This week it got interesting.

In week-ending 16^th August 2019 we got, as usual, two weekly newspapers:

·         The Sentinel, published by South Atlantic Media Services (S.A.M.S.),a local media company – see http://sainthelenaisland.info/newspaper.htm#thesentinel  (it also has a radio station, S.A.M.S. Radio 1); and

·         The Independent, published by an individual who relocated here many years ago, formerly a Swedish citizen, Per Mikael (“Mike”) Olsson – see http://sainthelenaisland.info/newspaper.htm#theindependent

Usually they cover much of the same news – all the press releases issued during the week and most adverts appear in both - and your choice between which one to buy is based largely on whether you want to know more about what’s happening in the St Helena community (The Sentinel) or more about the machinations of the UK Parliament as they relate to St Helena (The Independent).  Both have an interesting history. The Sentinel used to be very much pro-government, but these days seems to spend a lot of its time questioning government policy and practice.  The Independent used to be fiercely anti-government but is much less so these days.  Both cost £1, so you “pays your money and you makes your choice”.

At least, that’s how it has been up until this week. This week it got interesting!

For background you need to know that St Helena currently has an inward investor, Paul O’Sullivan, a wealthy businessman of Irish origins more recently living in South Africa.  He is planning to build a luxury resort with golf course and 100-150 luxury homes in the Broad Bottom area – a project entitled “Trade Winds”.  The St Helena Government, through its business development arm Enterprise St Helena, has been assisting Mr O’Sullivan in obtaining land for his project.

Last week The Sentinel published a piece pointing out the links between Paul O’Sullivan and groups in South Africa with a strongly pro-Afrikaner agenda.  These groups are linked to the creation of two almost-exclusively Afrikaner “enclaves” in South Africa: “Oriana” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orania,_Northern_Cape) and “Kleinfontein” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleinfontein).

Mr O’Sullivan responded angrily, accusing The Sentinel of trying to sabotage his project and suggesting their article was “treason”, writing them a long and rather diverse email demanding retraction (it was published in part on Facebook^(tm) by one of his supporters).  This set the stage for two interesting newspapers this week.

The Sentinel published on Thursday, 15^th and printed the full email received from Mr O'Sullivan together with a response.

I found their response to the letter masterly - in the best traditions of Journalism.

While he rants and raves and accuses them of just-about every crime under the sun, they remain cool, calm and collected and systematically demolish all his criticisms with facts.

This is exactly how a newspaper should respond to unfair criticism.  Don’t sink to the level of an angry complainant by trading insults.  Listen to what s/he has to say; consider whether any of the complainant’s criticisms are valid and retract or amend where they are; and where they are not, push back with factual information.

In addition to responding to his email they printed a revised version of the article in which only a few minor points of detail were changed, none of them affecting the thrust of the story.

So how would The Independent handle the story?

The Independent published on Friday 16^th.  I don’t buy the St Helena Independent. It’s a waste of £1 to buy both with more-or-less the same content, and as I’m more interested in the St Helena community than in the UK Parliament I buy The Sentinel. But somebody thought I should see this week’s edition and emailed me a copy.

I read it with increasing disbelief.

I don’t recall ever seeing a publication that calls itself a newspaper being so sycophantic about anything. Its love for Paul O’Sullivan is unrestrained. They almost credit him with solving world poverty and creating a cure for cancer. In their eyes he can do no wrong.

They have four full pages plus editorial comment devoted to promoting his project and giving the most positive spin on his background. I can only assume all the content was supplied by Mr O’Sullivan himself and just printed with no attempt at fact-checking, verification or the provision of balance.  They present such an upbeat view of the man one could believe it is only a matter of days before the Pope declares him the other kind of Saint.  They have nailed their colours so firmly to the O’Sullivan mast a category 15 hurricane could not dislodge them.

The only thing they don’t yet seem to have done is change the name of the newspaper. How can it continue to claim to be “Independent”, unless it’s using the double-speak of the “Democratic People's Republic of Korea”? Would “Trade Winds News” be a good new name?

There are rumours that Paul O’Sullivan is funding The Independent and its sister radio station, Saint FM.  Whether these are true I don’t actually know. But if I were a betting man I know where my money would be placed.

I can only say “RIP The Independent. A long time ago you did some good for the people of St Helena. I’m sad to see you come to such a sorry end.”

Let’s see what happens next week......