HOWLER OF A TV NEWS CRAWLER AND A MALICIOUS JUBILEE LINK

For over 60 minutes, the prime time news dragged on. And as is characteristic of Kenyan TV broadcasting stations, the newscast is laden with all manner of stories, analysis, and the now customary studio discussion. But something so obviously wrong kept scrolling across the screen throughout the bulletin.  The Jubilee link could be malicious, in this howler of a TV news crawler.

No need far any accuracy tutorial. This was a total editorial fail.

And one that is potentially costly...if the aggrieved party seeks legal redress.

The information in the ticker suggests a rather curious political affiliation for the former Vice President of Kenya.

Hopefully at no risk of being enjoined in any ensuing lawsuit, let me enlighten you on the full text of this messed up ticker, which ingloriously states:

"Kalonzo: If I don't get nominated for Jubilee Muthama will be to blame"

The channel might have some association with Jubilee, but again, hopefully, not to the extent of involuntarily co-opting major figures in the opposition, into that side of the country's political divide.

I don't want to ask if the TV station knows something, we don't know!!

ANATOMY OF A FAILED TV NEWS APOLOGY

Some mistakes in the media are innocent, inadvertent or even involuntary. But it's beginning to look like some other errors are either deliberate, or emanating from acts of internal sabotage. The name of the main subject of a women empowerment TV news feature was that of a very prominent man in the Kenyan public service. The apology afterwards failed to undo the damage.

A very inspiring feature was thus ruined by such an easily rectifiable on air blunder.

Again I ask, why is it that nobody in the studio gallery, during this particular news broadcast, could have noticed this error fast enough?

Was it that impossible to make an immediate correction, or at least stop the wrong caption from going on air repeatedly?

The news anchor issuing an apology for the obvious mistake at the end of the clip, is a tad too late and effectively inconsequential.

The first time the name tag mixup goes out, it's perhaps excusable and even attributable to human fallibility, given the 'immense' broadcast newsroom pressures.

But that for the entire duration of the 7-min plus feature, the mistake was never apparently spotted, is a big indictment of the news production crew's level of alertness, and a statement about the station's editorial inadequacy.

The belated attempt to assuage viewers, is indeed a useless anatomy of a failed apology.

PUBLIC'S WATCHDOG, FEROCIOUS ATTACK DOG AND A TIMID LAP DOG

It is becoming difficult to get a clear understanding of important issues in Kenya, based on media coverage. The public's watchdog turns into a ferocious attack dog, only to end up looking like a lap dog. The audience get's confused in the process, especially when information is packaged haphazardly.

I very much want to believe the editor of the above article is aware the message being sent out is that it's DESIRABLE to have:

"...an accounting system which is vulnerable to manipulation."

Or alternatively, the said ministry is being EXONERATED from any financial mischief because it:

"...lacks the capacity to run an accounting system which is vulnerable to manipulation."

Is there still a place for dependable media accuracy, which begets factual coverage that responsibly pushes credible information to the citizenry?

A big story suddenly starts sucking in those adversely mentioned.

The media outlet that unearthed the supposed scandal is also hard pressed for alleged non-disclosure of self-incriminating facts.

And evidently, this has not escaped the scrutiny of the public, as depicted below.

GRIEVING FAMILY, PRIVACY INTRUSION AND AN INSENSITIVE MEDIA

A distraught family is mourning the loss of a loved one, after a terror attack in northeastern Kenya. A crew from a local media house is filming and asking questions about the victim. A composed family friend shares the information requested. But the mother of the victim can still be heard wailing. An insensitive media yet again puts a news story above the privacy needs of a grieving family.

What informs the urgency to cover such stories, and why can't the affected families be spared the media glare, so soon after learning about the death of one of their own?

It is utterly cruel for the journalists to not even have the courtesy to stop rolling their camera, until the victim's mother is emotionally stable.

Moreover, any kind of discussion about the victim in her earshot, is bound to augment the trauma being experienced by the grieving mother.

Couldn't the interview be conducted away from the distressed mother?

In any case, it is highly probable that whatever the family friend is saying to the reporter, does not register much with a viewer, because it is just not human to ignore the sounds of a weeping mother.

For me, it's as if the reporter here was trying to downplay the pain of the victim's mother, in trying to get details about the final moments of the victim.

Just as Joe Hight so accurately observes in the Colorado Springs Gazette:

"Most victims or victims' relatives face a wall of grief in the aftermath of a death or disaster....They don't see into the past or future; they see the present and feel the pain of the moment"

Fellow scribes, follow this principle and desist from blatantly violating the grieving space.

TIME, STRAIGHT LINE AND TWISTED MEDIA TIMELINES

Time moves in a straight line, even if this is in a cyclic manner like a clock or the changing seasons. The past is behind, the future is in front, and the present is somewhere in the middle. This linear arrangement should always hold true. But a bold Kenyan media outlet wants us to believe in twisted timelines.

For any engagement with the audience to be meaningful, the information distributed by the media must be logical.

In the above newspaper article, either:

- the examination is set to last from November 7 to September 4 the following year

- or it begins November and miraculously ends in September of the same year.

Using this standard, one can throw a stone today, and kill a bird yesterday!

MEDIA CREATIVITY AND HUMANITY SUBVERTING DIVINITY

Not everyone subscribes to spirituality and matters of faith are hardly homogeneous. It is, however, good practise to respect other people's beliefs. And humanity subverting divinity can either be permissible or intolerable. That's why the media ought to tread carefully with religious references. Creativity should not override civility.

For the above sports article in a Kenyan daily, it perhaps was a well-exploited opportunity to string together a clever and catchy headline.

It's indeed ingenious to notice that a football player goes by the name 'Jesus' and another's name could easily fit into 'Messiah' plus how these fit into a win and lose situations.

But failure to resist the temptation to craft a headline with Biblical connotations, runs the risk of upsetting puritanical sensibilities.

One can therefore argue that the headline in question is in bad taste.

Some of the headlines in the sports pages especially, are true gems, delightfully formulated and designed to impress even the most cynical of readers.

Blast away in your creativity but try not to blaspheme!

TECHNOLOGICAL MISNOMER ON WHEELS

Artistic creativity is abundantly noticeable on Kenyan roads. Public service vehicles keep raising the aesthetics bar. And the extras on the ride itself could only have been imagined by passengers of yesteryears. Keeping up with technology is key but one can encounter a technological misnomer on wheels.

You would not be shocked to find pay TV channels on inbuilt screens, inside the elaborately designed public service vehicles.

At your home, such content is usually accessed via a satellite dish, often mounted on the roof for clearer reception.

When being installed, the technician usually twists and turns the dish until a strong and stable signal is detected, after which the dish is firmly secured.

So, you can appreciate my confusion and amazement, on seeing what looked like a satellite dish on top of a highly mobile public service vehicle.

I would have given anything and a half of something else, to have a peek inside, to figure out how the stability of the TV reception is not compromised by the constant movement of the vehicle.

It does for know, look like a technological misnomer on wheels.

The other plausible explanation is that it's all a gimmick to attract the paying public's attention.

Now that would not be a matatu misnomer!