Kenyan Press: Sloppy or corrupt?

Journalists cover a press conference called by the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists’ Union.

Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

By  Makau Mutua

Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of the KHRC.

What you need to know:

• Journalists and reporters – whose job is to write about other people and society – rarely look in the mirror.
• Many are lazy and don’t do serious reporting and penmanship, let alone research.

The best humans are those who look in the mirror before pointing a finger at others. However, journalists and reporters – whose job is to write about other people and society – rarely look in the mirror. Many are lazy and don’t do serious reporting and penmanship, let alone research.

If our job is truly to inform, if not educate, then our repertoire has very few wondrous hits. Kenyan journalism is pitiable. Editors and media houses need serious soul-searching.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have picked up the paper because of a catchy headline, only to be utterly disappointed in the terrible writing. Forget about a Judiciary Ombud – we urgently need one for the Press.

I have pondered this question for a long time – why are Kenyan writers in the media so bereft of basic journalistic standards. I think the Kanu-Moi 8-4-4 system dealt a huge blow to the development of the parts of the brain around the medulla oblongata.

One would think, though, that university education would’ve served to remediate the starvation of the brain at the lower levels. Alas, there’s nary a scintilla of such evidence.

Are the editors to blame? Who are the standard keepers at a newspaper? Does the industry police itself? Perhaps the public doesn’t even notice, or care. Regrettably, the print media has been reduced to the gutter standards of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media.

Notorious violation

I have two basic critiques. One on form; the other on substance. The “form” of most writing in journalism stinks. Writers should write in the English language if the newspaper is published in English. I don’t want to hear excuses about English having been “brought to Kenya by colonialists on a boat.” Spare me that hooey. Every language has basic structure and rules for grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. That’s why words that are “alien” to the language are put in quotation marks, or explained.

Of course language is dynamic, and not static. That’s why English in particular has many iterations and is constantly evolving because of its imperial nature. Evolution and mediocrity or sloppiness aren’t the same thing.

There are newspapers in most languages. One can publish a paper in sheng, the street Kenyan “corruption” of Kiswahili and English with the Luhya, Kikamba, Gikuyu, Dholuo and other Kenyan languages. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it – in fact, I encourage and would love it.

But where a newspaper purports to be an English language publication, then it needs to honour the rules of the language. This applies to all languages, not just English. Nor am I suggesting – by any stretch of the imagination – a hierarchy of languages. No language is superior, or inferior, to another.

It’s true some languages have more utility than others depending on context and purpose, but that’s not a function of hierarchy.

A notorious violation is the failure to use the word “up” where some must do so. I often see sentences such as “I picked her,” meaning “I picked her up” in my vehicle. Or, I called him and “he refused to pick” meaning he didn’t “pick up” his phone.

Others will write or say “I am coming” when they mean “I am going out and will come back.” Or “give me burger” when ordering at a fast food restaurant instead of “give me a burger.”

Corrupt phrases

A good one is “it has refused” meaning “it’s not working.” Or, “what religion are you” meaning “what religion do you belong to.” These “corrupt” phrases or words have entered the mainstream media.

The worst violations are in substantive journalism. I often see stories that are incomplete, or poorly researched. A story about a death will lack details about place of birth, age, cause of death, and other important facts.

Others will quote anonymous sources without identifying the institution of affiliation. Often, a story about a high-ranking corrupt official won’t even name the suspect – which wouldn’t amount to defamation. Such reporting is worthless to the reader.

Investigative journalism and in-depth reporting, the sort done by journalist John Kamau of Nation is very rare. Many stories are slapped together without rhyme or reason. Often, the reader is left hanging, wanting more.

The other terrible practice is the tendency to promise more, and deliver zilch. 

Some newspapers, especially in the US, have public editors. The “ombud” in a newspaper is supposed to be an advocate for the reader, and is usually independent of management, or the editorial overlords.

The Nation public editor is Peter Mwaura. Mr Mwaura could be more exacting. I speak as one to whom he’s taken his machete. As they say in the Kenyan street, “isorait.”

Other newspapers should institute an ombud. Ultimately, however, Kenya needs to revamp existing journalism schools, or create one specifically for practicing journalists to teach better skills.

I just hope the sloppy work in journalism isn’t due to good old corruption, or professional decay. 

Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor and Margaret W. Wong Professor at Buffalo Law School. He’s chair of KHRC. @makaumutua