The Times of Swaziland and its companion newspapers has a new look (and vastly improved) website.
The only daily newspaper group in Swaziland that is independent from the government revamped its website on 20 July 2008 and it seems to have been quite a hit with readers.
Each day 20 or more news, business, and sports reports from the printed edition of the paper are put on the Internet. And unlike the previous Times’ website where items only stayed on the site for one day, the new site has a permanent archive so visitors can look back at reports published in the past.
At least I think the intention is to make the archive permanent. I have noticed for the past two Sundays that some items that were posted on the Times Sunday site disappeared by the following day.
The site is becoming popular with visitors and some reports have been viewed by upward of 500 people. In Swaziland, where hardly anyone has access to the Internet, this is a remarkable achievement. I wonder who the readers are.
I suspect many of them are people living outside of Swaziland who aren’t able to buy the newspapers themselves.
The biggest innovation on the new Times website is the opportunity for readers to comment on articles. You can click on a story and tell the Times and all the other readers of the website what you think about the report.
This is potentially dangerous territory for the Times. As I have reported many times before there is a great deal of censorship and self-censorship among the media in Swaziland and there are some topics (most notably the monarchy) that media are reluctant to discuss.
By allowing readers to leave their own comments, the Times might find itself publishing material that would never be allowed in the printed edition.
Here are some examples, I found.
‘Whether or not the constitution allows for political parties is irrelevant. This is still an absolute monarchy and until the people wrestle power from the current rulers, it will remain just an empty document. The argument is valid, true, but it doesn’t change anything. Swazis, wake up and smell the coffee. We’ve been in this sad state for too long now.’
‘VIVA PUDEMO VIVA!’ [PUDEMO is a political party banned in Swaziland]
‘How long does it take for people to see that we don’t have a government of the people by the people?’
‘This just shows the extent to which government controls everything and everyone in the country whereby individual's rights to exercise choice are crushed.’
Even Walter Bennett, who is a bit of a darling of the Swazi media, doesn’t escape criticism from a reader who accused him of talking ‘a load of bolox’. This is not exactly scholarly discourse, but I’ll leave it to you to decide on the statement’s accuracy.
Looking at some of the comments that have been left I notice that readers are also critical of the standard of journalism in the Times itself. One person commented on a headline to a story that was not supported by the content of the report that it accompanied. Another criticised the reporter for being too quick to believe what they were told. Another criticised the Times for using anonymous sources.
It is impossible to tell as a reader whether any of the comments to the website are being deleted or altered by the newspaper's management. If anyone has any experience of placing comments on the Times’ website, I’d be interested to hear.
The only other daily newspaper in Swaziland, the Swazi Observer also has a website which has a more extensive archive than the Times but doesn’t offer readers the chance to leave comments. To access the Observer site click here.
See also
4 comments:
Professor, interesting observation, the Times website is better this time with the addition of the archiving system and the provision for comments.
I am bit concerned though about your statement;
"In Swaziland, where hardly anyone has access to the Internet, this is a remarkable achievement."
I find this as a sweeping statement and your clarification would be much appreciated.
8 August 2008
The Internet World Stats (IWS) website puts Internet ‘usage’ in Swaziland at 3.7 percent of the population or about 41,000 people. This is people who use the Internet as distinct from those who have their own individual access.
Compared to other places in the world this is a very low figure indeed.
Richard
The Times does allow for comments but monitors extremely closely. I've been experimenting and it seems anything with the word royal gets deleted within a few hours.
Any criticism of "the family" gets tossed into the wind. But must admit the new site is better than before from an archiving point of view.
I imagine it won't take long for the today's comment by 'Tulip' to be censored in the Times. It's a lengthy, hard hitting response to "Don't march on king's wives - Gama". http://www.times.co.sz/News/727.html
Given the political environment in SD, it's very surprising that the Times has offered a public forum for comments on their new site. It's an encouraging sign.
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