Many of us have probably read the lead story in the East African Standard today how the government has instructed its administrative officers to spy on all sitting MPs.

There is nothing serious about such a suggestion and we could just about create a forum to lambast this government. What is serious though is the fact that if you read the entire story, you will instantly smell out the fact that it has been cooked up. Let us start with the opening statement of the story:

"District Commissioners have been asked to assess the political strength of aspiring and sitting Members of Parliament and immediately furnish the State with the information, The Standard can exclusively reveal"

This would be a big scoop if we went out to look for the evidence that the paper has. But what rings the alarm bells is the next paragraph which in itself is a conclusion drawn on the report's title. The rest of the story follows pretty much this theme of justification for the alleged action:

This amounts to using the Provincial Administration to spy on politicians and aspiring politicians in an election year.
By deploying DCs, DOs and chiefs to spy on politicians the State appears to have hatched a plot to pack the party on whose ticket the president would be running with "winners" and purge it of "losers" — and the full might of the Provincial Administration will be deployed to ensure this.

To be in a position to draw this conclusion that the reporter had, one needs to read the entire story. It is a tiring fact in itself but for once I laboured to the end of a political story in the Standard. The allegations made were serious enough to see if the reporter had spoken to anyone in government, either the PC alleged to have written the letter to the DCs or even Michuki or his PS. Sadly, there was no attribution of the story or the letter to anyone in government. In this case, not a single government functionary was called to even deny the story or to refuse comment.

After more than a dozen paragraphs, I saw something to the effect that the PS in Michuki's office had in actual fact spoken to a reporter of the Standard  but amazingly the man was not speaking about this spying mission that has all people worried. Instead, here is what they were actually speaking about:

The Permanent Secretary for Provincial Administration and Internal Security, Mr Cyrus Gituai, moved to allay the fears with the commitment that the Government would not frustrate DCs and DOs over the implementation of their new scheme of service.
"Who is complaining? Why is he complaining through the media? Do you think the Government can frustrate them in implementing the scheme?" posed Gituai.
He said his office had no intention of delaying the implementation of the new scheme of service affecting the senior provincial administrators.
Speaking to The Standard on telephone, Gituai said the scheme of service for chiefs is already being implemented.
"Chiefs and their assistants had the new salaries effected from last month. Their payslips show that," he said.
He added that the scheme of service for provincial administrators has also been effected.

But this has nothing to do with the spying mission? So who is it that released this exclusive story ? Can you imagine how much credibility this story would have had if only a simple call had been placed to the Rift Valley PC who issued 'these instructions'? A denial or a no comment or even better a confirmation would have sufficed.

Driving from a meeting this morning in Nairobi, I heard that Reuben Ndolo had reacted angrily about the government action as had Marende was was interviewed yesterday by the media about the allegations. What will happen most of today will be all sorts of MPs being interviewed for the comments so that we have a story to react to and an even bigger headline!

Should not newspaper editors just be sacked as such a story should not have been left to pass. My school newspaper editor would not have allowed this story without any attributions past the cyclo-styling machine. Just how did it get to the multi-million printing presses on Likoni road?

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We Are Doomed!
written by That Kenyan Loser , February 26, 2007

Bribes, lies, deliberate errors: our country is in dire need of alternative press. Kenya's mainstream media have let Wananchi down.

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written by emmo opoti , February 27, 2007

I hear Patrick Quarco is starting a new newspaper, if Kiss is anything to go by this will not be a radical departure from the Standard's style.

Now, though let's also be fair to Kenya's media who are truly cuaght between a rock and a hard place. Their style may not be the most enlightened but you hardly expect that their inquiries into the affairs of government - and especially such an allegation as this- would run into any useful feedback.

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written by Stephen Wanyama , February 27, 2007

Investigative journalism is hard work and whereas it may not always be possible to prove one way or the other that something wrong is going down, a lot of good may have been done by the Standard report. If there is no truth to it, the government can always walk the paper to the courts.

