The worst publicity
All publicity is not always good publicity for brand South Africa, and the front page of the New York Times takes a crack at South Africa's "mean" violent crime, which largely overshadows the lowered crime stats in the recently released government report. Even though it points to the fact that cash-in-transit robberies are down from 2004, the article details the "expert efficiency" of the cash-in-transit thieves and highlights their increasing violence. It goes on to state that "every time the police and security bureaucracy finds a way to thwart criminals, the criminals invent a way around it, or find an easier target." If that were true, crime statistics would be the same if not higher by common logic.

It seems that no news is good news for media and often, in situations like this, where there is good news to talk about the dark side of the news simply sells more papers.