Dateline Soweto: Travels with Black South African Reporters, With a new epilogue. [Paperback]

William Finnegan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520089790 | ISBN-13: 978-0520089792 | Publication Date: July 12, 1995

Dateline Soweto documents the working lives of black South African reporters caught between the mistrust of militant blacks, police harrassment, and white editors who--fearing government disapproval--may not print the stories these reporters risk their lives to get. William Finnegan revisited several of these reporters during the May 1994 election and describes their post-apartheid working experience in a new preface and epilogue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For six tense weeks in 1986, Finnegan ( Crossing the Line ) attached himself to a handful of black reporters working for the white, liberal Johannesburg Star , taking notes for this book, which presents a vividly different view of apartheid. Led by the enterprising and gutsy Jon Qwelane, these men and women ventured into black townships and "bush ghettos" in search of stories they had no assurance would be printed. Their dangerous work was complicated by the South African army, the "pretenders" (cops posing as TV crews), and above all by the mistrust of the militant black community. As seen mainly through the eyes of Qwelane, Herbert Mabuza and others, the book offers an especially painful view of what Finnegan calls "the ragged, slow-motion revolution that convulses South Africa." Among issues explored are the split news values that prevail under apartheid, government press policy, and the brutally arbitrary behavior of the army. Regarding the latter, Bishop Desmond Tutu's comment is particularly chilling: "They want to kill. They don't know how to deal with peace." Finnegan is a staff writer for the New Yorker , where portions of this book originally appeared.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Dateline Soweto neither sensationalizes nor patronizes. . . . Part of the book's richness is its usefulness as a primer for the interested but uninitiated, serving as a concrete, precise textbook of sorts, with drama, provocative ideas, new perspectives and rarely heard voices added." -- Sheila Rule, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (July 12, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520089790
• ISBN-13: 978-0520089792
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,784,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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