‘It’s a serious offence of journalism to declare any body dead. Priests can’t. Neighbours neither. Journalists Never. Only doctors can,’ says David Makali of Media Institute
NAIROBI – Journalist Albert Gachiri was fired from NTV over the weekend over the erroneous breaking news update on the station’s twitter and facebook pages that former Cabinet minister Njenga Karume was dead – and media analyst David Makali says he deserved it.
The two updates are said to have been done by Mr Gachiri, an CNN award-winning journalist whom many in media circles believe was made the sacrificial lamb in the matter. NTV was forced to apologise for the erroneous reports, which were picked up by some other news-hungry media channels, including Nation’s Swahili radio station Qfm.
NTV said on both twitter and facebook: “Earlier today, NTV reported on Twitter and Facebook that politician and businessman Njenga Karume had died. We have been reliably informed that this position is incorrect. The correct position is that he is bedridden and critically ill. We would like to apologies to Mr Karume, his family, friends, associates and our audience for the incorrect information.”
As Nation Media’s top editors, led by editorial director Joseph Odindo held a crisis meetig on Saturday afternoon on how to handle the matter, Njenga Karume, who has is ailing, was seen at Royal Media Services in stable condition. This is the meeting the sealed Gachiri’s fate, according to sources, who could not however confirm the source of the “death” information.
Mr Karume’s family also clarified that the tycoon, who rose from a charcoal dealer to a business magnet according to his biographer, still recovering. Mr Odindo is said to have led a delegation from Nation to deliver apologies to Karume family. Standard Newspaper also carried the same news on its facebook page, but withdrew it as well after it turned out to be a hoax. It has remained tight-lipped about the goof and it is not clear if it apologized to Mr Karume.
IT’S UNFORGIVEABLE, SAYS MAKALI
Mr Makali says the sacking was deserved as Mr Gachiri’s action went against journalism rules and ethics. “It’s a serious offence of journalism to declare any body dead,” he told BUSINESS TODAY’s Media Review column. “Priests can’t. Neighbours neither. Journalists Never. Only doctors can.”
Mr Makali, the former Sunday Standard Managing editor who runs Media Institute, a regional media watch organisation, said the gaffe exposes Nation Media Group to redicule and court action. “You can imagine if Njenga Karume sues. Such a journalist does not deserve any airtime or newsprint.”
WHICH WAY MEDIA?
Mr Gachiri’s sacking is an eye-opener especially to media owners and managers on the challenges of new media and how they can be handled beneficially. It will serve the media better if the companies developed a course/training in new media that will empower journalists to take advantage of social media in gathering and disseminating news and grow the popularity of their stations instead of being victims of technology.
Journalists are scooping themselves these days with news updates on social media before they even a news function ends. By the time the story is published or broadcast, all the details are out and stale. This, it appears, is the next threat to newspaper circulation and TV/radio ratings.
Recently, Nation Media Group banned its journalists from breaking news on social media. While it had a noble point, this may not work in its favour when other journalists from its rivals are still doing so. Media companies may want to find ways of countering the social media attack or come up with more creative ways of using it to their benefit.
If you can’t beat them, join them!
ALBERT GACHIRI’S PROFILE (courtesy NTV website)
Albert Gachiri is an award-winning journalist currently serving as the Editor of NTV Weekend Edition. Albert joined Nation Broadcasting Division in November 2002 as a news reporter, a day after graduating from his post-graduate journalism studies. Earlier on from 1995, he had been a freelance journalist, with published articles in The Daily Nation, The Standard and The People newspapers.
After five years working as a television field journalist he was promoted to the position of Features Editor, in recognition of his unrivalled skill of giving a human face to potentially dreary and mundane stories. He has a knack for seeking unusual news features and delivering them in a unique style, with his characteristically out-of-the-book pieces to camera.
In 2007, Albert scooped the prestigious CNN Africa Journalist of the Year Award, in the environment category, having mesmerized the judges with his story of how residents of a rural part of Kenya had abandoned charcoal burning, which entailed the cutting down of trees, to embark on rearing silk worms on the same trees in their neighbourhood. In the same year, he won the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association’s Travel Bursary, which took him to the Caribbean island of Jamaica, from where he filed a series of incisive television pieces.
Albert is credited with being among a group of Kenyan journalists who popularized international stories, told from a Kenyan perspective, on television. His notable stories included a series of features from the USA where he highlighted the unique ways of Kenyans living, studying and working there. His international assignments repertoire also includes stories from China with its unusual cultures, Japan with its technological advancement, down to South Africa and Germany, to name a few.
Locally he covered the 2002 General Election, the 2005 Constitution referendum and was in the hotspot of Kericho during the violence that followed the 2007 disputed election. Albert is a holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree (Literature Major), from Egerton University and a Post-graduate Diploma in Mass Communication from University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism
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