On January 13, ODM director of communication Philip Etale insulted Oliver Mathenge as “William Ruto’s spanner boy in Radio Africa”. Mathenge is Radio Africa Group digital editor at Lion Place on Waiyaki Way.
His sin? The Star posted on Twitter a video clip with the caption: “ODM leader Raila Odinga faced a hostile crowd when he made a stop at Burma market, with a section of traders carrying a wheelbarrow – a symbol synonymous with Deputy President William Ruto.”
“Please try to be professional,” Etale sneered. “I was at Burma. Looking at that video, I only see 10 men carrying a wheelbarrow and one taking the video on selfie.”
The director of communication of “the strongest and largest political party” that hopes to rule Kenya one day is entitled to question how a media house reports his boss.
A party communication chief provides accurate and timely information to the public about the activities of the organisation. That role is not limited to crafting press releases and event invites and firing them to editors and reporters. A core task of a communication director is media relations; that is, building continuous engagement with the Fourth Estate in all its diversity.
The communication director is a thorough and thoughtful professional who carries himself with decorum. A strategic thinker on his feet with expert knowledge of the workings of the media, he has contacts everywhere. He reviews coverage, makes honest assessments of how his organisation is reported and advises accordingly.
How is the organisation perceived by publics? Is this piece of positive coverage genuine? What is behind that negative headline? Did the party boss’s latest message get through as intended? If not, what is the cause of the failure? Is there malice? How so? What needs to be done better? From what end? How? When? By whom?
A communication chief who shoots from the hip is unquestionably a liability to an organisation. Sniping at journalists through social media is not just cowardly. It does more damage than all the enemies of ODM – real and imagined – combined.
Let’s be absolutely clear: It is wrong for ODM communication director Philip Etale to insult a journalist over the coverage of his boss, Raila Odinga.
At his level, Etale must have the contacts of all the news people in town. What is so difficult about calling up Mathenge to discuss the video clip he didn’t like? Or is Etale scared of Oliver Mathenge? What’s the place of insults in ODM’s strategic communication?
“Please be professional,” Etale chided Mathenge. Ahem, how professional was the ODM communication director in his response to The Star’s Twitter post?
Journalists put their work out there for public consumption. Most of the time, they get it right. But, like all human work, it is never perfect.
Whenever errors occur, the right thing to do is to raise the matter with the concerned media house and sort things out. Philip Etale knows this. What image does he create of ODM and Raila Odinga when he insults a news editor? Tuheshimiane.
