When social media tells a story, the nuance is often unique. In the recent trending story of how two lower -primary school siblings in Nyandarua got into a bitter fight over how to split Sh10, social media led. Mainstream media came late to the story and, suddenly, the story felt different.
KTN Prime on August 4 reported how “two children broke the Internet as they argued away over the use of ten shillings.”
In the story, Teresia Nyakinyua, 7, needed a pencil and an eraser, commonly called “rubber.” Her brother, James Mwangi, 9, needed a pencil. Their mother had only Sh10, which she gave to Teresia and asked James to borrow a pencil from classmates. Instead, James followed his sister to the shop, where an argument ensued. A recording by the shopkeeper of the incident, which happened in February, got to social media and went viral early August.
“Nikamwambia aninununulie pencil; akasema eti anataka pencil ya HB na rubber,” James later tells KTN in the story. “Na mimi nikamwambia, tununue pencil mbili, kila mtu apate yake, na yeye anakataa!”
A follow-up print edition of the story in The Standard August 13 titled, “DP Ruto to set up 500-chicken farm for siblings filmed arguing over Sh10,” narrated similar facts.
Other narratives, such as by the alternative media, “Opera News,” tweaked the detail in a July 29 publication: “She demanded a HB pencil. He was a bit fair; he was telling the shopkeeper to sell them two cheap pencils worth 5 bob each.”
So, what did the audience get from this story?
Did mother send only daughter to buy a pencil and a “rubber” and did son run after his sister, according to KTN? Or did he send both to the shop, according to other sources? What was the argument? Did daughter want to buy a quality “HB rubber,” or she just didn’t want to split the 10 bob and miss out on a “rubber”? Was daughter greedy and didn’t want to share the 10 bob? Or was daughter the more loyal to mother’s instruction?
The differences may be frivolous. Splitting hairs. But watching the siblings’ argument verbatim on social media gives one a different nuance. You see, on social media — in this case, Facebook — the story is usually posted as is, giving viewers unvarnished evidence of what happened.
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During NTV Tonight bulletin on August 18, a reporter’s narration on the ongoing corruption allegations under the Ministry of Health ran with this printed title on the screen: “MINISTRY OF HELL… TH?” Underneath it a blurb explained: “Health PS Susan Mochache accused of having a hand in the KEMSA scam.”
But wait. Ministry of what? Dignify the news, please. Such cheesy tags are cheeky. They betray bias. Drop them.
