Columnists must learn to criticise themselves and admit when they err

Peter Ndegwa reads the Nairobi News newspaper at Mbagathi way roundabout on the November 20 ,2013. Several newspaper columnists in the USA spent the last week of 2013 looking back on the predictions they made to evaluate their accuracy Photo/EVANS HABIL | FILE 

In Summary

• We check and re-check the facts before publishing them. And in the few instances when we get it wrong, we should issue a prominent apology and strive to do a better job.
• There is nothing wrong with working as a consultant for the International Criminal Court or for one of the political parties in Kenya, but you need to disclose it to your readers.

 

By Sam Chege
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Several newspaper columnists in the USA spent the last week of 2013 looking back on the predictions they made to evaluate their accuracy. Some columns were accurate, but others were wildly off the mark; while others were overtaken by events.

This annual self-audit is becoming a growing trend among columnists, but I have not seen it in Kenya where it is sorely needed.

Self-criticism is difficult. It requires a level of humility and that is not often present among pundits. But it can strengthen the bond that exists between columnists and their readers and enhance media credibility.

One of the canonical rules of journalism is that newsrooms should, by the very nature of their business, be accountable for the content they serve their audiences. We check and re-check the facts before publishing them. And in the few instances when we get it wrong, we should issue a prominent apology and strive to do a better job.

But columnists have often been held to a different standard. After all, it is assumed that what they write is their own opinion and some of them are not even journalists by training.

That is all fine but there is more to regular column writing than simply publishing your opinion. The Kenyan publishing landscape presents unique challenges that, if not checked, may ultimately undermine media credibility.

Regular Kenyan columnists occupy prime real estate on the pages of newspapers. They have a national and international audience. There is a bond of trust that develops over time between columnists and their readers. Good columns are informed by real facts and solid research so that, even when they advance an argument different from what the audience might expect, that divergence of opinion is well-grounded.

In fact, great columnists tend to be controversial and provocative and challenge us to look at things differently. But there are many in Kenya who waste this opportunity and regularly churn out emotional rants that neither enrich our lives nor challenge our thinking.

Last year, Kenyan columnists presented us with a riveting buffet of predictions about the general elections, the International Criminal Court cases, and the Kenyan economy, among others.

My favourite columns are those that predicted that the Diaspora would provide the swing vote to determine the outcome of the 2013 presidential election. We know how that went, but few saw it coming.

Some real good reporting and solid research would have produced great columns and possibly altered the course of history. But most Kenyan columnists tend to shy away from heavy lifting in favour of armchair punditry.

Other columnists took absolutist positions on matters over which they had no control. They locked themselves in and had no wiggle room when facts and events changed.

The bane of ethnicity has not spared Kenyan journalists. Some columnists serve as cheerleaders for tribal chiefs and turn out pieces that are all too predictable.

But there is an even more troubling trend that has emerged among Kenyan columnists in recent years. Many have a conflict of interest in matters they write about and are using their columns to advance a personal agenda.

There is nothing wrong with working as a consultant for the International Criminal Court or for one of the political parties in Kenya, but you need to disclose it to your readers.

The Supreme Court ruling on the outcome of the presidential election, for example, was quickly followed by a flurry of columns re-litigating the case, but the columnists did not have the courage to tell the readers that they had been deeply involved in the initial case in the first place. Hypocrisy has no place in column writing and ultimately undermines both the columnists and the media houses they write for.

Regular column writing is a journey of personal growth. Good columnists learn from their readers’ feedback, research and events. An annual self-criticism is not an act of weakness. It is a confession that even the sage on the stage is not an all-knowing prophet but a fellow citizen on a journey of discovery.


Such reflections can only help to strengthen our media houses and the noble work they do.

Prof Chege teaches at Kansas State University, USA (samchege@aol.com)