Dr David Silverstain with his memoir ‘Heartbeat: An American Cardiologist in Kenya.’
The Nation year-in-review articles that cover events of the past year are repetitious, monotonous and tedious, says Dr Kennedy Mochabo, who, as the year 2023 neared the end, pleaded with the editor not to publish the “Looking Back” articles.
“They’re a bore for those of us who faithfully purchase the Nation daily throughout the year,” he says. “Please spare those of us who have been following the happenings daily in your cherished paper.”
The articles were, nonetheless, published—three days in a row to boot!—from December 29 to 31. They included “The highs and lows for Kenyan girls, women in 2023”, “Why 2023 was a bad year for Kenyans”, “2023 concerts that raked in the big bucks”, “Looking back at the difficult moments of the year 2023”, “2023 hair and beauty trends wrapped”, “2023 in Kenyan showbiz”, “Taking stock of 2023—Another great season for athletics Kenya” and “Biographies released in 2023 reveal the rarely seen side of VIPs”.
However, these articles are, on the whole, far from being boring. They give fresh meaning and life to the original stories on which they are based. They are new stories in their own right. One cannot say this, however, about all the review articles published in the Nation in the past. Dr Mochabo is right about many of the articles published in the past.
The year-in-review articles are standard fare in news organisations. They cover the events of the past year from the perspective of the writers, often highlighting the highs and lows of the events and the most memorable ones. In broadcast media, they are also called “countdowns”, often taking the form of specials or documentaries that summarise the highs and lows of the past year.
The articles need not be boring, even for regular newspaper readers like Dr Mochabo. They are supposed to add value to the old news (pun intended) by casting new light and interpretation, with the benefit of hindsight. A good example is Elvis Ondieki’s “Biographies released in 2023 reveal the rarely seen side of VIPs” (Sunday Nation, December 31, 2013).
The article, which looks at the books published in 2023, is interesting. However, it’s misleading in two important aspects. First, the writer equates autobiographies with biographies. But none of the seven books he reviews are biographies; they are autobiographies. The only book he describes as an autobiography is Aden Duale’s For the Record: The Inside Story of Power, Politics, Lawmaking and Leadership in Kenya.
Wrongly described
A biography is the life history of a person, written by someone else. An example of a biography is Moi: The Making of an African Statesman. The book is written by Andrew Morton. An autobiography is the history of a person, written by that person; it matters little that he or she was assisted by another writer. An example is David Silverstein’s Heartbeat: An American Cardiologist in Kenya. Dr Silverstein was assisted by May Anne Fitzgerald. Heartbeat is one of seven books mentioned in the article but wrongly described as a biography.
An autobiography can also be described as a memoir or a collection of memories. Autobiographies typically use first-person “I”, as Dr Silverstein does in Heartbeat, and the author is the subject of the book. In a biography, the author is not the subject of the story.
Secondly, the writer concludes his article thus: “From very personal recollections to revelations of previously unknown facts, the new biographies and autobiographies of 2023 offer rich insights into the workings of the government and the people in charge—plus the chaos that exists at every level.”
He doesn’t, however, caution readers that autobiographies must be treated judiciously as sources of history. Autobiographies are written from the point of view of the author and are less objective than biographies. They can be biased, inaccurate, even lie.
At the beginning of the article, the reviewer quotes British writer and biographer Philip Guedalla, saying that “biography is ‘a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary and on the west by tedium’”. But he doesn’t exploit this quotation to show that autobiographies can be a source of misinformation or inaccuracies—such as those pointed out by readers in this column with regard to some of the books serialised in the Nation.
The Public Editor is an independent news ombudsman who handles readers’ complaints on editorial matters including accuracy and journalistic standards. Email: [email protected]. Call or text 0721989264.
