The rumour machine

When the government announced last week that it had just nipped a coup plot in the bud, the news hardly caused any public alarm. Perhaps it was because everybody was preparing for Christmas and had no time to worry about something so mundane.

Of course, it could also be that everyone hears coup stories all the time. Since 1986, we have had at least a dozen actual attempts and numerous plots that were supposedly foiled early on or at the last minute. If we were to jump each time we heard about an impending attempt to overthrow the government, we would get tired very quickly.

This can all be pretty hard on journalists, who have to follow up each rumour in case it turns out to be true. As anyone who covers this country knows, the problem reporters have here is not that sources will not talk, but that so many of them want to - all the time. Anyone from the highest-ranking politician to the lowliest public servant will gladly share an inside story - or maybe 16 of them. If you were to believe the government, this is how they stopped the coup last week: they reportedly overheard two military officers talking to each other on their mobile phones about the plot - probably because they could not find a journalist to spill the beans to.

Anyway, if you are a new journalist, here are some guidelines on how to make sense of the political situation, and determine if there is anything to report: you hear rumours of a coup. Nothing to worry about, the situation is normal.

The opposition calls for an immediate change in government. They are always calling for a change in government. Nothing to report.

There is a mob on the street. This is just your garden-variety anti-government demonstration.

Bombs explode across the country. Bombs are always exploding across the country. It is probably a terrorist act, not a coup attempt.