OBAMA, GRANNIES AND GATEKEEPING DEFICIENCY DEMONS

Kenya is preparing to host a very important visitor. US president Barack Obama is coming home. And the local media is seizing this moment to churn out copious stories, disguised as providing extensive coverage. Not surprisingly, editorial lapses continue to amuse and astonish, as gatekeeping deficiency demons torment the audience.

Every angle is being explored, and every exploration is being angled, for the media to feel it has exhaustively covered this historic visit.

But the pressure of seizing the moment can lead to unintended editorial embarrassments, especially if the focus is on sideshows, and not the substance of the US president's visit.

So, a story is told of how elderly women are trying very hard to learn Engish, pardon me, English...now wait for the clincher:

'...to be able to communicate with President Obama'

At what point will this happen, during the visit of the US president?

Even if Obama makes a dramatic unscheduled visit to his ancestral home of Kogelo, in western Kenya, will the same grannies be guaranteed to be at a tobacco sniff distance, to converse with the most powerful leader on the planet?

Granted, Kogelo has been receiving a lot of foreign tourists, after one of its sons began occupying the White House.

Naturally then, that would have been a better way of highlighting the need for local grannies to learn Engish...sorry...English.

Hey, members of the press, there's an old rat, (last sighted near Burma market), which lost all its whiskers, while foraging at the then Cameo Cinema, that now has an uncanny resemblance, to the sole of the shoe, worn by a neighbour, of Barack Obama Senior.

Sic 'em...news hounds!

OF EDITORIAL HOUSE STYLE, A PRISON WARDER AND WARDEN

A media house should develop its own editorial house style. This subsequently informs how its products will be consistently expressed. In its absence, you are likely to end up with a patch work of different styles. So a story about life in prison, comfortably uses warder and warden interchangeably, which to the not so erudite, might appear to be erroneous.

The main article was a brilliant and if credible, a chilling account of how certain levels of comfort are financially inducible in Kenyan prison.

But a side bar story almost 'ruined the impact' of the supposed expose.

The headline alludes to prison wardens. But further down the body of the story, reference is made to prison warders.

My immediate reaction was that there was a linguistic mix-up.

(Yes, I am one of those not so erudite).

A warder is more likely to be found in a prison, while a warden should be spoken of in the context of wildlife or forest rangers, so I thought.

It turns out that:

- A warder is a guard in prison, in British English.

- A warden is the head official in charge of a prison, in American English.

So now you can appreciate my British-American headache.

The cure of this malady is for media outlets to adhere to a defined editorial house style.

AUDIENCE SUSPENSE AND THE SCENE BEHIND A TENSE TV PRESENTER

Television is a visual medium. The audience can be glued to their seat, if the content is gripping. The uninteresting broadcast can make mouths to yawn and fingers itch and reach for the remote. And due to delivery pressures, a TV presenter can be on the hot seat. But if she's on the edge of her seat, either she's tense or the audience is missing the suspense.

You see, a lot can be going on behind the scene, that the audience is not aware of.

But the 'scene behind' the presenter's seat, in the above studio set, has got this particular member of the audience spell bound.

Research that mainly features regular checks on this morning show, has revealed that sections of the screen left seat, unusually remained disconnected from the 'usual occupier'.

In what can suffice as the control experiment, it has been observed that another occupier of the same seat manages to fill up the 'scene behind' quite sufficiently.

Furthermore, when the said 'usual occupier' occasionally moves to the screen right seat, there are no neglected sections, in the 'scene behind.'

A number of questions thus arise:

- Just what is it about the screen left seat and the chosen posture of the 'usual occupier'?

- What inspires the 'usual occupier' to constantly assume the edge of the seat approach, when sitting screen left?

- Is it natural? Is it comfortable?

- How is it possible for the 'usual occupier' to exhibit different engagements with the screen left and screen right seats?

- Why my unusual concern with the 'usual occupier' and the screen left seat?

- If actors are told to make use of the whole stage in a theatre production, shouldn't presenters fully occupy the 'scene behind' a seat in a TV production?

- Why?

Well, this member of the audience is always tense...there could be a studio mishap... of the falling type...and the suspense is barely bearable. #Occupythescenebehind

BYLINES, NON-NAMES AND NEWSPAPER GHOST WRITERS

Writers of articles in a newspaper can be credited directly by having their names published, usually at the beginning or the end of the piece. Bylines are a much coveted element in print journalism. The publisher after all, can decide to use non-specific labels to indicate the writers of stories. But even these 'non-names' ought to be linked to the media organisation.

And if not, the use of such orphaned or ghost writers can be indicative of, but not limited to:

- The publisher not being comfortable with being associated with the content of the article.

- The publisher not ready or willing to take ownership/stand by the substance of the article, (legal suit evasion?).

