BLOG GUESTS
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
FREEING THE MEDIA OF POLITICIANS AND THEIR BAG OF POLY-TRICKS
The mass media is a very powerful tool. Leave it in the wrong hands or fill it with parochial content, and all manner of trouble will most likely be let loose. That's why every credible media outlet needs to be wary of publicity-seeking politicians. There's always almost an embedded self-interest they wish to propagate, whenever they make public pronouncements.
Six 'prominent' Kenyans honoured summonses to appear before the International Criminal Court, in the Hague, Netherlands. So whichever way you choose to look at them, they remain suspected masterminds of the2007/2008 post-election violence.
Yet, sections of the local media seem to backbench this fact and unwittingly fail to realize that according the suspects the sort of hyped coverage they have provided, in a way helps to negate the gravity and severity of the alleged crimes the Ocampo Six are being accused of committing.
So while thousands of Internally Displaced Persons continue to languish in squalid living conditions in tented camps, the public is inundated with live TV coverage of the arrival of two of the Ocampo Six habouring presidential ambitions.
And too add injury to insults, the local media then put their resources at the disposal and pleasure of the Suspects, in their so-called prayer rally, welcoming, homecoming or whatever misleading title the organizers had come up with.
Tellingly, as it has repeatedly been pointed out, it is a wonder that on a normal working day, thousands of people could still find time to be part of the purported 'show of might' by the Suspects. Think of the wasted man-hours, even if they fall on the idle side of the occupation scale.
But the tragedy is made complete by a neutered local media, which seems to have abandoned its allegiance to the public, in favour of politicians and their bag of poly-tricks.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I am on your side gahciri.It just leaves us wondering where the media is leading the country to.But its to note that there are some notorious media houses which seem to have taken the whole thing a tribal way....Notable is the standard group and K24,with one renowned journalist taking it totally personally.I must say that am a grat ambasador of the country outside here but there are things that demotivates me and makes me not to associate with Kenya!It's the medias' turn to show responsibility...otherwise we will no longer have a country called kenya in some years if not months to come
kenyan media is full of empty headed bunch of guys who never know what they are doing, many issues affect the people ok Kenya like low pay,poor working conditions unemployment,discrimination but they never get proper media coverage or address. its time they knew where to put their attention,
Albert don't you have something important to tell us? is it because these guys are proofing you the media to be inaccurate? stop exaggerating and tell us things as they are!!
i hope this are your personal opinions because if they are in a way to be nation media group's opinions, then as a fellow journalist, they may in one way or the other av a greater negative impact...trust me on that Albert.
Media have lost there role to be the eyes of the people and decided to take tribal lines and satisfy there self interest.You overwhelmingly focused on the the so called suspect how bare the greatest responsibility of the post election violence forgetting the plight of the victims.It is a shame to see media loose the trust of the mwanaichi.
our media has made our politicians to be what they are today. the media also takes us,(kenyans) for a ride. why do'u bring 'adults insultin each other' all in the name of news? i think there shd always be a warning (NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN AND PERSONS OF INTEGRITY)before those news are aired to us
Well, sad fact of the matter is this, media has let us down.As much as our media is profit making sometimes I wonder whether if it is possible for them to practice self censorship especially where the public stands to benefit! We all know the power of free press! Now we have far much better things to occupy, and granted, freedom of press and freedom of expression are enshrined in the constitution. But what if some persons stand to abuse these freedoms and place the country in danger?
The media should remember that as much as they are profit making, if the country disintegrate, they cease to exist also! And of what benefit will it be to them if the country fails anyway??
Albert; you are from NTV???; by the way you are one media house that's very biased.So please keep your advice, opinion and the whatever to your station.We know what we want.Thank you.
people dont understand what is the policy in the media industry, its all about making money, weather you like it or not its not their problem, the is something that plays out well, "nothing sells like bad news", that is the policy.
I borrow a leaf from the Bible in the Book of 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: we should leave everything to take its course; when the media plays biased it is their time now the time is coming when media ownership will change in Kenya; a time when the Gbagbos of Kenya and the Gaddafis coupled with Mugabe's their time is truly coming and they should be prepared to pay their price. The God that all of us pray to is a God of vengeance and I rest my case to him.
The views expressed here have absolutely nothing to do with the Nation Media Group. They're my own and very personal opinion. That said, it is my belief that local and even international media outlets at times go way off the mark, when it comes to practicing responsible journalism. By sharing my individual take on media-related issues, it is my hope that this would trigger a healthy debate. And the wisdom of the crowd will eventually shine through and provide a useful way forward. Of course I always stand to be corrected as a blogger, and more importantly as a journalist. I am aware of the conflict between commercial interests and editorial considerations that regularly plays out in many a media house. But if the interests of the general public appear to be greatly jeopardized by pandering to self-interests of a selected group or class of people, this needs to be pointed out. Profits are important but the public is supreme.
I believe that the more they are given airtime the more they incite people. If they were given a total media blackout they wouldn't be able to spread tribal sentiments and divide our country as they have. How fast Kenyans forget.... the money wasted on the homecoming/welcome party or whatever it was should have gone to a worthy cause like settling those displaced from as far back as 1992. I love my country and I don't want it to go to the dogs!
Well, the media will regret when we go the ivory coast way coz that is what they seem to be wanting...remember 2007/2008...after elevating politicians to demi gods and their skewed reporting and openly siding with one candidate, the stage was set....now we wait and see what stage these media oulets especially ktn are setting in 2012...cant wait(sacrsm intended)
Post a Comment