Why is the bbc making such a big issue about Nelson Mandela being in hospital?

I cant help wondering if the world will be "praying" and in "mourning" when the rest of todays terrorists are at deaths door

Nelson Mandela is South Africa's equivalent of Gerry Adams (IRA/Sinn Fein guy)

The BBC is so Left Wing at times, they're almost of the scale / setting a new scale!!

You're right.

The press does appear like a waiting vulture perched on the top of the hospital where the man is, waiting for the "he is dead" news.

Even the potus has conveniently "planned" an AFrican vscation.

He has a huge following world wide, and I admit turning to BBC World far more often than I would normally do because I am waiting for the dreaded news of his death.

And that mostly because I think he has suffered enough in his life journey and needs to rest now, but I take your point the coverage is over the top.

They have 24 hours in a day to fill and posting someone outside the hospital near to their S. African studio is relatively cheap I am sure.

Mandela is already a major historic figure, perhaps one of very few alive on the planet. His impact is bigger than South Africa, bigger than the past, bigger than the present. There is a side of it that shows what hope and sacrifice can overcome, there is an uglier side of it that shows that violence cannot undue violence, it just creates new victims and new predators. Basically the beautiful idea of rainbow nation is prophetic of the rainbow world that is to come inevitably. However, the problems in how to acheive this may also be prophetic which is scary, since the attempt may kill the idea itself.

Because Nelson Mandela is dying.

He is a very important man in the world and his loss will be greatly felt.

It is because he is regarded as some sort of saviour. It is a pity that they do not report more on the amount of white South Africans that are murdered in the country.

Well if they report on him they don't need to report on what a big fat mess our own country is in and what a diabolical government we have

you are right the press did not say anything about thatcher being in hospital but she was hated so not many well wishers would of turned up wishing her well, even her own kids weren't interested in her until they got a free funeral and her money

People will weep for Mandella , people danced on the streets singing ding dong the witch is dead when maggie went

It's a big news story and reporters are like vultures waiting for him to die so that they can go into media overkill.

Simply put, it's Summer, there's always a summer-lull in news, so they decided to focus more on this story, because it's actually news, they could've also gone for flower-shows, 'secret life of cats', and so on, but that already got them a lot of criticism.

Before Nelson Mandela was the Prime Minister of South Africa, he was a political prisoner in South Africa. He spent 27 years in prison(maybe longer than you've been alive). His activism(along with others) resulted in the ending of apartheid in South Africa. He is an icon of that struggle, in which many people died at the hands of the police and government.