Not so good: Citizen TV’s “Good Morning Kenya”
Five panelists were invited to discuss President William Ruto’s war on corruption. All five were men. Not good—unless corruption itself is male, which, last time we checked, it isn’t.
Not so good: NTV “Fixing Kenya”
In Fixing the Nation, NTV is pulling all stops at copy-catting Spice FM’s Situation Room morning show that Eric Latiff left at KTN to join NTV. But sometimes you get to miss Latiff’s co-hosts at Spice FM – Ndu Okoh and CT Muga.
This happens sometimes, like it did when one of Latiff’s co-hosts attempted to lecture on international politics, claiming that Israel was supposed to be established in Kenya in 1940 and that the genocide in Gaza “would be happening here right now.” A fish out of water. She could not even recall the name of her guest. Some matters are best left to those with depth in them—leave Rome to the Romans.
Not good: Nation TV’s September 10 show that focused on the Westgate attack. The attack happened on September 21, 2013, so why commemorate it on September 10? Context, context, context.
Worse still, the programme was titled “A Survivor’s Perspective,” yet the guest disowned the label, clarifying he was a first responder. Not good—basic homework wasn’t done.
To make matters worse, unverified claims slipped through, including that the guest had “coordinated” the rescue. Survivor stories are testimonies of resilience. But where were the actual survivors?
The problems piled on. Wrong guest: The guest of the show was not a survivor (he admitted as much), but a journalist coincidentally embedded in the first counter-attack and response team that arrived at the scene of the terror attack (and who, to the dismay of parenting instincts, admitted that he took his teenage son into a live terrorist attack scene of reporting).
Two, wrong title: The guest was not a terrorist attack survivor! The survivors, not the journalist, should have been in that studio.
Three: Wrong questions. Even a veteran host asking a call-in: “How many of you survivors are there again?”—on live TV! That’s something to know before the show.
Not good: The Standard’s “Billionaire’s League” splash
The paper splashed William Ruto’s photo alongside Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Oprah Winfrey. The justification? Ruto had spent Sh12 million hiring a private jet to Addis.
Not good. For Elon or Oprah, Sh12 million is pocket change. And unlike them, Ruto doesn’t own a private jet—Elon even owns a rocket. The Standard placed Bill in a league he clearly does not belong to.
This was a classic screaming headline with little substance. And it backfired days later when Nation reported that the presidential jet had been grounded, effectively neutralising The Standard’s “expensive Addis trip” angle.
With that revelation, The Standard’s splash lost its sting—and raised uncomfortable questions. Did editors on Mombasa Road know the jet was grounded when they went for the headline? Did they bother to ask State House why Ruto had to charter a jet in the first place? Did they even try?
