villawill
Vital 1st Team Regular
http://guardianlv.com/2013/10/mandela-reporting-his-death-and-the-search-for-the-truth/
The Las Vegas Guardian Express began reporting Nelson Mandela’s death June 26 and our search for the truth began immediately; not the truth of whether or not the former South African President was dead, for, of that report, we were already certain, but the truth behind why his death was being covered up. That search continues, but nothing we have uncovered leads us to suspect that Madiba still lives.
The timeline of how and why we reported the event has been recounted in several articles in this publication. In short; a text message was received by one of our South African correspondents, Laura Oneale, stating that Mandela had just died. According to the message, sent by an employee of the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC), the anti-Apartheid crusader had passed away sometime late in the day of June 25. During a hastily convened editorial meeting, it was decided that a select team of reporters and editors would begin to search for further information and work on one or more stories, reporting the man’s death and recounting his life.
In truth, the team was not completely of one mind, regarding how quickly we should release the news; erroneous media reports of Mandela’s death had been published in the past, followed by hasty retractions and apologies. Nevertheless, our source was exceptionally well-placed and there was no reason whatsoever to believe that this source would have even considered providing us with this information without being absolutely certain; the repercussions, after all, would have been too enormous. Within hours, therefore, we had published two articles announcing that Nelson Mandela had died.
Admittedly, we began second-guessing ourselves but came to the decision that to retract when we had found no evidence that Mandela was still alive ran counter to both our commitment to journalistic integrity and to our self-appointed mission of speaking the truth, no matter how unpleasant, unwanted or politically incorrect.
The Las Vegas Guardian Express began reporting Nelson Mandela’s death June 26 and our search for the truth began immediately; not the truth of whether or not the former South African President was dead, for, of that report, we were already certain, but the truth behind why his death was being covered up. That search continues, but nothing we have uncovered leads us to suspect that Madiba still lives.
The timeline of how and why we reported the event has been recounted in several articles in this publication. In short; a text message was received by one of our South African correspondents, Laura Oneale, stating that Mandela had just died. According to the message, sent by an employee of the South African Broadcasting Company (SABC), the anti-Apartheid crusader had passed away sometime late in the day of June 25. During a hastily convened editorial meeting, it was decided that a select team of reporters and editors would begin to search for further information and work on one or more stories, reporting the man’s death and recounting his life.
In truth, the team was not completely of one mind, regarding how quickly we should release the news; erroneous media reports of Mandela’s death had been published in the past, followed by hasty retractions and apologies. Nevertheless, our source was exceptionally well-placed and there was no reason whatsoever to believe that this source would have even considered providing us with this information without being absolutely certain; the repercussions, after all, would have been too enormous. Within hours, therefore, we had published two articles announcing that Nelson Mandela had died.
Admittedly, we began second-guessing ourselves but came to the decision that to retract when we had found no evidence that Mandela was still alive ran counter to both our commitment to journalistic integrity and to our self-appointed mission of speaking the truth, no matter how unpleasant, unwanted or politically incorrect.
