[kictanet] OT: the STAR as a (mis)Information Media

Wed Jun 13 16:44:36 EAT 2012

Disclosure: I write a column for the Star.

My thoughts:

The stock-picture-as-Saitoti-crash-image was a screw up, and they have
acknowledged that and printed a correction and apology. Also, they got a
proper telling off from their own public editor, which they published in
full on in today's paper. Does any of the other main papers have a public
editor? Rothmeyr is an excellent writer and her pieces are always very
insightful.

Also:

And to single out the Star for any of this is a bit short sighted.

Media will use images of a crash even if lives are lost. That's reporting.
How much footage of the aircraft going into the Twin Tower in NYC have you
seen?

I've seen this across the board in all media: journalists asking for money
to write about events (and just received an email about journalists asking
for cash not to write about something), lousy reporting, stories that I
knew from the inside and barely recognised when they made it into print
etc.

I find it intrusive and inappropriate when TV cameras are stuck in mourning
relatives' faces at crash sites, and I remember telling Larry Madowo, then
at KTN, off for sending a crew to the village to confront and interrogate
the hapless parents of the gay Kenyan who got (perfectly legally) married
in the UK.

Both accuracy and media ethics are an industry issue. They should be
addressed as such, I find.

On 13 June 2012 16:10, <tnyasani at kulahappy.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> I often ask myself why the press would choose to hoodwink Kenyans and
> insult our intelligence by publishing falsehoods like the Star did. Of what
> benefit was it to the readers to show the smoking helicopter?? Would it
> really have made any difference? The fact remains that lives were lost!
>
> In such a case, the person responsible for going to press with that photo
> would lose their job immediately.
>
> Away with rag tag journalism!
>
>
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> NYATICHI NYASANI-SITATI
>
> EVE SISTERS MENTORSHIP
>
> BIJAMI COURT NO.1
> TABERE CRESCENT, KILELESHWA
> TEL: +254 020 300 27 27
> MOB: +254 721 611660 / +254 733 788571
> P.O. Box 57324,00200 Nairobi, Kenya
> Email: tnyasani at kulahappy.com
>
>
>
> ------------------------------**---------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com>:
>
>  I am beginning to hate the STAR now. It appears that they always want to
>> look sensational with their news, which stops them from verifying the
>> facts. Something reminds me that they appointed a lady recently to look
>> into complaints such as I want to raise now, but I don't remember her
>> contacts.
>>
>> Yesterday, the STAR published a photo in the front page, allegedly of the
>> crashed Police Chopper, with smoke billowing from the engine.
>> Today the STAR has again published a photo, in the front page, of one of
>> the deceased pilots inside the cockpit of a different aircraft, wnd which
>> the STAR shamelessly alleges is the cockpit of the aircraft that crashed.
>>
>> First, the photo they published yesterday is not even of a same model
>> chopper as the one that crashed.
>> Secondly, the photo they have today is the cockpit of an aircraft
>> registered as 5Y-STA as opposed to 5Y-CDT which belongs to the chopper
>> that
>> crashed.
>>
>> Of late I have seen quite some misinformation inside the STAR. Could that
>> be what they mean by "Fresh, Independent, Different"? That they are unable
>> to verify simple facts?
>>
>> I am glad PS Ndemo has filed a complaint against this publication, which
>> is
>> almost becoming pamphlet derivative.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Best regards,
>> Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
>> Nairobi,KE
>> +254733744121/+254722743223
>> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>> I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.
>>
>>
>
>
>
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