But their triumph is that they have, in the last three weeks, broken through one of the "glass ceilings" of journalism.When it comes to big stories for domestic audiences, most European and US-based news rooms prefer to "send" rather than use African talent. "I do not think the London news-room realises we are black," said Koinange They will soon He and Achi have been invited to head office this week.. In magazine terms, today is D-Day for Barry McIlheney, 40, the Belfast-born managing director of Emap Metro, home of the magazine giant Emap's "laddish" music and film titles. On death row, he was released from jail by the rebels when they entered Freetown earlier this month.
His whereabouts are not known.Nor is that of Fofana, one of two BBC Africa Service stringers in Freetown. He spent 13 days hiding from rebels in a ceiling in Kissy, in the east of the capital, before emerging briefly to file a report and then disappearing again.The Paris-based group Reporters Sans Frontieres last week appealed to Liberia and Burkina Faso, whose leaders are both implicated in backing the rebels - to allow journalists to work freely in Sierra Leone. Even one Cabinet minister who is critical of the press's behaviour admitted: "Frankly, the politicians get the press they deserve, and vice versa We are as bad as each other.". The royal spin surgeon Mark Bolland touched down at Heathrow just 24 hours before the curtain went up on the Charles and Camilla show, ready to weave his own stitch of magic into the historic day. Mr Bolland, deputy private secretary to the Prince of Wales, is the true architect of Operation Ritz, in which 15 seconds of blinding flashbulbs ended at least 12 years of ducking and diving. Together in public at last, and mission impossible is mission accomplished, without as much as a hundred quid changing hands for the photo that the paparazzi had tagged as worth over pounds 1m. The next day's headlines and editorials told a remarkable story of rehabilitation, tolerance and forgiveness, testimony to the triumph of the St James's Palace "spinformation" department. Reports in The Sun and The Mirror were warm - the two newspapers together represent over 17 million readers, so their editorials sent powerful messages to the whole of Britain, actively encouraging and supporting Charles and Camilla.
The Mirror's instant poll did show a 4-1 or 77 per cent vote against the "coming out" but an identical poll a year ago would have been running at 8-1 against. As far as St James's Palace is concerned, public opinion is heading in the right direction.Mr Bolland, former director of the Press Complaints Commission, had returned from Los Angeles to take personal control of Operation Ritz, and had privately assured his contacts at The Sun and Daily Mail by telephone that Thursday 28 January was T-Day, or Together Day.His information, when supplied, is like a golden nugget falling from the sky for the hand-picked assortment of editors and reporters he chooses to entrust. Newspapers are more conscious than ever of keeping costs down but this little gem of knowledge was reliable enough to send the veteran royal photographers to seek out the best vantage spots in front of London's Ritz Hotel from Tuesday afternoon - probably the first time such an advance party has been launched since the heady days of Diana's public engagements. It was also a poignant reminder of her own last hours at the Paris Ritz.Mr Bolland has been in charge of the "Camilla Factor" - as it was referred to in private Palace meetings - since before Diana died in the summer of 1997. He speaks to her every day and has introduced her to influential people such as Peter Mandelson, who she thinks is "absolutely charming and great company". In turn, Camilla has enormous respect for Mr Bolland, who has cunningly and discreetly positioned the royal mistress under the Palace wing.
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