‘SWAZI OBSERVER’ OUT OF TOUCH

I often think that journalists in Swaziland live in a world of their own.

I know it’s not a kind thing to say, but when you read newspapers in the kingdom as often and as closely as I do it’s hard not to come to that conclusion.

Swazi journalists just don’t know how ordinary people in the kingdom live. A particularly revealing case of this happened on Monday (7 January 2008) in the Swazi Observer.

Two reports it published that day illustrate this perfectly.

The first was headed Swaziland poverty levels and appeared on page 13. The report stated that ‘About 69 percent of the population [of Swaziland] lives below the poverty line, and the worst situation being that 48 percent of the population cannot meet their food requirements, i.e. they are considered to be living under extreme poverty.’

The report went on to say that 40 percent of the population never have enough to eat. The national unemployment rate in Swaziland among all adults is estimated to be 29 percent with 40 percent of youth and 70 percent of women unemployed, it stated.

The second report was headed Managing debt and appeared on page 20. This report gave tips on how to control the level of money you owe. The report told readers to analyse their level of debt by asking themselves some questions. Here are some examples from the report:

- What interest rate am I paying on my bond, credit card and loans?
- Can I ask my boss for an increase in salary?
- Can I cut down on the number of manicures I have?
- Can I cut down on holidays?

And so on and so on.

My questions are these. How on earth does the Observer think the article on reducing debt relates to the 69 per cent of people living below the poverty line (which is measured as living on E7 or one US dollar a day or less)? How can the 70 percent of women without a job ask their employer for a rise in salary? How can the 40 percent of the population who don’t get enough to eat afford to have their fingernails manicured in the first place?

Do you see my problem? The same newspaper published both reports, but they are directed at people from two entirely different worlds. That’s why I say the journalists live in a world of their own.

I have a possible answer to why this is happening. A close inspection of the poverty article reveals that it was taken from a report by the Southern African Regional Poverty Report. The debt article came from something called http://www.peterpyburn.co.za/

So there you have it, neither report was actually written by the Observer. They were both taken from the Internet. The Observer does this all the time. A quick look through the newspaper on that same day shows at least 20 reports from the South African Press Association (SAPA), at least 13 from BBC News, at least seven from News24 and one each from Business Report, and Energy and Capital.

What all these reports have in common is they have nothing whatsoever to do with Swaziland.

On its front page the Swazi Observer boasts ‘We Serve the Nation’. On this evidence it does no such thing. It doesn’t know who the people of Swaziland are and probably doesn’t care much so long as it can fill its pages with any old stuff it can get its hands on from the Internet.

A good newspaper is one that gives its readers news and information that is relevant to their lives, as well as giving them space to debate issues that impact on them. The Swazi Observer has a long way to go before it can consider itself a good newspaper.