There was an outcry after the Daily Voice published the story of the murder of a Mitchells Plain woman on Saturday night.
Not because of the violent manner in which she had been killed.
Kim-Joy Arnold’s body was found in the street. The mother of two had her head bashed in with bricks.
Not because she was brutally attacked outside a notorious drug den that Westridge residents had been begging authorities to shut down for the past three years.
No. On social media, readers were outraged because the 35-year-old had been described as a drug “addict” on the front page.
How could the Daily Voice be so “disrespectful”?
As if that was worse than the actual crime committed.
Have people become so desensitised to violence that the word “addict” gets them more worked up? Honestly.
Maybe it’s time to clear up some confusion.
The Daily Voice is not an obituary noticeboard, it’s a newspaper.
We don’t write long, beautifully-worded eulogies, we publish news articles.
As journalists, we are trained to give you the news; that involves answering the “five Ws and one H”.
One of those Ws is the question “why”.
If you want to know why Kim-Joy ended up in that tragic situation, the answer is drugs.
Her mother openly admitted that her daughter was a heroin user who had been doing drugs for 14 years.
No secret. This was the family’s reality.
But, barring her wrong lifestyle choices, the mom said Kim-Joy was a “very respectful child and never caused trouble”.
The fact of the matter is, you cannot report on the death of this woman without mentioning her drug habit.
It explains the whole sad story.
In the same way the word “drunk” is key information in a fatal car crash.
Or the word “gangster” indicates motive in a murder case.
And it serves as a warning that this is what can happen if you get mixed up in drugs.
These are the realities, the social stigmas, we try to reflect when we bring you the news.
It’s the kind of journalism the Voice was built on.
We tell you like it is.
Our journalists really do “skrik vir niks” and go to great lengths to give you the cold facts, the harsh reality.
We don’t sugarcoat and sanitise the news.
If you find our approach too insensitive, you’re welcome to go elsewhere for the news. Don’t read the Voice.
But where else will you find the “real” news that is happening in your community?
taariq.halim@inl.co.za