Political Perspective

THE Namibian media has received its share of insults in the past, but never with much legitimacy.

So we’ve generally defended against onslaughts, but there’s little we can do in the face of the latest faux pas committed by the Afrikaans daily Republikein, Nampa and NBC radio. This week the trio swallowed – hook, line and sinker – an obviously satirical story posted on a non-mainstream Website, which consists of blatant parody, to the effect that pop singer Britney Spears was planning to follow the Jolie-Pitt example and have her baby in Namibia.Nampa put out a straight-faced news report which said simply ‘Britney Spears to give birth in Namibia’.NBC radio news followed suit.The Republikein put out a front-page story saying ‘Namibiese vrede lok Britney ook’ (‘Peaceful Namibia attracts Britney too’)! And it’s not even April Fool’s Day.Will be interesting to see if at all, abovementioned media put out corrections to the effect that they’ve been had, but I doubt it! But if nothing else, they’ve given many people around the world a laugh at their expense.Perhaps the Afrikaans daily is so obsessed with the aerial littering of Windhoek with polio pamphlets via plane (like the grapevine hasn’t done its job already, especially in the capital!) that they don’t have time to try and more thoroughly investigate a story posted on a Website which clearly states at the base “copyright by the author who wishes you to know that this article was made up out of half cloth”! Sections of the Namibian media weren’t the only ones to fall victim to the satire.The China Daily corroborated it as well! And pugbus.net mentioned on its site today that this again proved that “fiction is sometimes no stranger than truth”.Indeed.They then added the following: “Biff Scuzzy, who made up the original report about Ms Spears moving to Namibia, said he almost (crapped) himself when he saw his headline ‘Britney Spears Going To Namibia To Give Birth’ with a China Daily byline on a popular news index site.”I was drunk on my ass when I wrote that thing,” said Mr Scuzzy.”I could have sworn I made that nonsense up.I guess it’s true what they say about giving monkeys enough typewriters”.The Afrikaans daily did not hesitate to give the story ample front-page coverage and interviewed the Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism about the nonsense story.Gullible just isn’t the right word.Again this is a Website which runs material like the following at the base of the Britney story follow-up today: “In other news an autopsy conducted at the request of the US Military revealed that Abu Musab Zarqawi had been dead ‘at least five minutes’ before ‘a few enthusiastic soldiers’ began stomping on his chest and taunting him.”And another: “The Spay Britney Spears campaign has discovered new evidence to support its contention that the pop tart should be spayed for the good of humankind and her future children as well.”The original spoof’s contention that Spears’ husband, Kevin Federline, was also keen to go to Namibia to “rap with the natives” provided further evidence that the author didn’t even pretend that the story should be taken seriously.It surely doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that the site is a blatantly satirical one on topical celeb issues and gossip, and certainly not to be relied upon for factual information of any kind.In the REAL interview with MSNBC USA’s Dateline programme (from which the pugbus.net story drew ‘inspiration’, and which was aired last night), the text of which had already been posted on the web and is there for all who want to read celeb gossip to see, the discussion is mainly about whether Britney’s husband is living in the basement or not, and tabloid coverage of her questionable motherhood abilities.Perhaps the solid combination of Namibian Government news agency and Afrikaans media misinformation can together convince the pop star celebrity that this is really where she should be at! But I doubt it.And if it did happen, it would probably cause our Deputy Minister to crack up under the strain! These celeb visits take their toll.And if Government is thinking of trying to entice this particular Hollywood couple, I’d suggest they give them compulsory IQ tests before they agree to the visit! Meanwhile we await those grovelling corrections! Perhaps something along the lines of ‘oops, Britney can’t make it after all’!This week the trio swallowed – hook, line and sinker – an obviously satirical story posted on a non-mainstream Website, which consists of blatant parody, to the effect that pop singer Britney Spears was planning to follow the Jolie-Pitt example and have her baby in Namibia.Nampa put out a straight-faced news report which said simply ‘Britney Spears to give birth in Namibia’.NBC radio news followed suit.The Republikein put out a front-page story saying ‘Namibiese vrede lok Britney ook’ (‘Peaceful Namibia attracts Britney too’)! And it’s not even April Fool’s Day.Will be interesting to see if at all, abovementioned media put out corrections to the effect that they’ve been had, but I doubt it! But if nothing else, they’ve given many people around the world a laugh at their expense.Perhaps the Afrikaans daily is so obsessed with the aerial littering of Windhoek with polio pamphlets via plane (like the grapevine hasn’t done its job already, especially in the capital!) that they don’t have time to try and more thoroughly investigate a story posted on a Website which clearly states at the base “copyright by the author who wishes you to know that this article was made up out of half cloth”! Sections of the Namibian media weren’t the only ones to fall victim to the satire.The China Daily corroborated it as well! And pugbus.net mentioned on its site today that this again proved that “fiction is sometimes no stranger than truth”.Indeed.They then added the following: “Biff Scuzzy, who made up the original report about Ms Spears moving to Namibia, said he almost (crapped) himself when he saw his headline ‘Britney Spears Going To Namibia To Give Birth’ with a China Daily byline on a popular news index site.”I was drunk on my ass when I wrote that thing,” said Mr Scuzzy.”I could have sworn I made that nonsense up.I guess it’s true what they say about giving monkeys enough typewriters”.The Afrikaans daily did not hesitate to give the story ample front-page coverage and interviewed the Deputy Minister of Environment and Tourism about the nonsense story.Gullible just isn’t the right word.Again this is a Website which runs material like the following at the base of the Britney story follow-up today: “In other news an autopsy conducted at the request of the US Military revealed that Abu Musab Zarqawi had been dead ‘at least five minutes’ before ‘a few enthusiastic soldiers’ began stomping on his chest and taunting him.”And another: “The Spay Britney Spears campaign has discovered new evidence to support its contention that the pop tart should be spayed for the good of humankind and her future children as well.”The original spoof’s contention that Spears’ husband, Kevin Federline, was also keen to go to Namibia to “rap with the natives” provided further evidence that the author didn’t even pretend that the story should be taken seriously.It surely doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess that the site is a blatantly satirical one on topical celeb issues and gossip, and certainly not to be relied upon for factual information of any kind.In the REAL interview with MSNBC USA’s Dateline programme (from which the pugbus.net story drew ‘inspiration’, and which was aired last night), the text of which had already been posted on the web and is there for all who want to read celeb gossip to see, the discussion is mainly about whether Britney’s husband is living in the basement or not, and tabloid coverage of her questionable motherhood abilities.Perhaps the solid combination of Namibian Government news agency and Afrikaans media misinformation can together convince the pop star celebrity that this is really where she should be at! But I doubt it.And if it did happen, it would probably cause our Deputy Minister to crack up under the strain! These celeb visits take their toll.And if Government is thinking of trying to entice this particular Hollywood couple, I’d suggest they give them compulsory IQ tests before they agree to the visit! Meanwhile we await those grovelling corrections! Perhaps something along the lines of ‘oops, Britney can’t make it after all’!