Coverage of the Zimbabwe tour

The Dominion Post is continuing with its bizarre protest action and is refusing to even mention the actual cricket part of the cricket tour to Zimbabwe. There are so many things wrong with the Dom Post's stance that it is difficult to know where to start criticising it. Perhaps the easiest place is to ask what the point is of a newspaper that refuses to print the news. Secondly it is probably worth pointing out that neither cricket players nor cricket fans have done anything wrong here - and yet those are the only ones who will be punished by the newspaper. My third point is a reverse of the second, the people who are clearly in the wrong - Robert Mugabe and the ICC - are not even going to be aware of this protest, and even if they are they will suffer no inconvenience and I doubt they will do anything more than snort derisively into their crystal flutes of expensive champagne. The final, and perhaps most fundamental, point is related to journalistic integrity. There is a place in journalism for editorial comment, but in my opinion there is no place for censorship. I see little difference between Robert Mugabe's manipulation of the news and the Dominion Post's.

At least the Dominion Post protest won't really have much of an impact on those of us who have an active interest in the matches. We can always buy the Herald or the Press instead. And it has just been confirmed that we can also watch the games themselves on Sky.