It represents a significant shift in the way news is delivered in Kenya. The philosophy behind it being that with the passage of the new Constitution that is hinged on a devolved system of governance, news too should be devolved. That is why you can count on the County Edition to bring you news coverage from the very grassroot level. It's rather unfair and preposterous to assume that the major news stories in Kenya can only come from the capital Nairobi, and yet that for a long time has been the case.
So one gets to be regularly treated with a heavy dosage of news about what the politicians have been up to, either from the comfort of posh offices, homes or even hotels, even if the matter they purport to be addressing affects people in remote constituencies.
So what better way to shift the media focus away from the centre than to dedicate three days every week for a systematic and intensive coverage of other parts of Kenya, as categorized by counties.
There being 47 counties in all, it really leaves no room to have any one region overlooked and subsequently in the long run, untold stories and faces are almost guaranteed of a piece of the media spotlight.
Granted, it may appear as if the NTV County Edition is giving undue time to what appears to be mundane stories that don't necessarily exude national importance type of issues. But that is precisely the point.
The news agenda should not always be prescribed to the audience from media organizations. They too can and ought to be given a chance to articulate what they feel is important to them.
It is high time the media entrenched a culture of listening to what its audience has to say and not just disseminating packaged information, with inherent slants and calculated agendas.
3 comments:
Very true. If only you media guys can now focus on POSITIVE human interest stories(as opposed to the negative that permeate your story lines) while still highlighting societal ills, you might just discover that good news sell too! You(media) have a forum to shape the opinions of Kenyans and not to just report on our activities. You should not also be complaining about our spineless politicians while we Kenyans are doing so. We expect you to offer us solutions, and blacklist hatemongers and the corrupt even as you commentate. Sadly, your journalism teacher(s) tought you that bad news sell...so am not expecting any philanthropy from the media.
This is nice, it fun, it educative and I love the idea, http://www.facebook.com/exitpoverty
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