A report in yesterday’s Beeld newspaper sensationally claimed that former Springbok captain, Bob Skinstad called current Bok coach Heyneke Meyer a “dictator”. The broadsheet, and publications like Die Burger to which the report was syndicated, will today be licking their wounds and considering the issuing of a retraction and apology to Skinstad.

The report stemmed from a function that Skinstad, a prominent rugby commentator and 2oceansvibe Radio DJ had attended as MC, along with former Bok coach, Jake White.

Both spoke at the breakfast function, organised by Mike Sham of Front Foot Events and Workshops at Emperor’s Palace.

During the course of the morning, the two discussed Heyneke Meyer’s coaching style – a popular point of discussion in rugby circles.

Skinstad and White covered a wide range of points, before moving on to the Springbok’s most recent game against Argentina, which ended in a disappointing draw. White observed that the players could be putting more effort into games in order to achieve convincing victories. But that’s where things got taken out of context for both White and Skinstad.

The Beeld journalist present at the function capitalised on White’s comments, constructing a headline that indicated White was of the opinion that there were “huge problems with Heyneke’s style”.

Twisting context is a widespread journalistic sin, and while frowned upon, is generally tolerated by subjects of news reports. However, the aspect of the report relating to Skinstad’s alleged statement that Meyer was a “dictator” appears to have been entirely fabricated. Numerous sources, including Jake White, Bob Skinstad and Mike Sham have gone on record with 2oceansvibe, explicitly stating that the word “dictator” was never used by either White or Skinstad, and that it was simply conjured up by the journalist to help sell that day’s front page story, and the paper.

The headline and accusation was also carried in Die Burger:

Libelous, misleading headline published by Die Burger yesterday…

2oceansvibe has also watched video footage of the event [below], and can confirm that at no point did Skinstad refer to Meyer as a dictator.

Skinstad stated that his wording had been taken completely out of context, and White corroborated Skinstad’s statement to 2oceanvibe, saying:

I don’t understand where it would have come up. It’s just journalism using a certain quote in a different way. I can’t believe that in this country a guy can be attacked after only five games into his four-year tenure as coach. Yes there is inexperience, and this was what we were talking about.

So how did the journalist get it so wrong?

Skinstad, in his capacity as MC of the event, had been referring to the fact that Rassie Erasmus, who used to stand on the roof of the stadium in Bloemfontein during matches when he coached the Cheetahs, had not been in Mendoza for the game to help Meyer in whatever way he could. During that sentence, he used the word “dictatorial”. By viewing the video footage, it is absolutely clear that at no point was Skinstad referring to Meyer.

Skinstad felt that it was “bullshit that so called journo’s can get away with that.”

This is the footage that vindicates Skinstad:

Skinstad said the journalist in question had been so adamant about the fact that he had called Meyer a dictator, that she simply stopped taking Skinstad’s calls in an effort to clear up the confusion. “It’s pathetic journalism,” continued Skinstad.

In an environment where traditional broadsheet newspaper sales continue to decline each and every quarter, this is not the kind of mistake that a journalist, or a national newspaper want to make.

Skinstad this morning confirmed to 2oceansvibe that Die Burger had now seen the footage and that they acknowledged that the journalist in question had got it very wrong.

He was sure that they would now issue the appropriate apology to him as a result. We will wait and see.