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May-June,
2005: Click
on June
26 , 2005
If it bleeds, it leads. Every journalist knows this by heart. Among all stories gathered in a day, if there was significant death, rape, or spilled blood, it will be top in the news. And the gorier it was, the more priority it will receive in the bulletin. Like it or not, this is a rule of thumb in journalism. But is it good reason to ruin appetites at dinnertime?
June
19, 2005
East African Breweries’ latest advert, Bambua Tafrija, is rocking town. And the near-minute long Milele, Kenya my country, Tusker’s most famous TV advert, evokes more patriotism than our national anthem. Perhaps that is why anti-alcohol crusaders are so mad. But was the government’s announcement on Thursday last week that it would ban certain tobacco and alcohol advertising defensible?
June
12, 2005
Who wants to sit through a two-hour movie where the drama is in a language he doesn’t understand? If the movie is in Chinese, which is bad enough in Nairobi, there will be English subtitles. People follow through. The same can’t be said of how our TV and radio stations have treated non-Swahili speakers in this country for decades.
June
5, 2005
Poof! That’s what you get when you prick an inflated balloon. Spin! That’s the unanimous verdict when news people choreograph events to fit into preconceived agenda. The Nation’s first two stories of the week, alleging US freeze on military aid to Kenya, appeared to fit both categories.
May
29, 2005
With the International Press Institute in town this week, every top brass has been making the right kind of noises on Press freedom. Very commendable. But, I’m not throwing a party. It may have just been rhetoric. Talk, period.
May
22, 2005
This week’s great stories betrayed a touch of class prejudice by the State, and how hard it is to pin down newsroom errors on anyone. Starting from the bottom, Raila's story was victim to twists in newsroom hierarchy. And about the murder case involving Delamere's grandson, the facts stink. It’s the media’s job to find out the origin of the stench. There is smoke. It’s the media’s job to trace the fire.
May
15, 2005
This country wouldn’t mind paying for a good lawyer, not a sycophant, to advise State House. The aim would be twofold: one, so the highest office in the land is not exposed to excessive media prying; two, so the country is not exposed to international ridicule.
May
1, 2005
Nation TV coverage of Ketan Somaia’s former bank manager, Jason Wellington Oluga, as he drove to freedom on Thursday must have left mouths dry. The tactics used were a sharp reminder of what they don’t teach even at the world’s toughest journalism school. Hear it from the horse’s mouth...
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