[kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Tue Oct 11 07:47:07 EAT 2011

A major contributing factor to the declining standards of English grammar in
newsprint is the unashamed plagiarism of online content by journalists. I'm
aware of many Kenyan blogs that have complained of being used as a source of
"free" content by mainstream media.

Some "journalists" lift entire pieces nearly word for word and pass them off
as original. Minor editing is done to Kenyanise the piece or remove any
personal references; causing at times bastardization of the story or
introducing grammatical errors. You also do not expect the "journalist" to
understand the flow and context of a story he did not write.

How do such articles get approved by their legal department; let alone by
the editors?

As an example see the article
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000043295
<http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000043295&cid=123&>
&cid=123&: (might be pulled down by the time you get to read this, so I've
also done a print screen you can look at
http://twitter.com/#!/startupkenya/status/117625377119154176/photo/1); now
take a look at the original article published a year ago
http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/health2011.html .

Regards,
Harry Karanja

020-342225

From: kictanet-bounces+kairo=softlaw.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+kairo=softlaw.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Harry Delano
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 9:24 PM
To: kairo at softlaw.co.ke
Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions'
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Hey Andrea, 

Many thanks for sharing this. Will straight away check out the resources..

Regards,

Harry

  _____  

From: Andrea Bohnstedt [mailto:andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com] 
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 7:49 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Well, that's the beauty of the internet: SMS English may destruct language,
but there are also plenty of sources online, so you don't even need to leave
the house. 

If you want to improve your writing: the Economist has a great style guide.
Too much to take in in one sitting, but a fantastic resource. Unfortunately,
it seems to be temporarily unavailable due to some reorganisation of the
website, but it's worth checking back: 
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/07/housekeeping-announcement

There are others that are available free of charge. Check out the
Guardian/Observer style guide: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/a

Or the one for the Times: 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/tools_and_services/specials/style_guide/

For the very basic basics: There are plenty of online dictionaries to look
up words (and spellcheck is useful, too). Google your grammar or spelling
question and you'll usually find the solution quite quickly. Google 'to
amble' and you'll find it doesn't work the way you used it:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amble. 

If you like vampires and grammar, check out this - The Deluxe Transitive
Vampire (A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed)
is not an online source, but a book I bought just because: 
http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Transitive-Vampire-Ultimate-Handbook/dp/0679418
601

The Economist also has a language blog - bit more geek material, but still
sometimes fun and interesting to read. For example this entry: 
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/07/copy-editing

Here's a fun (yes, really) piece on copyediting. This spoke to me, including
the comments: 
http://www.theawl.com/2010/07/what-its-really-like-to-be-a-copy-editor

Good writing takes time and practice. But one of the lovely things about it
is that just reading for fun helps you acquire a better vocabulary and a
better sense for the rhythm of sentences. So grab a good book and a coffee! 

Andrea 

On 10 October 2011 17:55, Harry Delano <harry at comtelsys.co.ke> wrote:

Do we have an English language center of excellence anywhere around that
anybody knows...?

Pse, amble along the contacts, directions, etc...

I suppose we can all do with some 'refresher skills' of sorts in the English
language subset.

Harry

  _____  

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bharry>
=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Phares Kariuki
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 4:29 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke 

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

:-). Thanks

On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 4:19 PM, Macharia Gaitho
<mgaitho at ke.nationmedia.com> wrote:

'braking', not 'breaking' distance.

From: kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bmgaitho>
=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Phares Kariuki
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 4:09 PM

To: Macharia Gaitho
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

We are not taught the fundamentals. I have been trying to avoid pointing out
a basic grammatical error many are making on this list, but I'll do so
anyway. In English and most other Latin based languages proper nouns are
capitalized. Many on this list have their names in outgoing emails without
capitalizing.  Why am I pointing this out? We all went through one education
system. For you to gained admission into a public university, you needed to
have achieved at least a mean grade of B. If we are making the same mistakes
the journalists are making, how can we take the high road? If we
purposefully chose to ignore the rules of grammar as we were done with our
'high school' education, then it means that there is a fundamental problem
with our education system (we never had to apply our knowledge of English,
so we are really studying for the sake of the grade and not the knowledge). 

