Minister Sylvio Tang sparked off a controversy last week when he caused a consumer mag to be financed partly with traders’ money. In this interview, he looks at the ethical side of the question.

? Controversy has erupted around the consumer magazine published by your ministry. How far is it ethical for such a magazine to feed on traders’ money in the form of advertisement?

Prior to the publication of our magazine “Savoir Choisir” last week, there was no consumer magazine in Mauritius, although we have two NGOs for consumer protection. We had a choice. Either to continue without any consumer magazine, or to have one with adverts from some specific traders or organizations such as Airports of Mauritius Limited, Mauritius Duty Free, Microsoft, State Insurance Corporation of Mauritius, State Trading Corporation,Farouk Hossen Opticians,etc. We opted for ads from these quarters to jump start the magazine.

? Which means that the magazine will be in no position, for example, to castigate Airports of Mauritius for the costly airport tax it has imposed on passengers recently to finance the construction of the new terminal?

Not at all. There is an editorial team for this magazine and it has nothing whatever to do with the advertising content. This team is free to write whatever it wants and will never be hampered by any advertisement the magazine is carrying. If the sponsor is not happy, he can withdraw his sponsorship. This is where ethics come in. I should also tell you that “Savoir Choisir” is not the first consumer magazine to thrive partly on advertisement money. But then, I should point out that I am open to constructive criticism and I will consider any proposal to improve this mag which is meant for consumer protection.

? When can we expect the next number and can you tell us if it will again carry ads?

Savoir Choisir is a quarterly and you should expect the next number in three months time. Yes, we will have adverts from our sponsors in the next issue.

? So you are going ahead despite a call for the boycott of this magazine by an NGO because of the ads it contains?

Yes. As I told you, either we have this mag with ads or no mag at all. But it is a new born mag and it has to grow. We should give it a chance and I am not saying that this mag will always carry ads from traders, parastatal bodies or organisations. But I should also add that the NGO you are talking about has sent at least five articles to be published in the mag. Unfortunately, none of them has made it to the pages of the first issue, which does not mean that they will never be published. I am not imputing motives, but it may be possible that some of the criticism has sprouted out of frustration. This type of reaction is human, you know.

? You said that you and the Prime Minister have been inspired by the British consumer mag “Which” and the French “Que Choisir”. But contrary to these two mags, yours does not run any tests. We find no reviews, no comparisons, no guides, no calls for boycott, no warnings about the dangers of certain products in it. Your mag, published mostly with good taxpayers money, looks more like a trade magazine than a consumer magazine. How do you account for that ?

As I told you, it is a new born magazine and it is bound to have teething problems. We do not want to impose anything on the editing team. It is an independent team as I told you. But I have been informed that the next issue will carry our comparisons of products to guide consumers. We are also looking forward to having tests carried out abroad on products sold here to be published in our mag.

? You have printed only 10 000 copies of this glossy mag to the tune of Rs 300 000. Why glossy copies when you could have printed 100 000 on ordinary paper with that money. Why have you opted for a glossy mag?

Most consumer mags around the world are glossy. Take a look at what they are doing in Europe, the States and even in Asia. Mauritius is a fast developing country and we could not treat our consumers as inferior to those of other countries. Secondly, it has been noted abroad that consumer mags have to go glossy if they want to have an impact on consumers, if they want to be widely read and distributed.

? We cannot say that 10 000 copies is a wide distribution, can we?

No, this is only a beginning and the magazine is also available on our website.

? Is it the responsibility of government to have a consumer magazine published?

We have had to do it because this tool for consumer protection was not available here. We have two NGOs which have been in existence for a long time, but no one has managed to have a consumer magazine published here.

Now that we have created one, we hear people saying that they could have done it themselves. So let’s wait and see what the future holds.

Raj JUGERNAUTH

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Raj JUGERNAUTH