I am not a fan of the Kenyan papers. Neither I guess, are most Kenyans. Even then, I was shocked speechless by an opinion piece in the latest edition of the Nation.
The surprising thing in the piece here, is not that there are people at the Nation who do not like ODM-K presidential hopeful Kalonzo Musyoka at all, or that there are some who would like to see someone else become President. What this article betrays is that the lack of leadership and ethics at Nation Newspapers. Anarchy rules and everyone simply does as they like. What should properly be an opinion piece is put in the politics section, not as an analytical report, but as a naked attack on a man who could very well be the next President of Kenya. It is possible that the powers that be at Nation have decided that Musyoka does not have their support, but decency and respect for the responsibility they hold as the country's largest newspaper would dictate better conduct. Such a piece can only be written in this fashion if the author does not hide behind the corporate cloak nor pretend to be writing news where he is penning opinion. On the same politics pages is a piece by retired General Lazarus Sumbeiywo endorsing Kalonzo. Unlike Sumbeiywo's piece notice that the offending article (described as a story) is credited to a 'Nation Reporter'- as though this was a news event and not a personal opinion. But the good people at this formerly great people are not content with that. They go on to single out Kalonzo for a barrage of attacks on many issues that even if true, instead of separating him from the crowd of Presidential hopefuls, would bind him even closer to them.
Unless there is a clear case of harm to the public good, the media ought to refrain from backing any candidate, as this is an imposition on their audiences who should be able to come to such decision by themselves. It is best that even when a newspaper holds a particular preference it implies that preference in its reports, naked and violent attacks like the one in this report preclude our trust in the integrity of the publication and its chief officers. It may not seem immediately obvious what it is I am rallying against but, imagine a situation where you found an article here at KenyaImagine titled 'All Indians leave Kenya'. And that this piece was not credited to some writer who you can claim is exercising his personal freedom to speak rubbish, but rather an anonymous writer who is simply described as a "KenyaImagine Writer". Would you not believe that this was the position of the organisation? Newspapers do not exist to publish propaganda. We should have been immune to it by now, but even in the hedonism of Kenya's tabloids this is a low point. Kenyans can feel betrayed that their largest newspapers, instead of informing them are taking sides in a deleterious propaganda war that will leave the pachyderms unhurt, and Wanjiku going into the polls in December not any the wiser.
Remember the old jingle, the Nation is all you need ? Not any longer it seems. |
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Journalists routinely succumb to the “human factor” and unconsciously act on these reflexive attitudes putting a word or sentence that pushes a story in a certain direction. This kind of bias is very hard to recognize unless one is looking for it. The said article however, should be clearly labeled as an opinion piece. When portrayed as news, it is nothing but propaganda. This can’t be what many journalists shed blood, and were jailed for in the Moi era. The Nation has to purge itself and maintain the standards its been known for before it becomes yet another tabloid in the genre of Kenyan news.