Spin Me A Winner

The SACP’s statement following the special politburo meeting yesterday is plain and clear. It contains significant material and it is free of any double meanings. See the link below. Yet the Business Day and the Star gave very different reports of it. Judge them for yourself (linked below). Karima Brown’s short item for the Business Day’s “In Brief” panel on page 3 is fair, as far as it goes. Moshoeshoe Monare’s in The Star is a different story altogether. In fact it is two alternative stories, as we shall see. The version that is actually printed in the hard-copy Star is a blatant example of what the SACP referred to in its statement when it said that newspapers are “positioning themselves in debates and disagreements inside our movement in a factionalist and often provocative manner”. But in a further twist, the version of Monare’s report that is posted on The Star’s web site contains additional material (put into bold lettering in the linked document) which would have made the report a lot fairer, if it had been printed. What this discrepancy means is that behind the spinner Monare there is another, powerful, faceless spinner in The Star’s office who is prepared to be even more economical and selective with the truth than the front-man Monare is. Click on these links: SACP Extended Politburo Statement on Alliance developments (767 words) SACP politburo backs GS, Karima Brown, Business Day (104 words) SACP backs Blade but warns him, Moshoeshoe Monare, The Star (424 words)