Editor Tony Heard defends decision not to publish story on Bird Island paedophile allegations
"We published if it was publishable," says Tony Heard‚ who was editor of the Cape Times during the period that rumours around the involvement of National Party ministers being part of a paedophile ring in the 1980s were rife. Heard‚ a respected and award-winning journalist‚ who published an interview with Oliver Tambo in the 1980s — a move that was illegal at the time as "special" permission had to be granted to publish interviews with ANC officials — said he was not prepared to be apologetic for his decision not to publish the story about John Wiley‚ one of the ministers named in the paedophile ring. "An editorial decision was taken" based on what was "publishable at the time"‚ he said. "I carefully considered the material placed before me. I published what I felt was publishable. That’s all." Chris Steyn‚ co-author of the book‚ The Lost Boys of Bird Island‚ who was a journalist at the Cape Times during that period‚ wrote in the book she had put together information on Wiley that w...
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