Having worked as a newspaper writer and editor, I’m well aware that newspapers give prominence not to what they like but what the readers like. And readers like politics or politically related stories.
That’s why although covered across all the newspapers today on the front page, the passing on of veteran radio presenter Leonard Mambo Mbotela has not captured what we refer to as banner headlines, the leading story on the front page.
Were it in the West, the demise of such an iconic figure, in media no less, would hit the banner headlines of all major newspapers with creative headlines and images that will be etched in collective memory of the nation for sometime.
For instance, Taifa Leo newspaper would have simply used Mambo’s big picture with the headline: Jee, Huu Ni Ungwaana!
Unfortunately this is not the West and the newspapers will continue leading with what interests people most, in the spirit of mtoto akililia wembe, mpe. That’s why you’re always bombarded with Raila, Ruto, Gachagua, Kalonzo, ODM, Kenya Kwanza and even Sudi narratives.
Don’t we all agree that the biggest news in the country yesterday was the passing on of the media legend, Leonard Mambo Mbotela, whose voice has stayed in many homes than no politician’s?
> The Life and Times of a Veteran Radio Presenter Mambo Mbotela
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