- The writer not having contributed sufficiently in crafting the article, to deserve either a direct credit, or 'privilege' of being associated with the publisher.

- The subject matter of the article being too hot or potentially explosive, to warrant such distancing between the 'anonymous' writer and publisher

- The article being malicious or not having been published in good faith.

- An honest omission or dishonest commission.

In other words, there would be no need for such 'wide and wild' speculation, if there was the familiar pattern of using either a byline, Reporter or Correspondent of this or that media organisation, or even an external source providing the story

Not unless a general Reporter, with a visible general email address, adds hidden general news value.

FOLLY OF DELAYED ATTRIBUTION AND QUOTES THAT MISS

Attribution gives authenticity and authority to news stories. It plays a big role in determining whether the information is believable. It also crucially helps to separate fact from opinion. Attribution thus needs to be close to the information being published. The folly of a delayed attribution could make the views expressed being equated with the standpoint of a media outlet.

Enclosing the information in quotation marks obviously indicates the details should not be interpreted anyhowly. There could be need to accord a specific context, like merely reporting without shouldering the burden of proof.

Or it could signal there's some doubt with the information, and the details are being published with some editorial reservations.

But enclosing an entire headline of a news story in quotation marks, then expecting the reader to connect it with an attribution buried elsewhere in the body of the article, is living dangerously.

It's dangerous because the headline at times is all that a reader focuses on, and thus a wrong impression could be unwittingly propagated. (It could be subtly deliberate, though).

But in some case, the use of quotation marks does very little to salvage any meaning a headline writer hoped to convey, like in the above example.

Just whose suspension did the Nacada team call for?

And by using a definite article, isn't it expecting too much on the reader to be aware of the salient afore details of the story?

Such hanging headlines should not be allowed to survive the sub-editor's noose!

There are also instances, when quotation marks are missing, where they are badly needed, in a news story.

This particular newspaper has smartly decided that 'evil spirits' are empirically capable of haunting a girls' school, without any shadow of a dark doubt.

There's also a big hint of the reporter having had a first-hand experience of the torment unleashed by the diabolical forces, to warrant the direct reportage.

But don't quote me on this!

TV NEWS FAIL: HISTORICAL TRUTHS MINUS GEOGRAPHICAL REALITY

Is it a virtual deception? Then maybe all that is required is a computer-aided correction. Or is it a physical misrepresentation of facts? Then it's humanly possible for a set designer to mend the mistake. But if the broadcast station is in denial, then historical truths need not change the geographical reality. So in this TV news fail, let there be one Sudan, for the South never parted with the North.

That's the impression created and propagated for months, by one of the leading news channels in Kenya.

And this inaccuracy continues to be beamed authoritatively to the local audience, during the channel's prime time newscasts, and globally through various online platforms.

An untrained eye can hardly fail to see the graphical obliteration of the territorial integrity of an independent state.

For any single trained mind not to have noticed the discrepancy internally, it's a travesty of canonical journalism, reeking of professional negligence and editorial irresponsibility.

Attention to details, (demonic or angelic), after all, is at the core of the news business.

And if you can't even get your own station identity right, why should one expect you'll not go wrong with dissemination of information in the public's interest?

I'm not familiar with a channel called Kenya's Television Network. But I'm willing to be welcomed home to be schooled, and hopefully not miseducated.

DEHUMANIZING HEADLINES OF THE LACTATING TYPE

There is absolutely nothing shameful about breastfeeding. Even in this age of formula milk, mothers ought to proudly carry on with raising the next generation, as they deem fit. But some sensitivity is in order, when describing that vital activity by gallant mothers. And if they happen to be still active in sport, the headlines need not be dehumanizing.

Yes. We are all members of kingdom animalia. Our biological functions are identical on some level. And even though basic instincts can be subdued by humans, maternal instincts still kick in powerfully, once in a while.

But to say a human being is lactating is downright degrading, mostly because it reduces her to the level of... er... well...a cow!

You see, the reason why I find such a description repulsive, is informed and affirmed by my belief that motherhood is sacred, and one of the most selfless acts, especially among humans, (no disrespect fellow animals).

So Mr. Sports Editor, (Mrs. I highly doubt), I would rather not have my appreciation of a nursing mother, used interchangeably with that of a lactating cow.

Come to think of it, sports headlines have an uncanny way of being 'creatively' twisted for a presumed extra punch.

And the resultant effect, given the slight chances of the headline being taken out of context, can be alarming. In the above example, the editor can easily be accused of glorifying violence.

And the one below can be a ripe candidate for a heavy dose of cleansing of the spiritual type, delivered by dedicated prayer warriors.

What is fun to sports headline writers is not guaranteed to always be funny to the rest rest of us. Stories of athletics, volleyball and football can easily end up being a daytime nightmare involving the devil's children, xenophobic attacks and COWS!