NTV newscaster and talk show host Larry Madowo found himself on the receiving end of Raila Odinga’s supporters after his Twitter comment fouled the opposition leader’s supporters. Madowo described Raila Odinga’s press conference on Eurobond using negative words that bordered on the vulgar, quite unexpected of a journalist of his calibre.
In the tweet that went viral and degenerated into a tribal war fare, Madowo, who has a huge following on social media, had remarked that he expected an explosive list of Eurobond cash beneficiaries from the Cord leader, only to be given what he termed as “ fart.”
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“Show of hands, who else was expecting an explosive list from Raila Odinga and all we got was nothing more than a fart?” he tweeted.
Mr Madowo, who anchors 9PM news and hosts The Trend show, was forced to swallow his fart and apologise to Mr Odinga and his supporters.
He also had to delete the offensive tweet. “I apologize for my explosive Eurobond tweet and I’ve deleted it,” he said on Twitter. “The responses have degenerated into a tribal war & that wasn’t my intention.”
Journalists are supposed to be fair in their reporting and carry themselves with decorum. Unfortunately, the line between journalistic ethics and politics often gets blurred in the newsrooms as individual preferences are expressed openly.
The comment sparked massive outrage from CORD supporters led by Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) communications head Philip Etale, who told Madowo that he never expected him to utter such words when everyone expects him to be objective as a journalist.
“Raila Odinga is a patriot & a gentleman from my interactions with him. He would be ashamed of those abusing & threatening others in his name,” Madowo added.
Even long after deleting the comment, the tweet is still doing rounds on the internet and attracting furious comments. A lesson there for Madowo and other prominent social media users: social media is like toothpaste, once you squeeze it out of the tube, you can’t get it back!
