The World View

Across most of Africa, football still means just one thing: soccer. Saturday’s largest newspaper in Johannesburg, one of the most internationally oriented African cities, doesn’t even mention the Super Bowl in seven pages of sports news. The front page features a half-page photo of Mike Tyson in Manchester, England.

The buzz on the country’s talk-radio shows for the past several days has been about the disappointing television coverage of soccer’s Africa Cup of Nations. A private pay-for-view channel has the rights in South Africa to broadcast the games, and South Africans--most of whom cannot afford the premium--are furious at the state broadcaster, SABC, for being outbid.