The Swazi News’ decision to publish two pictures of dead bodies on its front page has angered readers of this blogsite.
Not one person has spoken in defence of the newspaper that showed two victims of a traffic accident. One was a close-up of a dead man at the wheel of his car. The other was a picture of a woman with her head bashed in and blood spilling onto the road.
Although shocked and angered by the images, readers have been telling me that these pictures are not the worse that the Swazi newspapers have published in recent times.
Top of your ‘hate parade’ comes from the Times of Swaziland (9 May 2008), which reported that the body of a newborn baby had been found hanging by its umbilical cord from a shrub. And there to illustrate the story was the picture.
I have to agree that this may well be the most sickening (and totally unnecessary from a news point of view) picture to be published by the Swazi newspapers ever.
Fatal car accidents are run of the mill to the newspapers. The Times (18 April 2008) had a front-page picture of an 18-year-old man crushed to death by a bus at the Manzini bus rank.
The Swazi Observer (7 April 2008) had a front-page picture of a dead man in his car following a crash involving a truck.
There is something almost pathological about these pictures. Why do people want to publish them and who wants to see them?
It is true there are a lot of sick people in the world. Would it surprise you to learn that there is an Internet website entirely devoted to pictures of car crashes?
Even when there is no picture available, the Swazi newspapers like to give graphic details of gore. The Observer (10 April 2008) reported on a grandmother who ‘was crushed to pulp’ when she alighted from a van and was immediately run over by a bus. ‘Her crushed remains had to be collected by the use of shovels and spades,’ the newspaper reported (and it reported much else besides).
I have had a number of emails complaining about the Swazi News since my original post.
‘Futi’ wrote to say that newspapers needed to remember that when an accident happened the victims were somebody’s relatives or friends, but seemingly it looks like the Swazi News only cares about its business. Journalists should remember that they do damage to our hearts by publishing such pictures, Futi says.
‘Margaret’ called the publication of the Swazi News pictures ‘trashy journalism’.
She wrote,
‘It’s ironic that the papers are so restricted and self-restricted on important national issues (such as political reporting), but when it comes to stuff like blood and gore, anything goes.
‘Another problem with the story is the prominence given to the fact that the accident happened just outside where some [government] ministers were meeting, so they might actually see something of the accident. For example the headline is Father, son die in front of Ministers and even the first sentence of the story emphasises that the accident could have been witnessed by the Ministers.
‘It's as if the main problem of the people dying is that it might disturb or taint those supposedly important people.’
‘Vusi’ put the Swazi News coverage in a wider context of Swazi journalism and broadcasting.
He wrote, ‘This reminds me the following;
‘1. A few years ago, the unfortunate death of some young boys who died a painful death when they accidentally locked themselves inside the boot of a sedan. Their naked bodies pictures made front page without any regards of the bereaved.
‘2. The explicit sex shown on Channel S without prior warning and shown when our kids are well awake!
‘3.I have listened to a number of radio adverts aired on SBIS, one just frown at the sexist and violence towards women some of these adverts contain e.g.
‘a) One which advertises some wire company in Matsapha, “utawu sitwa timomondiya tetintfombi.... (you shall be served by the gorgeous looking ladies.....”). The emphasis is on the very good looking women as part of the product being sold - that demeans our sisters as objects that will attract men to come and buy.
‘b) There is one that is done by Percy Simelane whereby the man says to the wife ngitakushaya ngikubulale - I will beat you to death) apparently over some poorly cooked meal or something of that nature. This is a pure promotion of violent domestic violence against women.
‘The like of WLSA & SWAAGA need to pay attention to such nonsense and hold the Minister of Public or is it royal broadcasting to account.’
Personally, I think the Swazi media should take account of the comments I have written about today: one thing is clear to me, readers don’t like this type of gory coverage and if editors believe their job is to give readers what they want, they are clearly failing in this regard.
See also
HORROR PICTURES IN ‘SWAZI NEWS’
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