‘SWAZI OBSERVER’ GRAVY TRAIN

When the Swazi Observer jumps on the gravy train it does it with style.

Readers were treated to four full pages yesterday (Thursday 14 February 2008) of Chief Editor Musa Ndlangamandla’s all expenses paid trip to the African Football Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Accra, Ghana.

The trip was courtesy of cellphone company MTN.

The Observer headline said it all - ONLY THE BEST FOR MTN GUESTS. Musa began his fearless account of the trip thus, ‘They don’t call it the leading cellular network company for nothing.’

Clearly not, you have to wine and dine a few editors before they call you that.

Here’s a flavour of the crusading, independent journalism so loved by the Observer.

‘From the chartered private jet, to the world-class cuisine and an assortment of expensive wines and other mood altering beverages – the stage for a truly unforgettable experience was set from the word go.

‘All five nights were spent in individual rooms of five-star hotels in South Africa and Accra.

‘MTN Group ensured the best of comfort as the guests were chauffer driven in air-conditioned coaches that were escorted through the maze of congested streets of the Ghanaian highways.’

Musa went on and on and on. … But I won’t.

Let’s leave the prose and go on to the pictures. Here’s Musa with Jose Mourinho, the former boss of Chelsea football club. There’s Musa with president of the World Football Governing Body FIFA, Sepp Blatter. Isn’t that Musa on the football field at the AFCON cup final with members of the winning Egyptian team? Oh look, there he is again, this time with one of the Ghanaian players.

Musa wasn’t the only Swazi with his snout in the trough. Other members of the Swazi media were along for the party.

Musa let the cat out of the bag. ‘The Ghanaian dancers, drum-beat and song filled the air as MTN Swaziland’s Khulile Dlamini ensured that everyone was not disturbed as they let their hair down.’

There was only one sour note to the trip. The guys went on a tour to St George’s Castle at Elmina, which was where slaves were kept before being traded off to America. Musa and his mates were annoyed because the trip was meant to take two hours, but instead it took five and they all arrived impatient.

‘But they all thoroughly enjoyed the special moment in history, bought souvenirs and experienced the cells where many African brothers and sisters died of dehydration and starvation.’

I’ve written before about the unhealthy relationship between the Observer and MTN. Last August (2007) the newspaper devoted three pages to the launch of an MTN product. The Observer highlighted the headlines in the shade of yellow that MTN uses in its corporate logo. In addition, there were five pictures, all with the MTN logo prominent, and in total there were at least 25 people shown wearing MTN T-shirts and caps, all in the corporate colour and all with company logos.

This was a massive amount of free publicity masquerading as independent editorial. So was yesterday’s coverage of a non event.

They say there is no such thing as a free lunch. The Observer will have to pay for this hospitality with lots of positive coverage in the weeks and months ahead.

Where will the Observer be the next time there is a service outage and angry customers turn against MTN? What position will the newspaper take when some other company wants to break MTN’s monopoly in Swaziland?

I think we all know the answers.

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