Forget about anonymous sources that did not want to be quoted because they were anonymous. We have a new news source in town called ‘Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media.’
This particular source goes where no other source does and brings back news to the news desk without charging a fee. Most recently, the fellow sneaked into Nakuru Level 5 Hospital at night, where, as everybody else snored away, the fellow took pictures of patients sleeping out in the cold!
Then the fellow quietly sneaked out and took the news all the way to Nairobi – and at night too! It has been on the news since then, much to the embarrassment of the Naikuru (sic) county’s department of health.
“A few weeks ago the hospital was on a spot after a disturbing clip of patients sleeping in the cold resurfaced (italics our own). The undated clip, which went viral on social media, captured patients-including visibly elderly women -sleeping outside in one of the fields within the hospital compound at night,” the Daily Nation reported.
Still, in a country where newsrooms can barely afford to pay for quality investigative journalism, Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media is proving to be a cheaper, albeit lazy, way of obtaining news.
We hereby prophesy that in the near future, the fellow shall dominate newsroom meetings: John, how many undated clips do you have for tomorrow’s news…? Kiptoo, get me two undated clips to back up our story…Kinuthia, your undated clip is not opening…!”
Granted, in this era of citizen journalism where anyone with a smartphone can report incidents across the country- from Mpeketoni to Kacheliba, this fellow Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media has been a boost to media coverage in Kenya.
In a country where anyone wearing a press jacket and tagging along one of those long-nosed cameras immediately gets doors slammed on their faces whenever they try to get information from certain quarters that have cupboards laden with skeletons, Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media comes in handy.
However, Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media raises a number of ethical questions. For starters, is this fellow trained on media ethics?
If the answer is yes, then the fellow ought to know about the rule of verification in the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya – that little gem that requires journalists to verify all information before publishing it.
In the Nakuru hospital case, for example, the media needed to crosscheck the photos visiting the hospital, specifically the field where the pictures of the sleeping grandmothers were taken and verifying that indeed the features in the photo matched those in the field.
This is why some international media houses take time to crosscheck photos sent by Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media (Yes-this fellow has gone international!) with google maps and other photo fact-checking technology.
It makes sense – especially in this era of Artificial Intelligence, where fake video clips about anybody, anything, anywhere can be created and circulated within seconds. You do not want to be caught spreading fake news, do you? Worse still, you do not want egg on your face or a law suit in your hands after Messrs Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media turns out to be a lie .
The other rule that Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media has been breaking with abandon is one that bars the media from using anonymous sources unless there are reasonable grounds to do so.
It is simple, really, what if A, who does not like B, decides to dispatch Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media to spread a malicious, fake story which is then picked up by the media, and a question surfaces the next day – who sent this story?
Unchecked, Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media can also easily break the media ethics rule of fairness and objectivity. This will happen when media houses fail to give the subjects in Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media stories the right of reply before publishing.
Still, there is hope of turning Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media into a powerful, reliable source of news.
One of them is by introducing media literacy somewhere in our education curricula. This way, the citizen journalist behind Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media will know the basics of media ethics before their next spy mission.
The second one is ensuring that behind every Mr/Ms Undated clip which has gone/went viral on social media there is a hawk-eyed editor to crosscheck and verify, ensuring that all the rules enshrined in the Code, especially on use of anonymous sources, fairness and objectivity, are not violated.
