confused, contradictory and without any clear point.

I think the tone for this is set by the thousands of white SA expats in New Zealand, who deliberately exaggerate these stories of "out of control crime" because it sounds better than "I didn't want to live in a country run by blacks". And this narrative is gradually seeping into mainstream Pakeha discourse, unfortunately.

To be fair to a lot of those who have fled South Africa, many experienced some horrific things that most New Zealanders cannot imagine. On the other hand, many who immigrated are straight up racist. I had a lot of SA friends when I lived on the North Shore and some were disgustingly racist but many were very liberal tolerant people, despite seeing traumatic things. I don't think many of us can appreciate that.

I think while it is fair to criticise the media if football coverage is lacking, give credit when it is due. Both channels have upped their games, as have the newspapers. They really have to be all over the world cup because the interest is so high. But while games aren't being played, reporters have to come up with related stories, such as Stanaway's the other night.

Reporters work very hard for very little credit!

I could possibly understand such lazy and uninformed reporting from countries that have never really had any contact with South Africa before but in NZ we should really know better. Our rugby teams have been regularly going to SA for years, and while I'm sure they are careful about security, I am struggling to think of even one bad news story from all those visits (apart from when it's been our guys being naughty!).

The way they are largely being portrayed at the moment you would think that all black South Africans are members of the Taleban.

Maybe some of the people touring can tell us how they found SA when they return.

I know pictures can lie but that news footage suggested to me that in a similar situation I would feel threatened too!

NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE BLACK.

Crowds like that go off with any tiny spark. It wasn't about how dangerous blacks are  And coming from safe old New Zealand we aren't always used to such situations (speaking for myself at least).

Oh man, I really really don't get this at all. And Murray's lost almost any respect I had for him recently. Haden's "darkie" comments aren't racist (because Murray says so) but Craig's piece was racist.

I've said all I have to say on this matter.
ahmad2010-06-10 22:37:05

I am sure that some do exaggerate, but you do not know what you are talking about.

Was there TV coverage on TV1 or TV3 for Steve Sumner's Order of Merit Award??

To be fair to Deaker I don't really remember what his personal view was, it was his three guests who highlighted Stanaway's piece as a poor piece of journalism. Don't worry, I suspect Deaker has been consistent on this by sticking his head in the sand both times.

terminator_x2010-06-10 23:09:59

Don't think so, nor did Prime. I did hear it on Radio Sport though.

Craig is there a story coming?

Oh and please more shots of Mossy preferably without his shirt on, Thanks

That wasn't racist.

It was sh*tty journalism.

How so though? It was a fair enough human interest story. It wasn't a sports story. It was a backgrounder to the World Cup, trying to at least give us some taste of the local culture.

When I visit new places I never use tour buses as a rule. I just walk the streets and markets. Walk and talk with people. In that piece, I saw a little bit of me in Craig to be perfectly honest.

LOL I think you've been watching too many in-hotel room porn movies today

Hey, I'm a red-blooded guy! Junior822010-06-11 00:06:20

You've been there often then?

Id trust someone who has been there and saying that it is a dangerous place in parts,over someone who hasnt been there and says it is perfectly safe,is all I'm saying.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/09/world-cup-journalists-robbed-gunpoint

Don't be racist Frankie!

Well, let's put it this way - I'm not denying that there's a lot of violent crime in SA. There will be a lot of violent crime in any country where there are great disparities in income (cf USA). But the issue is, was crime really that much lower under apartheid? Or was it just that when the police were all white, and answered to an all-white government, the white population slept more soundly in their beds? As I'm not from SA, perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about, but these guys do.

As to ahmad: I don't know what things are like in Dunedin, but there are many parts of Auckland which are not "nice and safe".Doloras2010-06-11 10:55:04

Just FYI I consider Dunedin safe except in the weekends in town where a mixture of alcohol and god knows what other drugs conspire to remove any ability to think rationally so therefore you can get involved in an assault without having even provoked it (not personal experience - I stay away).

There is considerable crime in SA. Fact.

There is less crime here. Fact.

We are advised not to walk outside our hotel alone. Fact.

Yeah, if everything is considered racist, then by the lack of binary opposition, nothing is racist, which is not good. Cosimo2010-06-11 11:18:46

terminator_x2010-06-11 12:23:27

Wow Smithy, you're on fire today. Just a couple of points of clarification...

If you think that was a good piece of journalism you are  ............wrong

I didnt see any attempt to connect with the people, to ask them how it felt to have the World Cup in their backyard. The people looked happy to me, and acting up like so many do in front of a camera. There are elements of racial steroetyping in that piece by Stanaway.

I am enjoying the coverage,  but that was a poor filler