[kictanet] how positive can foreign media be?

Ali Hussein ali at hussein.me.ke
Mon Mar 11 22:47:34 EAT 2013


Andrea

I know it may not be a popular thing to say right now but I agree with you entirely. Let's not throw the baby with the bath water. 

I personally was very disappointed with the lack of creativity and use of data to extrapolate, analyze and give intelligent synopsis of what was happening. I felt let down by the fact that the information was there but none of the mainstream local media used it to give us more than what the IEBC was giving us on their screen. I found it particularly dumbfounding when we started counting the votes again when we had reached almost 4million votes. That was an opportunity for a good narrative that Kenyans needed to hear. But no..we focused so much on the message of peace (not that I am against peace) that we forgot that the whole process had to be so much above board as to render anyone who questioned the results seem like a joke. Unfortunately we lost that opportunity.

Now we have another opportunity to stress test our new constitution and institutions. This may be a silver lining that God has given us so let those who are dissatisfied with the results have their day in court without them being vilified as being unpatriotic.

My pesa nane.. 

Ali Hussein

+254 773/713 601113

"The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb

Sent from my iPad

On Mar 11, 2013, at 9:52 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:

> Maybe Kenya would have been important enough anyway to cover the elections? And I know of many Kenyans who also stocked up on food as well (when they haven't left the country) - you just needed to spend a bit of time in supermarket queues before the elections to see that it was a very solid mix of everyone who lives here. 
> 
> Any Kenyan would rightly take offense with being wholesale painted as tribal murderers based on 1,500 people having died in 2007/early 08. But what you do is turn around and do exactly the same thing to 'foreign media'. 
> 
> Yes, there were completely idiotic, wrong, stereotypical articles, and they should be ridiculed every single one. But there were also many competent, insightful, sober pieces. And there are many members of the international who don't just swoop in for elections, but actually live here. Maybe we can judge them one by one rather than condemning all of them wholesale? 
> 
> In this forum, it will probably be a tricky argument to make that some of the international media actually still (soberly, factually) reported where the local media just shut up. So I won't make it. 
> 
> And in the meantime, I hope that everyone who's so irritated with the international media will apply the same amount of scrutiny and criticism to the local media and the corruption inside that system. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 11 March 2013 20:18, Warigia Bowman <warigia at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Personally, I am feeling very angry at the foreign media. Thanks Evans for this shocking ridiculousness. we need to expose them!
>> 
>> I wrote this yesterday. 
>> 
>> http://digitaldemocracykenya.blogspot.com/2013/03/feeling-frustrated-with-change-in-press.html
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 5:30 AM, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Wow, this is a gem from Time:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> "At this election, with a new 2010 constitution, and a new electoral body with a new — though not glitch-free — electronic voting system, Kenyans’ determination to hold a peaceful election has been palpable. The popular mood has also been notably anti-Western. Foreign diplomats have been warned of blood-curdling revenge should they interfere in the poll. Foreign journalists have been publicly ridiculed and denounced as prejudiced if they predicted chaos and disaster. And a central message of most candidates’ campaigns was strident, patriotic self-determination."
>>> 
>>> Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/03/09/kenyas-election-what-uhuru-kenyattas-victory-means-for-africa/#ixzz2NE3fBw4v
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> ----------------------------------------------------
>>> Kind Regards,
>>> Evans Ikua,
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Dr. Warigia Bowman
>> Assistant Professor 
>> Clinton School of Public Service
>> University of Arkansas
>> wbowman at clintonschool.uasys.edu
>> http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com
>> ------------------------------------------------- 
>> View my research on my SSRN Author page: 
>> http://ssrn.com/author=1479660 
>> -------------------------------------------------- 
>> 
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>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Andrea Bohnstedt
> Publisher
> 
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> www.africa-assets.com
> 
> 
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
> 
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