Bill D'Agostino, MRC NewsBusters, August 20, 2018

The South African government has begun seizing land from white farmers, following an August 1 ruling which amended that nation’s constitution to legalize the practice. Despite the disturbing ramifications of this human rights abuse at the hands of a foreign government, both cable and network news have remained stubbornly silent on the issue.

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It appears that the expropriations are meant to serve as retroactive punishment for apartheid. A spokesman for the ANC — the party in power in South Africa — has admitted as much, asserting that the seizures were “tied to addressing injustices of the past.”

News of these seizures broke in Western media on the morning of August 20, giving networks more than enough time to fit the story into their evening broadcasts. However, none bothered to mention the scandal.

These same networks did find time for other pressing international matters – such as the case of a Norwegian woman who was rescued after falling off a cruise ship embarking from Italy. That story was mentioned on both ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.

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Cable news outlets CNN and MSNBC have been equally uninterested in the ongoing land seizures. As far as print media, Newsweek appears to be the only widely-distributed American publication to have mentioned the story.

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The South African government has begun seizing land from white farmers, following an August 1 ruling which amended that nation’s constitution to legalize the practice. Despite the disturbing ramifications of this human rights abuse at the hands of a foreign government, both cable and network news have remained stubbornly silent on the issue.

{snip}

It appears that the expropriations are meant to serve as retroactive punishment for apartheid. A spokesman for the ANC — the party in power in South Africa — has admitted as much, asserting that the seizures were “tied to addressing injustices of the past.”

News of these seizures broke in Western media on the morning of August 20, giving networks more than enough time to fit the story into their evening broadcasts. However, none bothered to mention the scandal.

These same networks did find time for other pressing international matters – such as the case of a Norwegian woman who was rescued after falling off a cruise ship embarking from Italy. That story was mentioned on both ABC’s World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News.

{snip}

Cable news outlets CNN and MSNBC have been equally uninterested in the ongoing land seizures. As far as print media, Newsweek appears to be the only widely-distributed American publication to have mentioned the story.

{snip}