NEWSWATCH: The media have been camping outside Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg following the admission to the facility of Nelson Mandela, 92 years old and a national and international icon. Regrettably, however, a bit of hyperbole has surfaced...
(Image: courtesy Executive Office of the President of the United States, via Wikimedia Commons)
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The New Age: Media keep watch outside Madiba Hospital... It's a case of 'two sugars, no milk' as a large, and one presumes, growing group of journalists grabbed a coffee or three and settled down outside Milpark hospital in Johannesburg for news of Madiba - reportedly in the hospital for routine tests, but amid rumours and claims of more drastic health issues.
Politicsweb: Media should respect Mandela's privacy - ANC... The ANC has apparently called on South Africans to remain calm. "Please, let's not press panic buttons unnecessarily," spokesperson Jackson Mthembu is reported to have said... What? Why press the panic button at all? Madiba is 92, and like all of us alive today, suffering from that terminal illness call 'life', but there is no need to panic, or act any way that is anything other than with the sort of dignity he has always displayed. Can't we all just treat the man with the dignity he deserves? The ANC calls for "calm", the media use words such as "panic", and "frenzy"... And as for the ANC asking the media to "respect Madiba's privacy", that should go without saying, but to expect the media to do anything other than try to get as much news on Madiba as they can (without infringing on his privacy) is nonsense. Then, for the ANC to go on to assure us that "Madiba is well taken care of at the hospital" is about as much padding of a release as it's possible to do without blushing. The fact is: Madiba is human - and he will pass on: So what about a little less hyperbole, and when he does, sadly, pass away, let's celebrate his life and achievements, rather than mourn his death - and let's do it without any panic.
