Conjecture as news

On Tuesday, the Star’s top news story said a vote of no confidence on Raila Odinga in parliament would fail. A group of MPs allied to Agriculture Minister William Ruto had been trumpeting such a move. The Star reported that Raila would garner the support of 123 MPs, only 90 would vote against him and eight would be undecided. Where did the newspaper get these so precise figures?

Not from George Waititu at Synovate, formerly Steadman & Associates. The findings were from a “preliminary analysis by the Star.” Preliminary analysis sounds chic alright, but isn’t that merely opinion by another name? You get the answer from the methodology employed by the Star in the “preliminary analysis”. Listen to them: “The analysis considered how MPs would vote on a motion of no confidence bearing in mind the status of the coalition government, the ongoing reforms and the support of MPs for Raila and Ruto.” Very scientific indeed!

That was pure conjecture. There was as much objective journalism in the “preliminary analysis” as there is brain in the head of a weevil. To be sure, crystal ball-gazing and punditry have their place in journalism: the opinion/analysis pages. But the Star simply passed off its own views as news. Talk of fabricated news.

Preliminary analysis of Aids Day news

World Aids Day was marked on Tuesday, December 1, and from our preliminary analysis, the media did a superb job. The pandemic received a lot of attention on television, radio and in the newspapers. The message coming through from all the coverage was that everyone is affected by HIV/Aids and that the war against the scourge can be won through voluntary counseling and testing, sexual abstinence and fidelity, safe sex, life-prolonging drugs, an end to stigma and discrimination and living positively with the virus.

Greatly inspiring were those real-life stories of persons living positively with HIV as individuals and self-help groups. Giving them an opportunity to share their stories with millions of readers, viewers and listeners dealt a smashing blow to the ugly face of fear, stigma and discrimination. That is journalism’s true calling. It is one thing preaching to people to fully accept and support persons living with HIV and quite another showing everyone that such persons actually exist and lead near normal lives. Well done indeed!

When bosses sue own scribe

KBC, “the number one broadcaster”, was in the news last week. A senior journalist there was hauled off to court by her bosses. Reason? Sports editor Elinah Sifuna had allegedly fired off an offensive text message to KBC managing director David Waweru and Editor-in-Chief Waithaka Waihenya. The two chiefs did not take the matter lightly. Ms Sifuna denied the charge in a Nairobi court and was released on a Sh20,000 cash bail. She is unlikely to have much appetite this Christmas as she will be pondering what to tell the learned magistrate on January 20 when the case will be heard.
This is interesting, but we refrain from saying anything more because of three reasons. First, we respect the right of the court to handle the matter competently and expeditiously without our undue interference. Secondly, we uphold the right of everyone, including bosses handling workplace issues, to seek protection of the law when they feel aggrieved. And thirdly, we confess our total ignorance of that field of human activity called management. Thank you.

State news agency eyes CNN

The government weekly, Kenya Today, carried an eye-catching headline: ‘Kenya News Agency set to join ranks of CNN.’ KNA needs introduction. It is a state-owned news outfit specialized in reporting about chiefs, their assistants and other bureaucrats who make up that bloated colonial relic called the civil service. There is usually very little civility and service on that gravy train, but thanks to the dedicated journalistic efforts of KNA staffers, we get to know that the chief of Mogotio Location advised farmers in the area to prepare their farms for planting now that the rainy season has set in. This, undoubtedly, is what is called development journalism. Without the chief’s advice the farmers wouldn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with the rains.

So news of KNA joining the ranks of CNN struck us as great stuff. We imagined KNA reporters and stringers filing stories on development journalism from New York, Paris, Teheran and Bogota. But it turned out the Kenya Today story was about the imaginings of one Ezekiel Mutua, whose full title is, according to the weekly, “the Director of Information of the Republic of Kenya.” Mutua, KT reported, told information officers attending a workshop in Naivasha that KNA was implementing a Sh80 million World Bank funded project that involved acquiring state-of-the art news gathering and processing equipment.

“He talked of the need to empower KNA to the standards of BBC, CNN and Voice of America.” Fine, he talked. But is state-of-the-art (and what is that, pray?) equipment worth Sh80 million what the state news agency needs “to join the ranks of CNN”? The thing could be equipped like CNN, but it would never fly as long as its news is about the Mogotio chief, Ezekiel Mutua, etc. Or did he mean it turns it joins the CNN league when it reports about Bungoma, Kitui, Malindi and Homa Bay?

No herbs please, we are Standard

Other important government news last week included an announcement by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) that it will cover members’ outpatient costs. The Standard reported in a Page One story that this will make healthcare affordable and “reduce the number of people turning to quacks and herbalists.” The interpretation could be right about quacks, but trashing herbalists?

All over the world, use of traditional, alternative or complementary medicine is on the rise. In August, Business Daily reported a well-known fact: although there are no statistics indicating how many Kenyans resort to alternative medicine, it is definitely widespread. “World Health Organization statistics shows that 3.5 billion people use traditional medicine globally and in Africa about 85 per cent of the population resorts to this option.” Kenyans are unlikely to stop seeing herbalists just because NHIF will be paying outpatient costs.

Secondly, the Standard story lumps herbalists together with quacks just like European colonialists and Christian missionaries, touting the magic of ‘conventional’ or ‘evidence-based’ medicine, demonized African medicine as witchcraft. This myth has long been debunked as European cultural imperialism. We suggest Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s book, ‘Decolonizing the mind’, be made required reading at The Standard.