All news is local when Melania is on page 3, Biden on the front page

The Daily Nation on Thursday last week dislodged local news makers from its premier news pages in favour of American ones. 

Melania Trump took most of page 3 while Donald Trump took page 6. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris occupied the rest of the space from page one to page 8.

So, the first eight pages of the Nation were uncharacteristically devoted to American news — except page 2, which is reserved for “Nation’s young reporters”.

This was the most noticeable and loud, maybe even intrusive, coverage of American politics at the expense of local politics. Normally, foreign news play second fiddle to local news, coming after “County News”.

A story about Gideon Moi suffering a blow after William Ruto was endorsed by Kalenjin Myoot Council of Elders to contest the presidency was relegated to page 10, which became the front page for local news. So was a story about ODM’s strategies to win new members ahead of the 2022 elections.

News about the High Court halting the Nairobi by-election for a governor, Moses Mudavadi saying Jubilee has failed the country and ruined the economy, and killings in Baringo were pushed to later pages.

Nearest is dearest

Was this realistic, justified? Should it have been done that way? Are readers really worried about what is happening in America more than what is happening in their own country? Do they really care to read about Melania, Trump, Biden and Harris more than they want to read about Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, Raila Odinga, Moses Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetang’ula and even Francis Atwoli?

What the editors seemed to be saying to us, with a twist of logic, was: “All news is local.”

Truly, all news, like all politics, is local. People are more interested about problems in their own community than those from faraway places. Journalists refer to this test of newsworthiness as proximity: What is nearest is dearest.

Newsworthiness 

But proximity is both physical and spiritual (or emotional). People can be interested in events happening in distant lands if they think those events are interesting or will impact their lives.

When a bus carrying 44 passengers falls into a steep valley in Guangdong province killing 13 people, we’re not interested. But if among the 44 passengers were some Kenyans on a shopping trip to China, then we’re interested.

Editors also use other criteria that override proximity to judge the newsworthiness of an item — such as conflict between people or issues, or where a prominent person is the subject of a story. 

But the big question readers ask is: How does that news affect me personally? What do I get from the story? Do I have to read it?

Truly, all news is local.

* * *
Headlines can introduce bias in a story, even when the story itself is not biased. 

People read the headline of a story before they read the actual story. Some even think they know what the story is about after reading the headline and move on (with the bias). Even when they read the story, their minds have already been biased. Consider the following two recent headlines:

“Now EACC goes for Kang’ata.” Kicker: “Anti-corruption commission starts probe on Senate Majority Whip’s law firm, among others, over deals with City Hall. Some think this is a routine call, others smell a big, fat rat as it comes on the heels of a controversial letter to Uhuru.”

“Ruto off the hook in ‘hustler jet’ probe.” Kicker: “Dead end. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has ended investigations into the 2013 hiring of a luxury private jet for Deputy President William Ruto without charging anyone despite acknowledging that procurement irregularities were committed.”

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.