It's the same with Swahili, Physics (e.g. we all know that Kenyan drivers
are constantly speeding, even with vehicles that were not built for speed.
In high school, we are taught that breaking distance is proportional to the
*square* of the speed, which means that it increases out of proportion to
the increase in speed), but we disregard this. We all sang the national
anthem at least twice per week, for all twelve years of our primary and
tertiary education, yet we stutter if we are asked to recite it. 

The crisis of our education system is that people don't value the skill as
much as they value recognition for the skill. It does not matter whether or
not you can actually code, what matters is that you have a certificate that
says  you can. It's apparent in the technology space today. People have to
earn their stripes, papers no longer really matter. The 'Mwakenya' is the
standard in University exam rooms. And the situation is only getting worse.
We need to find ways of integrating what people learn with day to day life.
If we don't, we will keep having this tragedy of people getting knowledge
for the sake of the certificate and not bothering to find out why they are
learning that. 

A further illustration, I once spoke to a university student who mentioned
that he was doing Oracle Certification 'because he heard that it has money'.
My problem with his thinking was that he had no clue what products Oracle
was dealing in, he was going to do any certification available, which means,
he might have ended up certifying in a field he did not like (Oracle has
Enterprise Hardware/Software/Cloud Services) and land on a job he does not
want, but one that pays well. 

On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 2:43 PM, luke mulunda <lmulunda at yahoo.com> wrote:

Marsh,

My brain must have been infested with cobwebs. 

Anyhow, that's what we are talking about: where are the guys (like you) to
follow through and clean up the mess before it gets to the press? And it's
not just the daily newspapers, Weeklies, and even monthy publications. I
have been reading a book authored and published locally and you can see the
concern. 

WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM
Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine
...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR &
Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career
Guidance<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>

  _____  

From: Macharia Gaitho <mgaitho at ke.nationmedia.com>
To: luke mulunda <lmulunda at yahoo.com>

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>

Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 1:19 PM
Subject: RE: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Luke,

the Ugandan leader was 'Amin', not 'Amini'.

I would suppose the unnamed 'he'  was killed at dawn, not 'down'. 

Kindest regards

From: kictanet-bounces+mgaitho=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+mgaitho <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bmgaitho>
=nation.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of luke mulunda
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <tel:2011%2010> :37 AM
To: Macharia Gaitho

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions

Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Hi all,

I would personally blame it on cost-cutting. We have journalism and English
experts in newsrooms, but they have too much on their hands to spot the most
obvious and embarrassing mistakes in our publications. 

Mistakes can be costly. Remember during Amini's time in Uganda, the dictator
had criticised a female MP, and so the paper splashed the following morning
"Amini rapes MP" when he meant "RAPS". I hear, he was killed at down as he
brushed his teeth in his house.

LUKE M

WWW.SMARTBIZAFRICA.COM
Africa's No.1 Online Business Magazine
...For Investors, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Marketers, CEOs, IT Experts, HR &
Finance Managers and Students.... Plus Stocks and Business News and Career
Guidance<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank"
href="http://www.smartbizafrica.com/"></a>

  _____  

From: Catherine Adeya <elizaslider at yahoo.com>
To: luke <lmulunda at yahoo.com>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 10 <tel:2011%2010> :18 AM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

James,

The PS has a point and I am not disputing yours either but I would simply
respond to your email below that generalizations is what has got us where we
are. Specificity can help more.....

Nyaki

  _____  

From: james ratemo <jratemo at gmail.com>
To: elizaslider at yahoo.com
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 11 <tel:2011%2011> :16 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Declining English grammar in our Newsprint

Bwana PS what are you insinuating? We open our newsrooms fro the so called
English majors? Some of them are in the newsrooms already...maybe they are
sleeping on the job...my opinion

On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 11:11 PM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

All of today's newspapers had several grammatical errors.  At this time and
age of ICT, is it not too embarrasing to have such errors?  We have
thousands of English majors without jobs.  It is time for media to be
thorough in what they do by utilizing our many graduates without jobs.  As a
Kenyan I get embarrased to see such errors.

Ndemo.

Sent from my BlackBerryR

-----Original Message-----
From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>
Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2011 13 <tel:2011%2013> :32:57
To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: [kictanet] GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries

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DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is
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To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit
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