On August 21, 2024, the Daily Nation published a story on page 10 where it claimed that Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga had brought down an animal feeds factory to build an office block for herself and senior staff.
Read the intro: The devolved government of Homa Bay has demolished a multimillion-shilling factory that was almost complete to pave way for the construction of the governor’s office. It went on to say that “taxpayers could have lost Sh100 million that was the cost of the factory, which was at the roofing stage”.
The writers relied on information by two activists, Evance Oloo and Eugine Obisa, in a matter that is before the Environment and Lands Court. Unfortunately, they neglected to include the county government’s side of the story, a glaring lapse to say the least. They ended up coming across as biased in their presentation.
Homa Bay County spokesperson Atieno Otieno was quick to deny the inaccurate report, saying if their input had been sought the correct information would have been readily available. What a shame on the authors of this story. And what an oversight by the one who edited it.
And staying with the Nation, last week an internal memo to all staff allegedly from the HR department was doing the rounds on social media.
Referenced ‘Urgent Health Advisory: Rise in Mpox Cases’, the memo claimed that three incidents had been reported at the media organisation. It went on to state that some of the cases (remember, only three had been reported) may be linked to casual or inappropriate sexual conduct between employees.
But was the memo authentic or was it just another instance of fake news that has become the norm with widespread use of social media?
The first and only Mpox case in the country was reported about three weeks ago, with the second one being confirmed last Friday. Reacting to the growing number of unverified reports circulating on social media, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa emphasised the importance of accurate and verified information. “We wish to remind everyone that suspected cases are not confirmed cases,” she said.
Given that the disease poses a public health emergency to the population, word of its existence anywhere in the country, not just at NMG, would definitely make news. A common tactic used by purveyors of fake news is to mix truth with lies. The author(s) of the memo leveraged on the reported outbreak of Mpox to spread fabricated information that three employees of NMG were affected.
Journalists, now more than ever, are called upon to verify all their information before publishing. Remember that if you publish information that is unverified, your reputation as the writer and that of your media organisation is put to question, not to mention the high legal fees that would result from such published materials that do not meet journalistic standards.
Fact-checking is a cardinal responsibility of good journalism. If in doubt, check again. Go on and check a second and even a third time, or until you are completely sure that you have your facts right.
