Publication: Business Day Date: 2005-11-21 Reporter: Peter Bruce Reporter:

The Thick End of the Wedge

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date

2005-11-21

Reporter

 Peter Bruce

Web Link

www.bday.co.za

 

My weekly wait for the Sunday papers before writing this column paid off big time yesterday. As the Zuma “rape” story proceeds, the infighting in the media has become almost as interesting as who might next run the country. By far the most enjoyable sally came from the Sunday Times which told a remarkable story of how it understands the Sunday Independent came to write the Zuma rape story on the same day as it did (to wit, Sunday before last). Here’s how the bigger weekend paper told it: “After sneaking a peek at copies of the Sunday Times running off the presses we share with them in Sauer Street, Johannesburg (something they’re not really supposed to do), the Sunday Independent’s editor rushed upstairs to change his front page story.”

Of course, the access the Sunday Independent, the Star and Business Report have to stories in their rivals which are printed in their building has long been an issue, but there was just a hint of contrition in the Sunday Independent yesterday. In a front page comment, the editor concedes that the Sunday Times got the story first (no apology for the steal, however, if indeed there was one).

Now, you’ll remember that while the Sunday Times ran a story saying a rape complaint had been made against Zuma, it didn’t reveal who the complainant was. The Sunday Independent, quite reasonably keen to get in on the story but also needing to take the shine off the Sunday Times pieces, managed to get hold of the woman, who told them she had in no way made any such complaint. The Indy named her, and printed her fierce denial.

The front page editorial yesterday reveals they were directed to her by people in the Zuma camp. Gosh. Anyway, the Sunday Times got it mostly right and the Sunday Independent got it mostly wrong. We now know that the woman did indeed make a complaint against Zuma, and her complaint has a docket number. Both papers were singing more or less the same song this weekend, however, though the Times says police are doing DNA tests of “samples” from the woman, while the Indy says they have asked Zuma for blood samples to test. It probably doesn’t matter who gets tested first.

The Zuma camp spin that led the Sunday Independent on the first day didn’t stop its fragrant columnist Karen Bliksem, though, from having a go at Business Day media columnist Anton Harber for chastising both papers for not investigating where the rape allegations first came from. “What,” moaned the pouting hackette, “does Harber think that working journalists in this country do all day...? Since he obviously has no notion, I had better tell him: they spend their days trying to find those non-existent bunkers and sift the wheat from the chaff (geddit?) in the mounds of poppycock.” Jolly well said, madam! *1 The only problem with this hissing is that the Indy front page lead last week and the Karen Bliksem column are written by the same person.

Still, for me the tastiest morsels yesterday were the two versions of the Zuma story written by City Press political correspondent S’thembiso Msomi, one leading the front page in his own newspaper and other in Rapport, his sister Sunday in the Naspers stable. The two often, and usefully, trade stories.

Anyway, the City Press lead had as its introduction the statement that “Jacob Zuma is fighting for his political life...”. Rapport’s version started with the following rather courageous insight: Dis klaarpraat met Jacob Zuma. I think that must mean it’s the end of him. If that was indeed what Msomi’s original copy said, his own editors must have thought the better of it. Bumming stories is common ­ we often do from the FT ­ but it’s always best to bum the final version.

With acknowledgements to Peter Bruce and Business Day.


*1  Although, this madam's a bit like the one in Little Red Riding Hood - not quite what one might expect.

Well done, Peter.