[Question] Selective Journalism

[Butch Hannan]

Is it politically incorrect to state the race and colour of a person who has committed a crime.

Selective Journalism

Why is it that when a robbery, hijacking, or murder or any other crime takes place no mention is made of the colour of the perpetrator. In the press both English and Afrikaans we read about how robbers broke into a certain house, tied the occupants up, sometimes raping the women and torturing, killing people and ransacking the house and eventually departing in the house owners vehicle with all their loot. No mention is made as to whether the robbers are White, Black, Coloured, Indian or Chinese.

If a white farmer commits a crime against one of his workers the journalists leave you in no doubt as to the colour of the individual especially if he happens to be Afrikaans. Is this fair in a “Democratic” country.

When prisoners escape we are warned not to try and apprehend them as they are dangerous with no mention of the colour. With all due respect if I have to watch out for a dangerous criminal I need to know exactly what to look for.

Let us get real. What are the odds in South Africa that if you wake up in the middle of the night with three armed men staring at you that they will be white. I do not think you will find a bookie who will give you odds of 1000 to 1.

The above is a piece that I wrote for my blog [http://www.storiesandissues.co.za]

The reason I wrote this was that after being held at gun point for three hours when the police arrived and started taking statements one particular policeman incurred the wrath of my daughter. He took exception to her stating that our attackers were black and asked her why she said they were black. My daughter is sharp and she told the officer for the same reason that he had described her as a white woman which he had written on her statement sheet.
This particular incident happened at St Michaels on the South Coast.

[wynn]

If the papers say five criminals did this or that it means they are black.
otherwise they will say five white, colored, indian or nigerian etc. so we can know.

Far as the cops go, who knows?

[adrianh]

There is another side to it. Imagine if the criminals are mixed race. The headline would read: 5 Criminals, 1 pale white with slightly pinkish face, 1 medium to dark black, 1 looked like he was Chinese maybe Taiwanese, 1 coloured could be light black or dark white and 1 pitch black guy, maybe Congolese or tanned Xhosa robbed a pale skinned petite girl, what looked like a ballerina or an anorexic albino at knife point.

This is all a bit exteme but the point is that criminals are not always just black or white.