KENYAN JOURNALISTS BEWARE: YOU'RE NOT IMMUNE FROM IMPUNITY

The list of people, who the International Criminal Court believes have a case to answer with regards to Kenya's 2007 post election violence, is finally out. Three are senior politicians, two are senior civil servants and one, is a journalist. Yes, journalists too are not immune from impunity.

The man in question, Joshua arap Sang, an FM radio Presenter, is said to have used his morning programme to incite people to attack supporters of one of the two main political parties.

But the fact that ICC's Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo singled out a media practitioner is an ominous sign that journalists can and should bear responsibility for their actions, if they go against the spirit of serving the public's interest.

There is no denying the fact that many more journalists remain culpable, guilty of helping to fan the mayhem that characterised Kenya's darkest moments.

It is highly probable that Joshua is just being used to represent the indictment of the entire media in Kenya, with regards to the post poll chaos.

If the KASS FM Presenter gets convicted, nay, even before his case passes through ICC's Pre-trial chamber and summons are issued, journalists should take heed and see it as a major wake up call.

You just don't use your privileged position and ability to influence a mass audience, to propagate ulterior motives, contrary to acceptable media ethics.

And more importantly perhaps, there is no hiding behind or in front of the microphone, camera or keyboard and claiming it is a journalist's duty to just report or provide an account of what is happening.

If it borders on enhancing impunity, then journalists too are not immune from bearing responsibility.

MONETIZING TALENT: THE BIG MISS OF TUSKER PROJECT FAME

 Uganda's Davis Hillary, TPF 4 Winner, Courtesy Daily Nation
 
Monetizing talent. That perhaps is one area the producers of the just concluded Tusker Projet Fame 4 missed out on. They did pay out a hefty prize money to the winner and a recording contract to boot. But what about organizing concerts featuring the best contestants, or marketing related merchandise?

If reports are true that some people were crying at the show's finale, as the process of unveiling the winner got underway, then it is largely true that such people would have been more that willing to take a piece of the night's highlights with them.

In business terms, this connection with the performers could most certainly have been exploited to derive commercial value.

And here, we are talking about the producers having had had the acumen of ordering posters, T-shirts, caps, among other merchandise or souvenirs, and offered them for sale to the live audience as well as to those following the proceedings on telly.


Moreover, as the show was progressing from the audition stage to the finalists invited to the TPF Academy, and especially this latter stage that lasted eight weeks, the performers were being thrust in the public domain on a daily basis.

It follows then that the millions following the proceedings across the East African region must have developed either strong liking or disdain for certain performers. And to a keen or shrewd mind, therein lies a business opportunity.

A potentially lucrative revenue stream for both the producers and contestants could have opened up if the best of TPF 4 could have been packaged for grand performances in major cities or towns in the region.

X-Factor finalist Olly at Wembley Arena, Copyright Agachiri 2010

I know it is neither fair nor practical to compare such reality shows to what happens in developed countries but that does not mean that lessons cannot be learnt from the likes of the X Factor show in the United Kingdom.

If one momentarily puts aside the often stated poverty levels existing in this part of the world, then the real potential of monetizing the talent on display in TPF becomes clearer, when juxtaposed with how the mega UK show derives huge profits.

Soon after concluding the X Factor TV shows, the most popular acts are paired with the winner and other finalists to headline big shows across the UK, many of which are sold out, and which also act as platforms of selling related merchandise.

Jedward at Wembley Arena, Copyright Agachiri 2010

Can't the TPF producers find ways of organising a musical tour of the finalists and even judges, in various venues across the East African region, at a profit?

It could be a long shot but if the entry tickets are reasonably priced, the legions of fans that have been religiously tuning in, might just warm up to the prospect of paying to get some live action in a town or city near them.

BOLD JOURNALISM REDEFINED: BBC TO AIR FIFA VOTE SCANDAL DESPITE ENGLAND BIDDING

December 2nd is the day FIFA's Executive Committee votes to decide, who will host the World Cup in 2018 and 2022. England is putting in a strong bid. But what is the BBC's Panorama TV programme featuring, days before that D-Day? The FIFA vote buying scandal that resulted in the suspension of two committee members.

The feeling from especially UK government circles and the 2018 bid team is that the timing of Panorama's investigative piece could harm England's chances by rubbing FIFA the wrong way by revealing how corrupt its systems are.

Wembley Stadium, London: Copyright, Agachiri 2010

Admirably, the management at BBC have opted to stick with the original scheduling despite immense pressure to put emphasis on 'patriotic reporting,' when deciding whether to broadcast the damaging expose.

The consequences can be grave and England might very well lose out on the rights to host the World Cup in 2018 but, and here I side with the BBC and Panorama crew, its about the bigger picture of jealously guarding press freedom.

You do not trade when to expose the truth as a professional journalist and so trying to consider third party opinions would be tantamount to being compromised to begin with.

