THE CASE FOR HAVING AN EDITORIAL DIRECTOR OF DIRECTIONS

The press should aspire to be regarded as a credible chronicler of major events and significant occurrences. But if simple information proves hard to handle, the perception created could be that complex details are likely to be mishandled. So, here's the case for having an editorial director of directions.

In a rather discomforting quick succession, the local dailies have done a terrible job of helping readers get a clear picture of the physical location of a specific place in a news story.

Again, it's greatly distressing for someone familiar with a particular place to see it's location being described in ways that are grossly inaccurate.

The area around the building that housed what used to be called Kenya Cinema, is or should be well-known to those who work or grew up in the Kenyan capital.

It's pretty much in the CBD of Nairobi, and for a long time, used to be a favourite meeting point, especially for those active in the dating scene.

The way this article yet again gets the street reference totally wrong, makes for a strong case for local newspapers to have an editorial director of directions!

SETTING THE STANDARD IN MEDIA MISINFORMATION

In the news business, the information being disseminated ought to be accurate or factual, and essentially, this needs to be verifiable. And in a world of real time digital communication, the media would be ill-advised to assume its audience does not have the capacity to cross-check details of published stories. The standard should be to ruthlessly deal with media misinformation.

Details like where a road begins and ends may seem unimportant in the above article, but that's no justification to deviate from accurate reporting.

If the writer or editor is casual, when it comes to attention to details, there's a very good chance of upsetting an attentive reader.

And there's no telling if some media consumers can be well-versed with such a 'little' matter like the layout or meandering of a road, (hint...hint...ME!)

The article above says:

'The 6.1m kilometre Enterprise Road...stretches from the junction shared with Bunyala Road and Commercial Street...'

That's not where Enterprise Road starts from.

The stated spot has a roundabout, where Bunyala Road, Commercial Street, Workshop Road, and I believe, Dunga Road intersect.

This may be hard to believe, but on the grass growing inside that roundabout, is where some 'epic' intra-estate football matches used to go down...many decades ago!

Yes, the ball would frequently get kicked into the surrounding busy roads. But I guess dodging the traffic to retrieve it, was an inevitable hazard.

Let me now take you to where Enterprise Road actually starts from.

From the 'Roundabout Pitch', wait...it's so unbelievable how a bunch of kids would gallop at full speed in such a small space, and score spectacular 'long-range' goals!

Right, let's take Workshop Road, and then branch off, where Factory Street begins, (why do I feel like I'm going home?).

Further down Factory Street....the side with Kenya Railways staff quarters...just before where that white trailer is parked...the first house on that block.... well, it looks very familiar. But let's move on.

When you reach the first junction on the right, along Factory Street, from the direction we've taken from Workshop Road....taraaaah!

That's where Enterprise Road starts from ladies and gentlemen.

And, very close by is a popular 'Big Shop'

Next to this vibrant social joint, is what used to be called Sanford Road Nursery, where someone you now know, started his formal education from.

Back to Enterprise Road, (which also can be accessed from Commercial Street, being somehow parallel to Factory Street), is indeed, a major artery in Nairobi's industrial area.

And it was such a joy back then, discovering the alphabetical system of naming the roads branching from it, from Addis Ababa, Bamburi, Changamwe, Darkar, Funzi, Gilgil, Homabay, Isiolo, Jirore, Kampala, Likoni, Mogadishu, Nanyuki, Olkalou, Pate, Rangwe, and there's probably a road starting with letter S and T, too.

In so many words and precious memories, the stories covered by the media could be so well-known to a section of the audience, that any misreporting of facts could be excruciatingly painful.

Another equally obnoxious element in the axis of editorial evil, is manufacturing facts, which augments the damage of media misinformation.

The presence of a non-existent sub-county here, indicates an absent-minded sub-editor!

AUTHENTIC NEWS, IN-HOUSE STYLE AND SYNTHETIC HAIR

The attention of a TV news viewer is hard to maintain, if you manage to get it. The brain's attempt to be locked in, easily gives way to itchy fingers on the remote, ready to switch channels at the slightest provocation. The quest for attraction by a news anchor, should not amount to a distraction. It's not easy to simultaneously wonder if the news is authentic, or the hair is synthetic.

Television being a visual medium, the presentation of the news can indeed be inter-twined with the appearance of the news presenter.

But the audience should primarily tune in to a news broadcast to get significant substance, not to have the brain pondering over secondary issues like the physical features of a news reader.

In this era of millennials, station managers may opt to be liberal, when it comes to what a news broadcast should look like.

If this is allowed to go too far, however, it may be far too risky.

In-house grooming style guides ought to be alive to the general expectations and sensibilities of the average viewer.

Yes. An element of showbiz is acceptable to enhance the look and feel of a news broadcast.

But No. A viewer's concentration should not be sacrificed at the alter of aesthetics!

POST-DATED ARTICLE IN A PRE-DATED NEWSPAPER

Journalists are among the few privileged people, who get to witness significant history unfolding, while chronicling news of the day and major events. This requires a logical sequence of covering and publishing stories. That's why it's strange to see an article that bears a post-dated time stamp, being reported in a newspaper bearing an earlier date.

Quite confusing, admittedly.

The highlighted article makes reference to a study published in the June 2019 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Journal.

This could potentially be unsettling to a reader, simply because the article is appearing in a newspaper published in March 2019!

It could be a simplistic interpretation, especially to those well-versed with how scientific publications are done in volumes.

But to an average consumer of media products like me, (and hopefully you), a June 2019 issue of a journal, being quoted in a March 2019 newspaper is unusual, (and creepy).

A quick check online, confirms that the issue being referred to does appear in a June 2019 volume.

(And this post is in April 2019, in case you didn't notice).

The writer of the article should perhaps then have dedicated a short explanatory paragraph, to provide context that would enable any reader to make sense of the apparent dating anomaly.

A post-dated cheque can't work before the stated date. A 'post-dated article' also needs to be checked!