I just saw on Twitter that wezzo posted the following tweet: “UK TV star Victoria Smurfit shot at on ‘Kill a Tourist Day’ in South Africa” Seriosuly DailyMail?
I am as appalled and shocked by this article as he is. In fact I’ll go so far as to say that I am about to go UK Postal on this useless, lazy, sensationalist journalist.
The story reads as follows:
The glamorous actress, who has starred in ITV police drama Trial & Retribution and the BBC’s Ballykissangel, was injured by flying glass when the vehicle’s windows were shattered.
She felt a bullet whizz past her as it tore through the cab – ‘tangibly blowing the air’. It hit the passenger window ‘barely half an inch’ from the head of her sister-in-law, Charlie.
Writing in today’s Irish Mail on Sunday, the 35-year-old actress says she was told by South African police the attack was likely to have been a gang initiation ceremony dubbed ‘Kill a Tourist Day’.
“The glamorous actress”, hmmm, I wonder whose side the author wants the reader to be on? Did the C-grade actress really feel the bullet “tangibly blowing the air”? What a load of rubbish and paparazzi style journalism.
I wonder if Mr James Tapper trekked down to our gorgeous shores where the wind blows gently on your cheeks and the waves break just perfectly allowing for a cool spray to dust your hair (see anyone can do this shit)? I doubt that Tapper even bothered to call the police officer who was involved. And let’s be honest here, we have a C-grade actress who was in a violent incident of sorts and being a premadona probably expected the Chief of Police to drop everything and come to her rescue. Please, you come from a country where children run riot with knives, drugs, guns and more; where elderly, no, everybody is scared to use public transport in case there is a chav, hoodie or other sort of gang that will rob, rape or murder them. Why doesn’t Mr Tapper take a look at his own country before casting sensational headlines on ours?
And finally, why on Earth does everything that happens in SA have to have a massive influence on the outcome of the World Cup? Don’t be absurd.
That’s it, make your own mind up. Yes there is violence in SA and yes, it happened to involve a British actress who needed some press to bump up her career as it’s on the down and low, but why write a story filled with such an overblown agenda?
UPDATE:
But Cape Town central police station Superintendent Randall Stoffels said: “The shot fired was not specifically for the occupants of that vehicle and it was definitely not gang-related.”
When detectives interviewed her last Monday, there were no visible injuries, Stoffels added.
Smurfit opened a case of attempted murder, but this was later changed to the illegal discharge of a firearm in a municipal area.
“The occupants in the taxi just heard a loud bang and the left side window shattered. We believe someone [fired] into the air but the bullet went through the window and lodged into a panel of the van. No one was injured,” said Stoffels.
He said the projectile and the panel were sent for ballistic testing and that no arrests had been made yet.
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January 12th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Oh my google! It’s like he missed Journ 101. What rubbish! The content amazingly doesn’t bother me at this present moment but the way in which it was presented annoys. It reads like stuff you find in Mags that shouldn’t be allowed call themselves news agents.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:28 am
You’re right, the bugger should be fired.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:34 am
To be fair, Mr Tapper only had Victoria’s account to go on: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242110/It-kill-tourist-day–way.html which reads like a cheap novel. No, actually worse than that.
Stop getting so stressed over a Daily Mail article. What do you expect, accuracy and journalistic excellence?
January 12th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Read the comments – their readers are retarded.
They scrutinize our country and associate anything negative to the success of the 2010 WC. Our biggest issue for the WC is protecting fans against ENGLISH FOOTBALL HOOLIGANS!!!
Fuck you James Tapper.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
I have written a strong worded letter to the presidency as this article in the Daily Mail puts across the image that we have a Holiday put aside for shooting tourists… I am outraged… Daily Mail and the report need to be dealt with, and the actress should be banned from SA.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Charl > Irony dripping from that comment, I take it?
Talk about idiots making assumptions about entire nations based on tiny minorities.
Stop being the kind of cock that this post is all about.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
I agree totally with the out of proportion and sensualisation of the referenced article. South Africa does rock and we don’t need this kind of tripe influencing foreign visitors from coming to see what we have to offer.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
6000 is right, it is frustrating when certain people deal with the SA nation being tarred with one brush by doing exactly the same thing!