That is what bold journalism should be all about. It might not be pleasant, but it's the right thing to do ethically.

THE ART OF REGURGITATING NEWS: WHEN ELECTRONIC MEDIA LAG BEHIND NEWSPAPERS

"Dear TV editors, repeating a story that I read in the Sunday Nation is not news." A terse and sharp rebuke from a fellow Kenyan journalist, which perhaps indicates how regurgitating news, often times, has become an art perfected. 

The Sunday Nation newspaper story in focus, was a damning indictment of the country's embattled Water minister, bordering on outright nepotism, when it came to awarding her ministry's lucrative tenders.

Electronic media outlets were beaten to that story by the newspaper and probably not unexpectedly, they immediately jumped on it, hoping to not only make up ground, but also take it forward and break any new angles that day, before the papers take their publications to bed.

Unfortunately, that was not to be, mainly because no media outlet succeeded in getting a response from the minister in question, it being a Sunday, among other reasons.

So anyone tuning in to catch the news that evening and who also had read the day's Sunday Nation, would have rightly wondered why TV stations were screening stale information packaged as news.

As pointed out by the observant journalist, it is even more shameful that the newspaper story was being reproduced word for word, in some instances, for the evening bulletin story.

It however goes to show that the prophets of doom, as far as the future of newspapers is concerned, ought to be a bit more optimistic. I mean, just look at how the Vatican newspaper's story of Pope Benedict's views on using condoms, sent the entire global media into a spin, print, electronic, online, mobile et al.

KIDNEY FOR LOVE - THE IRONY OF KEEPING A SECRET VIA THE MEDIA

He says he can only get to be with his beloved if they do a formal wedding. And because he cannot afford the attendant costs, he is prepared to sell his kidney. True love may be the case here. But when the kidney for love story gets to the media, the irony becomes apparent.

Delphin Wamalwa says he wants to keep his little, nay enormous arrangement a secret, in so far as his sweetheart is concerned.

But then again he is telling this to the camera, in the full knowledge that his interview will be part of a news story, broadcast to the masses in true mass media fashion.

Chances are extremely high that his beloved will get wind of his plans. Or is this the underlying intention?

You can never tell how far the ingenuity of Kenyans can propel them. The said lover could be moved to the point of withdrawing the 'nuptials or nothing' condition.

Or better still, a well-wisher, like it so often happens, could volunteer to organize a modest or even grand wedding for the couple. Now won't that make Delphin happy, kidney-less or otherwise?

BUSTED MEDIA ETHICS: THE CASE OF AGNES AND CLASSIC 105 FM

The ingenuity of the concept of setting up cheating spouses on national radio is without doubt amazing. Even entertaining to some or  a justified comeuppance for the two-timing culprits. But to go as far as impersonating a person infected by the HIV virus, amounts to a busted media ethics.

Whether the Classic 105 FM presenter is faking the whole episode in order to catch the startled party is to me besides the point. The fact that HIV/Aids is in reality a much dreaded disease, whose sufferers are exposed to a whole deal of stigma ought to have first called for some sensible analysis before going on air.

Yes. Agnes has been busted and all but made to confess her infidelity. But suppose a person living with the HIV virus was following the proceedings? In other words, the person ailing from HIV gets to hear his or her life-threatening condition being ridiculed.

And by extension, such a person is likely to be exposed to social stigma because HIV is often perceived as a death sentence-like condition and her 'supposed' status is publicly revealed and even broadcast.

Moreover, the acceptable practice is that before one is tested or told of one's HIV status, one is first counseled. You don't just blurt out directly to some one that they may be infected with the virus.

Supposing by some hyperbolical bad luck, the diabolical call to Agnes could have caused her to have a fatal heart attack from shock? Will the station not have been culpable?

REFRESHINGLY OUTRAGEOUS: THE LOLANI KALU EFFECT

Lolani Kalu is a veteran of the Kenyan media scene. But the way he practices his unique brand of journalism is at times so outrageous. Outrageously refreshing. Refreshingly engaging. Engagingly captivating. I call it the Lolani Kalu effect.

His mastery of the Kiswahili language is second to none and it's a delight to hear him narrate a news story. A delight because his conversational style of delivery simply draws you in.

Lolani is also a performer per excellence and the way he infuses his artistic skills into news stories makes them quite memorable.

But it is his creativity that perhaps stands out. You never know what to expect in a Lolani story, especially one that he is filing from location. 

This fact is best exemplified by a story he has just done on why area residents of Homa Bay County allow their livestock to spend the night in the open, away from homesteads.

What does Lolani Kalu do with this story? He narrates it from the point of view of the animals. The master story-teller cleverly brings out the night-time activities by actually voicing the make-belief thoughts of the various animals.

Now that is what I would like to see more often. Not just thinking out of the box but thinking as if there was no box to begin with.