We said it in the last issue. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government is second to none in creating news. Just summon a press conference or, better, arrange to appear on TV or radio. And then sit back and watch the drama unfold.
Media houses drop everything. You hog the headlines immediately, starting with live coverage, online splashes, updates on social media, on-the-hour radio news bulletins, prime time TV news that evening and the papers the next day.
Why? Because in our neck of the woods news is what the big people say and do, regardless of whether it is the truth or what their agenda is. It is not the job of journalists to interrogate claims made by big people or to dissect their motives. Reproduce the claims. Conveyor belts. Boilerplate journalism.
Let’s begin on Monday, August 23. The President calls news pontiffs to State House for a briefing. He fields questions. The big story from this media event is the President asking Deputy President William Ruto to resign. But it’s not the first time he says this, so what is the news? His allies have repeated this call a million times. Anyone who has watched the public break-up of the erstwhile dynamic duo won’t consider Uhuru’s call to Ruto to resign a big story. But the media feasts on it for the next two days.
And then days later, Ruto’s security is “downgraded” in what police say are routine changes. Unsurprisingly, the move sparks uproar – and again all major media houses drop everything to do extensive reporting of this new development. Ruto’s allies are contacted for comment. Security analysts are called up. Political commentators are asked to gaze into their crystal balls to read implications of the changes for the 2022 presidential election, and so on.
The matter escalates. A parliamentary committee summons Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i to explain. “The Super CS”, as he is referred to in some media reports, has a record in Parliament. He is usually reluctant to heed summonses to the House. Last year, a Senate committee protested that Matiang’i had declined to appear before it four times.
But this time Matiang’i wastes no time. He is on live TV. The CS does not just explain the changes in the DP’s security detail. He unleashes a blitzkrieg. “Matiang’i exposes DP property, security”, The Standard headline says on September 2. “Matiang’i unmasks ‘Hustler’”, says Nation.
“Well-guarded secret of just how much Deputy President William Ruto owns laid bare, revealing list of 10 properties that easily place the country’s second-in-command in the league of billionaires”, the paper says.
The Kiswahili gurus at Taifa Leo do not disappoint. Their headline, “Hasla Bandia”, trends. The story of why changes were made to DP Ruto’s security is forgotten.
How much do the other top politicians own? What does their security look like? Who allocated the DP the massive security ensemble that is now a national fixation? Nobody is interested in that. A long time ago President Kenyatta promised the nation a lifestyle audit of politicians in his war on corruption. Who owns what? No one talks about it.
Former Nation journalist Mwenda wa Micheni wondered in a Facebook post: “Dr Fred Matiangi says, Ruto counters… Can’t we attempt to independently verify before spreading rumours?” Poor Micheni is a lone voice in a media wilderness ruled by elite power.
Away from the Matiang’i-Ruto imbroglio, “Big boost for Raila’s bid to woo Mt Kenya,” The Standard trumpeted on September 3. The ODM leader, the report said, had “made a major political breakthrough in his uphill quest to win over vote-rich Mt Kenya region after Meru leaders endorsed his bid”. Raila met a group of politicians led by Meru Governor Kiraitu Murungi at a city hotel. “Big shift as Meru and N Eastern back Raila”, The Star said.
Are journalists honest reporters of succession politics or partisan actors?
See you next week!
