Richard E Grant, a famous ‘son of Swaziland’ is not going to make a documentary about the kingdom.
A website called Showbizspy.com reported this yesterday (2 July 2008). It went on to quote Grant saying it would be ‘inappropriate’ because although he was born in the kingdom’s capital Mbabane he is a white man and he comes from colonial times.
Grant made the news in 2005 when his semi-autobiographical film Wah-Wah, which was set in 1960s Swaziland, was released.
What interests me about this report is that it is not ‘news’ Grant had never said he was going to make a documentary. It’s not as if he had announced a plan and then changed his mind.
There never was a plan. End of.
What we see here is one of the oldest tricks in the book of lazy journalists. What you do is ask someone if they are going to do something that might be of interest to readers, and when they say ‘no’ you have a story.
If you really want to ham it up a bit you might even call the decision not to do something a ‘snub’.
Here’s how it works. Contact the press office of Queen Elizabeth II and ask if she is planning to come to Swaziland on a visit. When the press office says she has no plans, you write the Queen not visiting Swaziland story. If you feel mean you can put up the headline QEII Snubs Swaziland.
If you really want to create mischief go for the headline QEII snubs King Mswati III.
You see how easy it is.
See also
SWAZILAND FILM WAH-WAH ON DSTV
No comments:
Post a Comment