Opinion / Columnist
Why Dali Tambo's Robert Mugabe interview was just PR
04 Jun 2013 at 06:01hrs | Views
I don't entirely blame People of the South host Dali Tambo for losing his temper with Kieno Kammies about that interview with Robert Mugabe. As one deliciously un-PC tweet put it, it was the "battle of the twangs", as the two media personalities tried to out-patronise each other using the Queen's English.
But I am unimpressed with Tambo's cold fury at being criticised for how he chose to interview Mugabe.
"I get weary of saying this. If you've watched any of the shows, you will know that we are 'People of the South', not politics of the south. We deal in people," he spat out during his disastrous radio interview with Kammies.
Tambo was clearly unprepared for the backlash his sycophantic interview with the aging tyrant would elicit - despite saying in the TV insert that he was "totally" braced for the accusations that he was glorifying Mugabe's image just months before Zimbabwe holds crucial elections.
In the now notorious episode of People of the South, which aired on June 2, Tambo sat down to have a meal with Mugabe's family after three years of trying for the interview.
Tambo is given wide access to interviews thanks, in part, to his interview style - which he has described in the past as "non-adversarial but probing". In this case, a more accurate description may be sycophantic and fawning.
Full article on Mail and Guardian
But I am unimpressed with Tambo's cold fury at being criticised for how he chose to interview Mugabe.
"I get weary of saying this. If you've watched any of the shows, you will know that we are 'People of the South', not politics of the south. We deal in people," he spat out during his disastrous radio interview with Kammies.
Tambo was clearly unprepared for the backlash his sycophantic interview with the aging tyrant would elicit - despite saying in the TV insert that he was "totally" braced for the accusations that he was glorifying Mugabe's image just months before Zimbabwe holds crucial elections.
In the now notorious episode of People of the South, which aired on June 2, Tambo sat down to have a meal with Mugabe's family after three years of trying for the interview.
Tambo is given wide access to interviews thanks, in part, to his interview style - which he has described in the past as "non-adversarial but probing". In this case, a more accurate description may be sycophantic and fawning.
Full article on Mail and Guardian
Source - mg.co.za
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