Methinks Kamale protests too much. This is truly a case of bad journalism, but given the fact that Nation has long abdicated its duty as a public watchdog, the Standard may be all we have, bad as it admittedly is.

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written by Amir Ibrahim , February 27, 2007

I have to agree with Stephen. If we were to wait for proper evidence and reactions from both sides, I am sure we will never get any news in Kenya.

Regarding the essence of the story, it is not only possible but entirely expected that the government will use the provincial administration ( which Michuki the ex-DO had wanted to scrap) in its election bid. Remember the referendum?

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Kenyan Papers and Editors
written by aeichener , February 27, 2007

I fully agree with the author who calls hirself, in mocking self-depreciation, "That Kenyan Loser" (and who are Those Kenyan Winners then?).

1. Bribery and venality abound in the print press. Everybody knows and acknowledges this in Kenya, except the press themselves.

2. Outright and open lies and dearly-bought PR articles (usually situated most obviously in the "damage limitation" or "corruption fights back" field) are not an exception anymore.

3. Deliberate or at least reckless errors:
Some of you may remember the Nation case (the so-called "Clay Muganda incident", just run a Google search) where it needed the personal and forceful intervention of none less than Charles Onyango-Obbo against several complicit and aggressively unrepentant other Nation editors (and of course against the author) to rectify a case of clear, outright and blatant plagiarism. The other edititors were totally unaware of even basic rules of ethical journalism and found nothing wrong with such plagiarism, and even dared defend it initially. Clay was ultimately bullied into a reluctant public apology, and is still licking his wounds (just write him an email inquiring about the case and watch out for his aggressive response :twisted: ).

4. Who will buy an alternative quality paper? How many thousands copies could at all be sold, and how should they be distributed?
The last question is the main problem for the "Kenya Times", which is valiantly trying to offer alternative democratic space now and then, but struggles under extremely uneven quality and total absence of final proof-editting: literally in the same paper, you can see a well-researched investigative article of a junior journalism student and a half-page piece "How to fix a toilet roll holder on your bathroom tiles" (I kid you not, true case!!).

5. I respect many Kenyan journalists, especially the young, not-yet-corrupted, not-yet-run-down ones. If you know of an editor/editrix to respect, please let us know, bark, and raise your paws here.

6. I disagree with Stephen. Blindly writing against *everything* the government does, whatever it be, is not tantamount to proper "investigative journalism". Investigative journalism (see my own piece on the Nyaya Tea Zones for a very small, very demure example of how investigative journalism can start: nothing "sensational" unearthed, but lots of facts, some of them uncomfortable) demands respect for facts, fairness and soberness. And to acknowledge when and where something positive has been achieved, is also investigative journalism.

7. The Nation once was a quality newspaper, true. But so once was The Times of London. *Sigh*.

8. I have been in the Standard and have spoken with one of their editors (his comment: "So you are that persistent guy..."). Whatever.
At least, people in the "Nation" house read our website, as the web statistics show (KACC and KTDA also do). About the Standard, I still have to check.

Alexander

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Kenyan Media Scene
written by MellowDrama , February 27, 2007

I agree with the author. Reporting in our media houses has ceased to be one of reporting on topical or news related issues. Our journalists are some of the most vile minded underpaid quacks that ever lived. Our editors the most oversexed and over married idiots and plunderers of quality content. They need to pave way for a budding generation of writers devoted to the cause of bringing back some dignity to a glorious proffesion.

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written by aeichener , February 27, 2007

What shall "over-married" mean, pray? And try to support your insults with some facts, please.

Alexander

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Me complain too much?
written by Kamale , February 27, 2007

Bw. Wanyama,

I only complain when the media shows incompetence as was in this case.

I actually admire investigative journalism even where there is no attribution to persons, but one packed with facts - see Alexander's piece on Nyayo tea Zones. He did not need to speak to anyone as he provided facts and figures.

What he did not do, and this is what is important, he did not draw conclusions for the reader as was the case in the referenced article. Worst still the conclusions are drawn at the beginning of the article rather than at the end!!

