Imagine reading this in your favourite newspaper: The world will end tomorrow, said a source privy to the information.
How will you react? You’ve heard it said: don’t shoot the messenger. But, surely, what will you do with a messenger who arrives with such news?
Yet, our news is full of this absurdity. Take the biggest story last week, as told by the Star, that President Uhuru Kenyatta in a meeting with opposition chiefs pushed them to back Raila Odinga for President in 2022.
The Star headline on August 11 said, “2022 is yours to lose, Uhuru tells opposition chiefs.” That story ran in its entirety without a single, identifiable source.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta has escalated his plans to reunite the Nasa principals as he crafts a broad-based political machine to face Deputy President William Ruto next year,” the story by Luke Awich and Allan Kisia started.
How did the authors come by this information? They don’t say. Instead, the second paragraph doubled down that, “Uhuru, who has bitterly fallen out with Ruto, has gone flat out to compel the opposition into an alliance bringing on board ODM boss Raila Odinga, Nasa-Oka and others.”
Who said the President has “gone flat out to compel the opposition into alliance”? It’s not said. The only explanation left is that it’s the writers’ opinion. That wouldn’t be a problem, except for the little issue that this is supposed to be news reporting and writing.
The third paragraph was still lame.
“In a clear demonstration of his resolve to have Nasa chiefs close ranks, Uhuru yesterday held a three-hour meeting with them at State House, Mombasa,” the story said.
Let’s skip the debate about what exactly is the news here, that the President held a meeting? But who told the reporters that this meeting’s agenda was “to have Nasa chiefs close ranks”?
Never mind. The story kept running with no source to stand out. And the Star admitted as much in the sixth paragraph, that “[the leaders’] response to Uhuru’s entreaties was not immediately known.”
Only their response was unknown? How were the rest of the story’s assertions known?
Well, “an ally of one of the principals told the Star the talks centred on 2022 succession,” the paper said.
And there is your first source, in paragraph eight – too late. But who is the source? Anonymous. Then a quote, in paragraph nine – again, too late for a quote. And to whom is the quote attributed? “An MP aware of the discussions said.”
Kenya has 349 MPs. Which of them might have been the source? Until the last word, that story left readers without a single known source.
Look, this is creative writing. It’s not journalism.
A similar story by the Star on August 12 ran the same way. Titled, “Uhuru tells OKA chiefs to support Raila for president”, the story compounded the sourcing problem. Not only did it fail to identify a source, its author, “Star Reporter” was also anonymous.
Take all our legacy news media. On any day, full-length stories run with anonymous sources. Completely unwarranted.
Here’s the thing. Journalism is about credibility. You can’t get credibility without transparency. This is why reporters should pursue information on the record.
The Associated Press, arguably the oldest English source for independent journalism founded in 1864, has strict ground rules for anonymous sourcing. The rules are published online for the whole world to see.
First, material from an anonymous source must be information and not opinion or speculation, and it must be vital to the story. Second, this information cannot be available except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source. And third, the source must be reliable, and in a position to have direct knowledge of the information.
In other words, the caretaker can’t be your source for a Cabinet meeting decision — and it must be clear to the reader that your source is not the caretaker.
Moreover, AP reporters who intend to use material from anonymous sources must get prior approval from their news manager or editor.
It’s time for Nairobi to write the rules for anonymous sources. Media credibility is at stake.
