A woman calling herself Linet rang up Radio Jambo during a mid-morning programme hosted by Masawe Japani on Friday, July 12. She had a complaint against her former boyfriend, Ben, who left her with a child.
Linet said she had tried to reach Ben to support the child without success. He doesn’t take her calls or he promises to call her back but never does. The child is unwell and needs money for medicine, food, clothes, school fees, etcetera.
Masawe calls Ben. Does he know a woman known as Linet who has his child? Ben says he does. Masawe then puts Linet on the phone with Ben.
Linet rants endlessly, hardly giving Ben a chance to respond to her accusations. What kind of a man is he who sires a child he refuses to take care of? Why doesn’t he want to take responsibility? And so on.
The exchange is bitter. Ben says Linet has not given him a chance to support the child. He will look for ways of assisting his child but not through Linet. He cuts the line.
Many minutes later, Masawe succeeds to reach Ben again. The broadcaster says she is Maureen, Linet’s friend. Her intention is to get help for the child but not to unite Linet and Ben, she says. Can’t the two find time to meet, sit down and work out a way of supporting the child, she asks?
Ben opens up. He is married now and has children to take care of. He cannot deny his own child and is willing to offer any support but not through Linet, he stresses.
Ben explains to Masawe why they broke up. He and Linet lived together in his house when he worked in Industrial Area, Nairobi. One day he was on night shift and returned home abruptly. His supervisor had told him to resume work the following day. On reaching home, he found Linet in bed with a friend he housed.
Linet denies the accusation.
How is Ben going to support his child, Masawe asks. Ben says he will find a way of doing so. The conversation ends.
It was clear Ben had no idea he was on air speaking to the whole world. Radio Jambo presenter Masawe Japani told him she was Maureen, his former girlfriend’s friend. All the while, Linet knew she was on air. She had called the radio station.
Is this fair? Is this ethical? Not everyone wants to talk about their private affairs in the media. Persons who speak to the media must be told the information they share will be published. Then they can decide what to say.
Obtaining information through pretense is unethical. The Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya expressly prohibits this.
“Before recording a telephone conversation for broadcast, or broadcasting a telephone conversation live, a station shall inform any party to the call of its intention to broadcast the conversation,” Article 12(2) states.
Article 13(3) stipulates that “Intrusion and inquiries into an individual’s private life without the person’s consent are generally not acceptable unless public interest is involved. Public interest shall itself be legitimate and not merely prurient or morbid curiosity.”
Additionally, Article 8 of the Code states that “Journalists shall generally identify themselves and not obtain or seek to obtain information or pictures through misrepresentation or subterfuge.”
Masawe Japani’s conversation with Ben and Linet flouts these provisions.
Most of these phone calls are stage managed for radio stations to get bigger listener-ship. But in a way, they are bringing more rot in the society that building it up because some people borrow these crazy ideas and try them on their real life. Kindly MCK hold workshops and train/caution our presenters on these programmes.
Queli Masawe ni mtoto wa nani?
As long as a media organization finds a way to sell, ethics and code of conduct matter less!
This is an article I penned about the Kenyan Media:
https://nadebulazarus.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/journalism-a-failing-profession/
A poorly written article, this one. I think criticism must be a very easy job.
This has been a major problem with FM stations that have employed comedians and all types of quacks masquerading as marriage and relationship counselors. Obtaining information by false pretenses is not only unethical, but criminal, and the mabnagement of FM stattions and TV stations that wish for popularity through this mode of communication should inform their staffers as such. One false move and a libel suit will fold up the station. Why not endeavour to employ at least one programmes produce and programmes director, and a content supervisor for good measure?