The journo is useless, yes, but then if you had read the Daily Mail you could write a post like this every day. Man, just read the Sun and you would have a field day.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Best thing is NONE of our comments have been added to the page on the dailymail site…I’ve reposted that link and loads of my friend signed up and left positive comments about SA.
It’s like they monitor the media and they will let their people know what THEY want, not the truth.
January 12th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Your story is 10X more sensationalist than the Mail. You personally attack the victim of a crime based on all kinds of nasty stereotypes and provide no discrete evidence to support your flaming opinion. You enlighten nobody, only broaden the chasm in ethical journalism.
January 12th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Looking at the facts, a lady on holiday in SA was very nearly killed by a random stray bullet that went through their cab. You can rant at the author, get emotional about the poor reporting (which is all too common in the UK) or accept that people who get shot at in a country are not going to recommend it to their friends. Yes its over the top and poor journalism, however if you looking for the story to be reported positively its not going to happen.
January 13th, 2010 at 4:44 am
FFS, as a South African living in the UK you should know that the daily mail is not known for it’s excellence in journalism. Quite the opposite actually. It happens to the the most racist narrow minded excuse for a tabloid paper this country has.
Secondly, why are the SA police going to bother releasing statements to the UK press for something that is an every day occurrence in South Africa? In other words, the author didn’t really have much to go on and needed to hype the story up a bit, as ALL media outlets do.
Thirdly, your opinion on chavs, public transport and the like is about as accurate as the stupid daily mail journalist. And why are you whining about something that happens internationally, shouldn’t you be focusing on trying to persuade, or at least provide reasons why all the people leaving the country should stay or come back, because to be fair, and as I’m not a reader of this fine publication I merely just happened to stumble across it, after all that is pretty much what the title denotes. That said, your over exaggerated / uneducated opinions about the UK are not helping your cause.
January 13th, 2010 at 9:30 am
James – Just because Daily Mail is known for shoddy journalism doesn’t give them the right to print shoddy journalism.
Secondly – As a journalist if they had called the SA police (and done a bit of homework) they would have received the proper statements to compile a justified story. Using the fact that Daily Mail is a UK based paper to justify bullshit stories is rubbish nowadays. Technology (telephones) allow for cross-border communication these days, it’s shocking but true.
Thirdly – I’m just a lowly blogger, you can’t hold it against me for my inaccurate reports, it’s too difficult for me to research, call and get involved the british culture so, according to your previous logic, it’s OK for me to write whatever I feel like. I think I’ve made my point, haven’t I?
But to be serious about my statements, I’m not going on a whim here, there are facts and stats that back up my statements as well as personal opinions of the many, many, many South Africans that I communicate with who live in the UK. Don’t be one of those sunny expats who can’t see the blatant truth about the UK because you are so stuck in what you perceive as the horrible truth about SA.
Thanks for the comments.
January 13th, 2010 at 10:38 am
douche bag needs to lay off the warm beer and do a proper gawd damn job.
daily mail is garbage. i read ( tried to at least ) some of their articles…its like an unfunny comic book.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:37 am
eu2hell.blogspot.com
The Daily Mail is known as a sensationalist tabloid, just as is South Africa as a dangerous place. Your banter over a serious incident that thankfully did not result in injury is rather immature. With your pink glasses firmly in place you paint a rosy picture of our country, regardless how incessant, brutal and persistent atrocities are being committed on SA streets.
This all bodes ill for the upcoming WC2010 disaster. The world is aware of SA attempts to play down the mortal dangers looming in the country, the utter incompetence to provide safe and reliable infrastructure and the threat of violence, strikes and the breakdown of water and electricity supplies during the World Cup. The logical consequence: less than 10% of allocated tickets have been sold by now, Europeans will shun SA and the early exit of the local team from the tournament will be matched by financial disaster on top of the sports fiasco. The worst ever Football World Cup is in the making, thanks to South Africa.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:52 am
I agree completely with an earlier comment here:
Paul Says:
January 12th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Your story is 10x more sensationalist than the Mail. You personally attack the victim of a crime based on all kinds of nasty stereotypes and provide no discrete evidence to support your flaming opinion. You enlighten nobody, only broaden the chasm in ethical journalism.
January 15th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
Whew, Elgar, how long did it take you to write that little rant, or have you been saving it up since 1994?
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eu2hell.blogspot.com
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Thanks for your interest and on-topic comment.
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