NTV shamed after governor disowns face-off clip with president

Kenyans online have reacted with rage to the NTV clip circulating online that depicts a nasty exchange of words between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Turkana Governor Josephat Nanok.

Governor Nanok has dismissed the clip, which has gone viral, saying it is pure propaganda. It seems NTV juxtaposed clips of Uhuru reacting angrily to some criticism against Nanok’s separate presentation in which he criticised the government.

Nanok’s clarification, which has left NTV with egg on the face, has also sparked anger among Kenyans On Twitter who started the movement ‘Shame on Kenyan Media’ under the hashtag #ShameonKEMedia to criticise the unethical practice of spreading propaganda and misreporting by the Kenyan media industry.

According to the clip, the governor sparked an angry reaction from the President after he criticised Government plans to amend the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill to deny local communities 10 per cent oil share benefits as earlier proposed. The oil share benefit has been reduced to five per cent.

“Our opposition is the capping of the oil revenue from trillions to Sh22 billion and for the local community to around Sh3 billion,” Mr Nanok said.

The clip then shows the President hitting back saying that he has no hand in the laws passed. It further depicts the president losing his cool to an extend of insulting the governor.

“I am not the one who passes laws. I simply sign. halafu mjinga anakuja kusema hapa kwamba ati mimi nafanya mambo (Yet a fool says I have a hand in it). Mtu akisimama hapa aseme ati Uhuru ako na haja na mafuta ya wengine…ashindwe..shetani mshenzi (If someone comes and says that Uhuru has interests in others’ oil, he should be defeated..devil…fool),” said President Kenyatta in a clip that has gone viral.

See Also >> NTV Youtube account shut over unethical conduct 

The President is yet to respond to the issue. It is unethical to manipulate video or audio content or even photographs to depict news subjects either in bad or good light and NTV will struggle to explain to its viewers why it did this. It appears the reporter sensationalised the coverage to get the item prominence in the news. This comes just 10 months after Youtube shut NTV’s channel over copyright infringement.