Writing about “The 2010 story no one tells” on the front page of the News & Opinion section of the Sunday Times on Sunday, 5 October 2008, Alfred looked at the seemingly endless and tired litany of world cup stories run repeatedly by South Africa's media and largely centred on the notion that anything Africa tries will fail. And that the world cup stadia that so many see as white elephants and massive wastes of money will be “monuments by which the world recognises this country and by which we define ourselves.”
Alfred ends his observation of 2010 sentiment with this: “so besotted are we with the present that we can't see it now, but over the long arc of time our children will look back on 2010 and tell their children, ‘I was there...'”
Hopefully this gem of journalism will set the benchmark for media coverage in the remaining 600 days to kickoff. Alfred and the Sunday Times have proved that it is actually quite ok for the media to say something positive about 2010, instead of trying to impress readers, viewers and listeners with doomsday negativity.
Sure, if there are problems and things go wrong, it is the responsibility of the media to point it out. But, I have the sense that the positive aspects of the 2010 effort in this country far, far outweigh the negative. And it saddens me sometimes to see South Africans falling into the same negative, doomsayer, mindset of the Greeks and Australians before the Olympics when people in those countries shook their heads in the years before the events and swore blind their organisers would never get it right. Yes, even in Australia.
The media play a hugely important role in bringing a balanced view of this enormous occasion. But, until yesterday, the media's idea of balanced seemed to be harping on continually about Africa's penchant for cocking things up and the high costs of the stadia and how everything from our transport system, hotel industry and airports are simply going to self-destruct.
Which is absolute nonsense when you think about things we have laid on in this country so far that have gone off splendidly. Sure, the cricket and rugby world cups were smaller events but when you think about it logically, the creativity and attention to detail required for the planning function is much the same.
If Luke Alfred has had the foresight to realise that in the “arc of time” as he put it, our children will proudly tell theirs that “I was there” whenever they drive past of see pictures of these magnificent stadia, then many others must surely feel the same? And now, all they need to do is express what they really feel and not what they erroneously think they must do to increase sales, viewerships or listenerships.
And now that the Local Organising Committee has seen fit to hand over the marketing function to a seasoned and professional marketer in FNB's brand director, Derek Carstens, who was recently seconded to the LOC, things are really looking up. This is something that has been sorely missed from the 2010 organisational mix and, given Carsten's vast experience in mass marketing, we should soon start seeing well-orchestrated efforts to get the vast SA public not only behind 2010, but for the first time feeling that this is their event and not just something for soccer players.
As Carstens himself said, this is the biggest single event that SA has ever been involved in. It is an event that will have a positive effect on every single South African. Not just the tourism industry that will have the benefit of free advertising to billions of potential visitors; not just business that will have the benefit of showcasing our world-class infrastructure; not only Government that will benefit from getting the attention of millions of potential foreign investors. But every single South African will share in the wealth generated not just by the event itself but the global impact of a wave of attention that will run for another 20 years beyond 2010.
I hope that the enormous respect that the media fraternity have for Luke Alfred as an objective and critical journalist will demonstrate to them that it's actually ok to look for the positive aspect of 2010.
