The Star carried a timely editorial titled, “Let’s call a truce on political mudslinging” (January 19, p.20). “It is still 19 months to the August 2022 elections but already the mudslinging has reached fever pitch,” Lion Place stated.
“This is very dangerous. Aggressive political rhetoric can easily lead to outbreaks of violence – we saw it in 2007 in Kenya, and we saw it this month in Washington DC. Surely, someone can call a truce. Let the politicians agree to suspend the mutual abuse until six months before the election. If we continue like this the country can tear apart.”
Ahem, suspending the mudslinging until six months before the election is not exactly great advice. The Star suggests trading abuses has a place in electoral contests. It doesn’t. Politicians should stop all the insults and conduct their campaigns based on innovative proposals to solve the country’s pressing problems.
Lion Place is perfectly right to call for decorum among politicians – except that the media itself is guilty of promoting political campaigns that revolve around personal attacks, insults and outright lies.
On the day The Star published its high-minded editorial, what was the paper’s top story? “DP land grab appetite is unrivalled – Kalonzo.” The Wiper leader had called a press conference where he linked Ruto to a string of scandals without providing any evidence. See how the paper reported the story:
“Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka has taken off the gloves and ganged up with ODM chief Raila Odinga in bashing William Ruto in what appears to be a well-coordinated onslaught on the Deputy President. The Nasa trio of Kalonzo, Raila and ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has been firing simultaneous salvos at DP Ruto.”
Factual reporting. But don’t you get an inkling that the paper was cheering the combatants? More importantly, there is no suggestion that the accusations and counter-accusations are true.
It was a big story because it involved conflict and key personalities in national politics – both important news values. But nobody has any idea whether the claims made are true or merely hot air. What are the facts?
A media house stands aside and provides a platform for politicians to tear each other apart through aggressive rhetoric that could easily lead to violence among their supporters, exactly as The Star editorial warned. Can the media plead innocence in case of such an eventuality?
If a politician unleashes a string of insults against his opponent at a rally or news conference but the media does not report the matter – or media houses do not repeat the insults – the impact will be minimal. Only the people at the rally would know of the abuses. But once they are published, the media has given the foul-mouthed politician a global audience.
That is the reason the law bars the media from publishing inflammatory outbursts.
Social media giants Facebook and Twitter blocked former US President Donald Trump for the same reason. He was using the platforms to spread lies and rally his fanatics to cause chaos.
During a tour of Kangemi and other parts of the city on January 22 to popularise the Building Bridges Initiative, ODM leader Raila Odinga launched into insults, which were widely shared on social media. Most media houses kept the insults out of the news. Thumps up.
“Raila used strong language to tell off the hustler versus dynasty narrative that Ruto and his allies are propagating,” The Standard reported (January 22, p.6).
Every Kenyan election season is characterised by violence, which starts off with aggressive rhetoric as currently witnessed. We have already entered such a period. The media can play an important role in reducing tensions and political incitement by refusing to be used as platforms for exchanging insults.
The media has the power to make campaigns clean and entirely issue-based by blacking out foul-mouthed politicians. That is what the Fourth Estate owes Kenyans at this time.
