Standard Group is yet to find the journalist w** posted the news update about Njenga Karume’s “*****” on its official Facebook page at dawn on Sa****ay.
The company, which withdrew the erroneous breaking news, has yet to say anything about it publicly, in spite of the false reporting going against journalism rules and touching on its re****tion as a media **use.
A person familiar with investigations at the Standard Group Centre on Mombasa Road says it has been hard for the investigators to pin down the culprit w** updated the Facebook page as the account has eight – yes, eight! – administrators.
“You won’t believe it but there are eight administrators for the Facebook page and no one has owned up,” said a source from the Standard newsroom on Mombasa Road. “That’s the dilemma here. It sounds funny but that’s the situation. **wever did it knows the consequences, so he or she may not be w***ing to do so.”
A Facebook page can be updated anywhere with an internet connection. Web technology experts say it won’t be easy for Standard to trace the person especially if the eight administrators had a common p***word and username, which appears to be the case.
And in the event that the administrators use their personal accounts to update the Standard Facebook page, the Standard may be forced to talk to Facebook administrators to provide it with a catalogue of t**se w** accessed and updated the site, but then that’s easier said than done.
“The best way is to have people access and update the page using their own accounts so you can tell w** did what,” says Mr Solomon Mwangi, a web developer with Frontline Interactive. “The best way out is to restrict administrators to one or two people.”
The Nation Media Group, which also reported the false reports through the NTV Facebook and Twitter pages, has apologised to its au***nce and Karume’s family and sacked TV reporter Albert Gachiri, w** is said to have posted the news.
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