Media ‘bitter’ over tour

Press, 9 August 1982, Page 4

Media ‘bitter’ over tour

The role of the news media during the 1981 Springbok rugby tour is strongly criticised by the author of the latest book on the tour. Ross Meurant. an Auckland policeman who was second in command of the Red Squad. "Bitter, prejudiced, and often inaccurate, the press used every method at its disposal to' portraV the Red Escort Group as’ an evil machine of terror." said Mr Meurant.

The only two publications that he finds favour with are “Rugby News.” and "New Zealand Truth." “'Truth's' endeavour to provide a balanced and unpolluted account of the tour activities was an admirable effort,” said Mr Meurant. He endorsed comments about the news media by an English sports writer, John

Reason, and by courtesy of “Truth" reprinted the article written by Reason which "Truth" published. Mr Meurant. a senior rugby player in Auckland for 12 years, said that “tears welled in my eyes" and he had to lower his head so that others could not see the tears and shame after the Springbok match against Waikato was cancelled when protesters stormed the field. The author said that when the squad came to Christchurch its members were concerned because Christchurch was "renowned for its radical element." One night the members of the squad had gone to bed with their PR24s (long batons) because the squad had been tipped off by the Criminal Intelligence Service that a "5 a.m. hit squad" had been formed which was to “hit" a police

target at 5 a.m.. and that the squad was the target. Mr Meurant said members of the squad thought that they would catch some "terrorists" red-handed when they discovered two sus-picious-looking vehicles near their hotel earlv one morning. However, the occupants backed off and left the scene "and we had missed the opportunity of the tour." In a chapter called "Protesters’ Profile." Mr Meurant said that the “Communists courage” was subtle in New Zealand, “a more covert but nevertheless relentless and dangerous enemy." He said that he was “neutral" on the morality of the tour.

"I confess I was not opposed to the tour on moral grounds — not that I support racial discrimination. In fact. I reject such discrimination

on the same grounds I reject ascriptive status, which is a basic tenet of my philosophy of life. I believe a man must learn a place in society and it matters not that his father had a title or was the town drunk.

"Similarly I believe'that a man's ethnic origin should be neither an advantage nor a disadvantage to him ... In South Africa race is a bar and may well be at the root of their system of apartheid, but racial discrimination is practised in many other countries." Mr Meurant said that racial discrimination formed the basis of England's immigration policy in practice, that Uganda expelled Asians, and that India had one of the most appallingly discriminatory racial policies in the world with its "untouchables."