The Standard can hammer away at this government as it wishes and when they do it with facts, it always is refreshing reading. What galls me is this type of journalism where a story like this appears cooked up purely for the purposes of eliciting a response, which is invariably a condemnation from the oppisition or backing of the government by its numerous functionaries.

The follow up to the story today is even worse!!!In this case, the people to properly answer would have been Michuki and his PS. But as I am sure we have all noted there is no request for comment or even clarification on the said story!!

My quest is the return to responsible and honest journalism. What we have today is an art of manufacturing stories as news then have people respond.

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By Michuki\'s Remarks
written by Honey , February 27, 2007

I have not labored in the journalism vineyard, and will not try imply so.

The only reason I read the papers is to know what goes on in Kenya.

Maybe it is poor journalism as it has been dabbed here (or even a tabloid),
but going by Karua's & Michuki's outbursts, I hesitate ruling the above out.

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We Are Not Whinos
written by That Kenyan Loser , February 27, 2007

Lest anyone think we are attacking the Kenyan Press just for the sake of it.

I was in Kenya, May-August last year, where I inteviewed a lot of people about the state of our media. The head of Journalism School at the University of Nairobi, a PoliSci professor at the same, and an editor at the Standard all acknowledged the problem. Not one person interviewed on the streets thought journalists were doing a good job.

Kenyans fought so hard for press freedoms. People who we not journalists went to prison and were tortured. University students were expelled. I think the media owe us.

The Standard editor told me that freedom of the press in Kenya is "real." Please use it responsibly.

The media give stories of political infighting major play. As a result, politicians know that if they stay in Nairobi and bicker there, they can distract journalists from showing how little elected officials have done for their constituents.

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...
written by donworry , February 28, 2007

I salute the author for introducing a very important topic and backing it with evidence! The feedback comments above indicate the importance that readers attach to a free and fair press.

So can the media be salvaged?

Not in its present form. Alexander has candidly outlined some of the more obvious ills that bedevil our fourth estate.

The biggest single threat to the media houses will come from the readership. There are signs that we are waking from our collective slumber. In future we will reject cheap propaganda packaged as a news item of import. There are many other ways of accessing news, information and entertainment. The media houses' control is gone forever. Even the discussion that we are having now is outside the realm of the papers.

All the titles have at one time or another taken their readership for granted, peddling lies and half-truths to suit this or that political benefactor. The Kenya times was once a party paper that proudly displayed a cock at its mast. I proudly refused to read it. Similarly I will never let the Nation forget their clumsy attempt to dupe Kenyans, claiming that Nyandarua North MP JM Kariuki was alive and well in Zambia when infact he had been tortured and killed by ......well who by? As for the Standard, they deserve every bad thing coming. The story that sparked Kamale's article should not have been passed by any editor worth his salt. During the Artur Magary ya nani saga the Standard posted a photo linking the artur thugs to a young lady. Though it later emerged that the armenians were indeed business partners with the NARC activist's daughter, twisting facts and blatantly doctoring photos to fit a story is clearly unacceptable.

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Not unique to Kenya
written by Nekessa , February 28, 2007

Unfortunately, Kenya is not alone in poor journalism. While citizen journalism and bloggers are important in offering news and perspective on news, the print media, need to style up! it is their job and responsibility-- sensational news might work for sound bites on tv, but a different story for print media. There is so much potential for investigative journalism, so many materials and resources. The media has more power than it thinks. List for beats-- education (primary, high schools and universities), courts, neighborhood development, infrastructure, service/goods industry, private companies, parastatals, all the topics on kenya imagine, etc etc.

To answer Kamale's question, yes, we can salvage the media. Keep writing to them, they will take notice.

Thanks to insomnia, I caught this show on tv: News Wars: The citizen journalism movement . If you have time read all the parts.

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Write\'em, tell\'em...
written by aeichener , February 28, 2007

Nekessa:

Most editors worldwide indeed take notice of their readers' opinion and their readers' letters, sometimes even too much. There was one (pre-Internet) rule of thumb that for one person that actually undergoes the trouble of composing, writing and sending a letter, there are 500 or 1000 who feel very much the same, but did not not bother. That's why editors used to survey the feedback from the readership quite attentively.

