OF KENYAN MEDIA AND 'CARTOGRAPHIC GITHERI'

Some content that gets published in Kenyan media outlets can be quite astonishing. And this is not always linked to the substance of news stories. Unchecked creative language use, or misuse of English can give rise to strange expressions like 'cartographic Githeri'.

Anyone familiar with the dishes of central Kenya, will be quite perplexed by the highlighted section in the article above.

It may not be lost to many others that the term 'Githeri media' has often been used to ridicule the 4th Estate in Kenya, for its perceived penchant of focusing on 'trivial' matters, or to disparage media content that is deemed to be of poor quality.

This, of course,  has to do with a certain 'overhyped gentleman' who got copious media attention, after being spotted with a bag of that dish mostly associated with central Kenya, while waiting for his turn to vote.

Even though the article has to do with Kenya, the context in the identified section is far removed from Kenya, taking us as far as the Indian sub-continent.

And the writer of this opinion piece appears not to be a native of central Kenya.

So what exactly is this 'cartographic Githeri' or is it another reflection of a catastrophic 'Githeri media'?

BEFITTING BEEF WITH PRINT MEDIA

The print media has been grappling with how to retain a diminishing readership, with most readers now being averse to paying for content that by and large can be accessed online, on demand and on the go. This has in turn led to more editorial experimentation. I have no beef with creativity, but more needs to be done to achieve befitting relevance, beyond eye-catching headlines.

It's quite ingenious to use the 'urban' equivalent of the verb denoting quarrelling, to describe a cross-border disagreement over mainly 'rural' livestock, in the article above.

And it almost appears like the headline writer found it irresistible to string together 'beef' and 'cattle' to drive the point home rather colourfully.

But the article's headline, however, looks a bit odd, because the parties involved in the 'beef' are identified by a country and a city.

You would ordinarily expect either two countries being identified together, or both being represented by cities, for a more evenly weighted delivery of the intended meaning.

That notwithstanding, this use of 'beef' is to a large extent befitting!

HEADLINES: ART, AESTHETICS AND ATROCIOUS TOPLINES

Headline writing is an art. The end product is so designed to attract attention to a story. Keywords to string together are cleverly selected, to grab the reader's interest at first glance, usually based on the condensed information being conveyed. Then there are those specially crafted headings that ooze aesthetics. 

One just can't help but marvel at the beautiful newsroom creation depicted above, from Kenya's only regional paper.

It doesn't look too contrived and in my opinion, serves such a rare treat of editorial brilliance.

Or maybe I'm just a sucker for thoughtful puns.

Either way, the remarkable effort by this headline writer ought to be applauded.

In this part of the world, such imaginative packaging of news content is hard to come by.

The default standard is often atrocious, clumsy or even nonsensical toplines.

There's need for more creativity in news writing. And that's the bottomline!

OF RECYCLED STORIES AND A THREE-BENCH JUDGE

The Kenyan media never disappoints, when it comes to 'delighting' the audience. Every so often, one comes across interesting editorial creations that not only 're-invent' the English language, but also craft astonishing 'intended' meanings. Cue in the magnificent three-bench judge.

So, we are actually looking at two things here: a bench and a judge. But the sentence is alluding to three benches and a judge. Or is it a judge who sits on three benches? See what I mean? Some meanings are hard to comprehend.

But hang on. There was another story, in the same newspaper, on the same day, which used a similar expression.

It says here, 'a three-judge bench' meaning, three judges, probably sitting on a single bench. This, in both legal parlance and everyday speak, does make sense, as opposed to three benches sitting on a judge!

Story: present. Reporter/Writer: present. Editor: absent!

Once in a while, a day is slow in terms of generating news, and it can so happen there's not much of unused stories or timeless pieces. It thus become quite a challenge to fill up the pages of a newspaper.

And in the ensuing pressures, a story might even look misplaced, as per the exhibit above.

But. It shows little respect to the readers' intelligence, if a story is prominently repeated, especially, if attempts are made to pass it off as a different article, while the content loudly says otherwise.

Story: present, present. Reporter/Writer: present. Editor: absent!

Then there are language skill matters that simply annoy, and in some cases, even destroy the original meaning conveyed in an article.

Who is the 'him' implied in the paragraph below?

For those who've been following this story, it is so apparent that the subject is not the one unwittingly being indicated in that section of the story.

Story: present. Reporter/Writer: present. Editor: Absent!

In addition, it is widely speculated that numeracy skills of many journalists, are wanting at the very least and shocking at most.

In the sample above, the mix up of figures is atrocious. 320,000 shillings in four months cannot be of a lesser value than 768,000 in four years! You seriously can't prefer making 16,000 per month, to raking in 80,000 every month.

Story: present. Reporter/Writer: present. Editor: absent!

Sadly, there is not much interest in publishing apologies for grossly misleading readers, unless the potential consequences are grave.

However, mixing up the names of leaders of an esteemed country, is one editorial mistake that's likely to make a newspaper publisher consider doing the honourable thing.