Objectivity: Let NMG journalists be

I follow with interest your advice to NMG reporters to remain objective. Of particular interest has been your counsel to them with regard to how they report on government pronouncements.

In your articles, you lay emphasis on objectivity in reporting as a standard to which NMG journalists are obliged to follow. However, could it be that you’re holding these journalists to a standard that’s almost unattainable and therefore obstructing them from playing the critical role of helping the public gain a questioning attitude towards those in power?

I’ve two reasons to believe so. First, journalists are part of society and hence they report on what’s affecting them as well. This is even more so when it comes to government policies such as taxes, which affect everybody. 

Second, objectivity is itself never absolute as it has a subtext containing a continuum with two ends. On one end of the continuum is skepticism, while the opposite end has credulity. What this means is that you have journalists leaning either on the skeptical or credulous sides of objectivity.

These two sides of the objective continuum are in themselves products of subjective experience. In other words, if the subject a journalist is reporting on has given them reason to be skeptical or credulous, then the reporting itself will be clouded by either stance, in spite of the attempt at objectivity. This I suspect is the reason why most of what we read in Kenya’s media today, especially with regard to government pronouncements, is tinged with a lot of skepticism on the part of reporters. 

In a nutshell, by insisting on absolute objectivity, you seem to be setting an unattainable standard for NMG journalists, and in doing so, you make them unable to report on government in ways that indicate that as human beings, they are also affected by what all of us are facing as a result of government policies. - Gilbert Muyumbu, PhD.

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Why do you ignore readers’ concerns?

Errors, bias and click-bait have persisted despite critical weekly feedback from readers. Why are NMG journalists ignoring the concerns brought to your attention? Are you a rocking chair giving the audience the impression of addressing their concerns but making no difference?

Journalists in Kenya have become anti-government activists. They’re using their platforms to mainstream their personal opinions and worldviews. The editors also just give space to opinions that align with their own rather than allowing for diversity of opinion. All media houses have essentially become arrogant, morally self-assured and intolerant activists.

Right now, journalists move with amazing speed to platform any character in social media who voices strong opinions against the government no matter how preposterous, baseless and dishonest. - Amon Nymus