About that funeral…

I understand the importance of the media in reporting what is going on in the world around us. We need to know what the likes of Malema and his ilk are up to, we need to know what is going on globally so that we can deal with it in our own world, and (I wish there was more of this) we need to hear the good news.

But I was appalled by the level of coverage given to the funeral of AWB leader Eugene Terreblanche on Friday last week. The man died a terrible death that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, not even on someone as nasty as he seems to have been (based on history and what is emerging as I write this). But he was fading away into obscurity, nobody except his mates in Ventersdorp cared about him, and his organisation was so marginalised I think everyone thought it had faded away completely.

His murder was brutal, and it was part of a trend of farm murders that should be shaking us to the core. Where is the media investigation, analysis and reporting on that trend? I digress...

But his funeral was an event for family, friends, and supporters, to acknowledge the passing of one of their own. It should not have been the ghoul-fest that it turned into – and those most guilty of being ghouls in my opinion were the media. @Phillipdewet tweeted at one point that there were 50 cameras pointed at his coffin, in the church. What on earth for?

This was the funeral of an obscure, horrible man. I can only think that the press flocked to Ventersdorp on a quest for something far more interesting than pictures of a coffin. They were hoping for a race war that would make good photos. Kudos to Cosatu for making sure that that didn’t happen (never thought I’d say something good about Cosatu, but anyway…).

There was even one incident that played out on Twitter, that was presented very differently on my favourite news and analysis site.  I’m not sure why a medium that size needed three reporters on site (refer to my earlier comment about ghouls), but one of its reporters (appearing for the first time on the site) felt the need to ‘retreat’ to his vehicle, don traditional clothing, and listen (loudly) to his own traditional music after a mourner stood his ground and asked the journalist to move away from the burial site. If a journalist can’t take the heat in the kitchen that he probably shouldn’t be in in the first place, what is a medium of the calibre of that online news resource doing sending him there in the first place?

I have been accused of supporting Nazis because I suggested that the mourners (one of whom was wearing a swastika) should have been respected and left to bury their dead. A funeral is not nearly as much about the dead person as it is about the living that are left behind. Vile though their philosophies are, the AWB and its supporters was doing everything that they could to keep things calm and orderly on Friday, if accounts are to be believed. It struck me forcibly that if there was any trouble on Friday, it would have been caused by irresponsible actions and reportage from the media.

And that makes me sad, and scared. I’ve said it before on this blog: with freedoms and rights come responsibilities . And I think it was irresponsible for so many members of the press to push their way into Friday’s funeral. It's yet another South African miracle that the day closed peacefully - particularly since the event really did not deserve the exposure it was given.