"Staying within hearing distance": Max du Preez, Schalk Pienaar and the Afrikaans press in the apartheid era

Abstract

Max du Preez, the abrasive former editor of the Vrye Weekblad, is not known for pulling his punches. This is evident in his memoirs Pale native in which he castigates the Afrikaans press, especially the editors of the Nasionale Pers for their alleged lapdog attitude towards the National Party (NP). Du Preez accuses these editors of knowingly allowing the government to mislead their readers about the inequities of apartheid. He also holds them responsible for the shock and horror Afrikaners felt when the real face of the successive apartheid governments was revealed before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).