MANY PHASES OF MEDIA COVERAGE BUT ONE UGLY FACE OF POLICE BRUTALITY

As a market place of ideas, the media is a carrier of a multiplicity of story elements. That's why it's healthy to see divergent interpretations of the aftermath of recent riots in the Kenyan capital. But some things like police brutality have only one ugly face, despite the different phases of media coverage.

Dead or alive, brown shoes or black shoes, Kiambu or Kisii counties, going for an interview or participating in a political protest, stone in the back pocket or whacks on the back, Cord hooligan or Jubilee impostor...etc, can be the subject of endless debates.

So, the media ought to be careful, lest it unwittingly becomes a vehicle of propagating full lies, half truths, or quartered conjectures.

And there's a big chance that media coverage of the anti-IEBC protests will go through different phases.

However, the ugly face of police brutality needs to be condemned in unison and never condoned even in the guise of law enforcement.

This point comes out clearly from the social media uproar sparked by the behaviour of anti-riot police.