Let’s be the devil’s advocate today. A lot of people are honestly afraid of talking to the media or being in the news. They might bitterly complain about reporters that, “Wachana na hao. They write their own things”.
Those with money hire press officers who issue bland statements and deftly parry uncomfortable inquiries. Or the big fish device clever methods to hide from pesky reporters.
This is a bit surprising, isn’t it? Because media confers power. And everyone loves power – whether they are aware of it or not. Consider that only a handful of names in a population of 50 million make the news regularly. What those people say or do is important.
If news is defined as information about matters of public interest, it follows that not everything happening in society falls in that category. Mucene is out. Cows eating grass is not news. The everyday trifles in the lives of private citizens cannot be everyone’s concern. The constitutional right to privacy expressly means people should be left alone. Everyone should mind his or her own business.
To hit the headlines means what you said or did – or didn’t say or do – affects the lives of others in material ways. And so they have a right to know. That, in a laywoman’s language, is called the public interest.
So, if you have any public role, your right to privacy shrinks. Public role doesn’t only mean you work in government. You could be a preacher, pen pusher or businessman. A musician, DJ or slay king.
You are influential. When the media spotlights what you say or do, it places around your head a shimmering halo of power. You deserve public attention. A newspaper allocates you space, a reporter looks for your phone number, you get a few minutes on radio or TV.
So, why are a lot of people honestly afraid of talking to the media or being in the news, when it confers such power upon them? Well, not everyone loves publicity, or is aware of his or her need for it.
But the far bigger reason is because news is a social construct. Under capitalism, it is a product on sale in the market to make a profit. That is not a criticism but a description.
A group of people gather the news, package and sell it. Like all processed products, news is never a raw, unembellished presentation of people’s utterances or events in the real world. Everything, from the people processing it to the technologies used to package and disseminate news, affects how the final product looks like. The chances of distortion of messages for profit or other considerations are, therefore, quite high.
The only reason anyone should trust that product is by assuming that the people involved in its production for profit are at the same time motivated by the public interest and guided by ethics and the law. Outside these parameters, journalism is quite capable of wreaking havoc on individuals and societies. History – the record of socially significant human activity – is replete with examples of such.
Enough of theory. News reporters are familiar with the request by sources to see the story before it is published. It’s a form of censorship and, therefore, a sin against independent journalism. But this experience exposes the fear many people have of being misquoted, their views being twisted out of shape.
Yet in Kenya, the media enjoys huge public trust. The role of fearless journalism particularly in the struggle against the dictatorship of former President Daniel arap Moi imprinted the Forth Estate indelibly on the hearts of many citizens.
When you identify as a journalist, a lot of people still immediately assume you are widely knowledgeable about public affairs and are a fierce defender of human rights and the rule of law. You are on their side. But people in power – politicians, administrators, police – routinely view you with suspicion. They have something to hide, obviously.
The public needs to trust you. The only way journalists and media houses earn credibility and become authoritative sources of news and analysis is by demonstrating that their reporting is motivated solely by the public interest and guided by ethics and the law. Always.
See you next week!
