Media can no longer bury its head in the sand

Journalism training in Kenya is an injustice of scandalous proportions.

That profound denouncement by Prof Murej Mak’Ochieng was perhaps the greatest indictment of the media at the two-day Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) convention held at Villa Rosa Kempinski between December 7 and 8.
That, as the good professor pointed out, is where the ‘kizungumkuti’ lies, because ultimately, it is these ‘scandalous’ products to whom the legacy of the industry will be passed.

In a fast-changing world and a fluid industry whose credibility lies in authoritative collation, curation and dissemination of accurate information by independent and professional media houses, we cannot afford to bury our heads in the business-as-usual sand.
Not surprisingly, old hands in the industry have been cringing, almost to epileptic proportions, at the frequency of foul-ups in media platforms, that sometimes read like blooper reels.

This calls for deliberate efforts to champion training, mentorship, supervision and proper guidance of upcoming journalists.

That skilling and preparation demand that these journalists are also empowered with proper tools.
We can no longer dismiss or ignore acerbic criticism of the industry as ‘githeri media’ as a common everything-is-wrong jeremiad against the boo-boos of journalists.

The criticism, even though at times it may come from sources that are more ‘githeri’ than the media itself, nonetheless, as Odanga Madung observed during a session on journalism in the age of disinformation, speaks to a demand by the audience for credible information worth their time and money. 

Julian Assange couldn’t have put it better when he noted that “journalism should be more like science. As far as possible, facts should be verifiable. If journalists want long-term credibility for their profession, they have to go in that direction. Have more respect for readers.”
Interestingly, the Cabinet Secretary of Information, Communication and Technology Joseph Mucheru, hit the bull’s eye with his observation that the media must be responsive, reliable and resourced if it is to have a future.

This may have seemed ironic because, as Standard Group’s editorial director Joseph Odindo observed, “Most governments have an inclination to limit media freedom.”

But the CS had a point. A very good one at that. Now, if only the government could make good on its promise to clear the Sh2.5 billion owed to media houses, we would probably at least settle the matter of resourcing. 

Government debt, as Nation Media Group’s CEO Stephen Gitagama noted, is crippling the media. “Government should commit to upholding media freedom and not seen to weaponise advertisement,” the media boss said.
The future the CS was alluding to, according to Gitagama, lies in quality journalism.

However, we are already living in that future. Unfortunately, as Odindo noted in his presentation on the future of journalism in Kenya, local media houses have been more like snails in reacting to the changing landscape in the industry.

‘Digital first’ has become a catchphrase that is bandied about in the industry, yet no one seems to have a clue how to execute that or empower journalists to deliver on that proclamation.

Columnist Macharia Gaitho’s dismissal of a digital approach that does not go beyond reproduction of newspaper or TV content online was telling.
We cannot afford to double down on our biases and try to - as Rishad Tobaccowala of Publicis Groupe, a French multinational advertising and public relations company, would have put it – fit the future in the containers of the past. Odindo called for a paradigm shift, a reorganisation of the newsroom and training of journalists to adapt to the new digital dispensation.

Even editors can no longer lay claim to being gatekeepers, because, as Henry Maina, the vice chair of KEG noted, there aren’t any gates to be kept in the digital reality.
So, what next?  One of the pills that have been prescribed by media managers is convergence. But this has created mistrust in the industry and has become a dirty word for layoffs and sackings.

Senior journalists like Gaitho expressed their disappointment at how convergence had become a newsroom boogeyman, the Grim Reaper that has claimed the souls of seasoned journalists, yet in other parts of the world, convergence has led to more hirings, with The New York Times being cited as an example. 
The reality, however, is that media houses are businesses entities. As such, they have to increase shareholder bottom line.

No entity gets into businesses to make losses. Which begs the question raised by Odindo whether editors should “wear commercial hats.”

Probably this is a nostalgic throwback to the days when editorial directors were the most powerful individuals in newsrooms. Today, that power seems to have shifted and is wielded by commercial directors.

To what extent should editors push the commercial agenda? And must commercial interests necessarily be on a collision path with editorial motives? The two, according to Mediamax’s group editor-in-chief Peter Opondo are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Ultimately, however, there was no doubt that winning back credibility is the silver bullet for the media.

As the KEG chairman Churchill Otieno observed, “Our people are more likely to embrace a credible media that they trust.” As such, reporting that is based on opinion rather than facts or coverage that panders to political whims will not win back trust.

As the American broadcaster Walter Cronkite once observed: “Objective journalism and an opinion column are as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.” We can therefore not justifiably defend our biases and pretend to be independent media. 
Raising the confidence in Kenyan media that has been noticeably falling in the recent past requires self-reflection and addressing, among others, the scourge of the ‘brown envelope.’ The media must preserve its legacy by offering something trustworthy.
What the KEG’s inaugural editors convention offered was an opportunity for honest stock-taking and candid reflection.  That echoes the words of the renowned, late playwright and essayist Arthur Miller that, “A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself,” which in our case, is an industry being honest with itself.

If as editors we are this open and candid, then the editors’ guild will not be dismissed as ‘editors’ guilt,’ which is how the forum was probably looked down on because of the moribund years of inactivity.
Paul is a revise editor with Standard Group
@omondipaul