I am not sure how much this is true or transferable to the Kenyan sector however. My perception, which may be less astute than Nekessa's watch, is that many Kenyan editors (or make that: many Kenyans in general) pay very little attention to outside feedback, and rarely at all respond to emails, letters, inquiries. It is below their dignity. Some are particularly bad (e.g. one buffoon from the Nation called Macharia Gaitho, and of course the notorious KTDA), a few are positive exceptions (KACC and KRA), but on the whole, the outlook appeared bleak to me.

Please share your own experiences with us, Nekessa, if they are more encouraging.

Alexander

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Here!!
written by Nekessa , March 02, 2007

I agree that responsibility lies with us. As a journalist, I do my work as I would a school paper-- goal to get an A. And the only way I can achieve this is by making sure that my facts are right. And if giving an argument, I make sure its consistent, if not then I explain the inconsistencies.

IN Kenya, the media and politicians shape the news. But you see, that is not all there is going on. Like I mentioned before, there is so much potential for investigative journalism, but this requires hard work, really hard work, not just listening to a speech, or being sent a speech by someone,and then transferring info onto a paper, but really finding out what you are writing about.

Now, I haven't done much investigative journalism, but I appreciate the hard work done by those who do. And as journalists, we owe it to our readers to give substantive articles. Tabloids too have their place, but are hardly newsworthy.

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issues
written by anonymous , March 03, 2007

so i read this here:
http://nationmediagroup.wordpress.com/
what dysfunction - its quite clear both parties have issues - they way this journalist framed some issues made me wonder what kind of mindset this journalists have

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on responding to readers
written by Nekessa , March 03, 2007

As an editor, I know I like to hear from readers, whether they have good or bad things to say. Having worked with other Kenyan editors, I have noticed the unwillingness by editors to admit that they have made a mistake or (gasp) are wrong! That is the reason why you don't see letters getting responses. And this has little to do with them being journalists, however, it has more to do with their leadership skills. And is true for most institutions in Kenya.

Now, readers and users of kenya imagine? be rest assured that we will listen to you .

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"I was wrong"
written by aeichener , March 06, 2007

Liidaahsheep shills? Where?

The unwillingness to admit mistakes (or to apologize) is of course not a black or Kikuyu or Luo genetic predisposition; it comes with the uneducation one receives through many consecutive years, with a culture of pretence, with seeing the status of an unemployed starving university graduate to be preferable to a well-earning but manually working craftsman, with the misconception that admitting an error makes you inferior whereas in reality it makes you superior.

Many Kenyans still feel that saying "I was wrong" makes you the boy and the other one the bwana, while in reality it is just the other way around. And that 43 years after uhuru! *Sigh*

Bwana Alexander,
having been wrong before and waiting for corrections from the Priestess that will give him a chance to learn and improve :wink:

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Confront the media!
written by aeichener , March 06, 2007

Hey! Nekessa!! *Nudge* * Poke*

When browsing through the Anglican Communion website (and finding with much relief that there is a lot more top Anglican Christianity than intolerance, thuggery, power struggle and bitchiness, as the present headlines sadly suggest), I found an worthwhile quotation which addresses our discussed concern about the media, and the often resigned question "but what can we do about it?":
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More than 80 Anglican delegates gather for United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
...
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the third speaker of the afternoon, issued a challenge: ‘Continue to agitate, nag, pester and challenge the people and systems of this world so that all children, all girl children and all boy children, can have an appropriate sense of pride in the way in which they have been created.’

Three teenage delegates invited to ask questions of the speakers followed. Anne Wenk, 14, of Brooklyn asked Jenkins what responsibility the media bore for women's difficulties. Jenkins handed the responsibility right back to her: "Write those letters, pick up that phone, send e-mails and say 'I am expecting to see women in your stories.' The media belongs to you and you have the ultimate responsibility to shape what you see there."

Source: http://www.aco.org/acns/digest...8&pos=#848

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