What passes for ‘news’ in this country? I want to put to you that what you are consuming is not news at all: it is pointless and irrelevant trivia.
Let me start with an admission: I am spending less and less time consuming Kenyan news, and it is months since I watched a full television newscast. That may seem a damning confession from someone purporting to be a columnist, but there you are.
In fact, more and more thinking Kenyans are telling me they are doing the same thing. They cannot stand the intensely absurd focus on the antics of politicians that we have in this country. They would really rather not know who is planning which arcane political machinations. They would rather focus their attention on the real issues, which are almost never to be found in the ‘news’.
A few days ago I found myself sitting in front of the TV at 9.00 pm, and decided to see what I’ve been missing. Here’s a sample of the main stories: why the president did not go to the prime minister’s Mau tree-planting ceremony, and what it all means; more rifts emerge between politician A and politician B; politician C denies rumours that he’s planning to change political parties ahead of the next election; politician D slams those asking him to resign in the wake of a massive scandal in his ministry; politician E drops hints of a new alliance ahead of 2012.
You get the picture. Needless to say I switched it off after a few minutes and went back to blissful ignorance. There are some things you just don’t need to know in your life.
Consider this: a friend of mine who was in India recently told me of his experience of consuming news there. India, incidentally, has many, many TV stations devoted to 24-hour news. What was the breaking news story that day on all the major channels? That India is headed towards 8% growth in its GDP this year. That’s right, breaking news.
As my friend pointed out to me, that kind of development would not even make the headlines of business news in Kenya! But in India and China and much of East Asia, the economy is all over the news. Every rise or fall in the growth rate is reported widely and analysed exhaustively. Everyone in the country seems fixated on economic growth and development. Is it really a surprise to you, then, that those countries are growing at 8-10 per cent and we are not?
It was not always thus. I remember being unable to stand Indian newspapers and magazines in the 1970s and 1980s when they were filled from cover to cover with bizarre politicians and political schemes. Amazing coincidence: that was also the time when India’s economy was in the doldrums and it was way behind Kenya on most economic indicators. How things have changed. Today, the economy is the biggest news in India and politicians are only listened to when they talk about the economy.
I also took a look at recent figures that revealed the nature of magazine readership in India. As with most countries, one would expect the list of top magazines to include the usual titles containing the drivel that most people seem to want to read about: gossip, sports, movies, celebrity life and the like. India has its share of those.
But look at what else was in the list of 2009′s most-read magazines: Reader’s Digest (2nd in total readership); General Knowledge Today (3rd); Competition Success Review (4th); Wisdom (6th); Business Today (10th); Competition Refresher (13th); Outlook Business (17th); Business India (19th); Business World (22nd); Digit (23rd). Did someone say knowledge economy? India is on its way to becoming the world’s third-largest economy within a generation – and you can see why.
This is not really about new editors. If editors are giving you a grossly unbalanced menu of political trivia, that is only because you ask for it. Newspaper sales are known to spike when a major political story is in the headlines. Whenever you find two or more Kenyans sitting down and chatting, the chances are high that they will be talking about politicians. It is because we are morbidly obsessed with our politicos and their frolics that we are fed this incessant noise.
9 million people are estimated to be transacting on mobile-phone platforms across Kenya – that’s news. A new supermarket is doing a roaring trade in Kitui town – that’s news. More and more women are entering the workforce – that’s news. But none of that will make the news in Kenya.
Why should you give a damn about what politicians do every single day of their lives? What they eat, who they meet, where they go? It is a mindless waste of time. We should all be focusing on the real issues in our lives: our skills, our knowledge and our personal development. If we demand the news that benefits us, politicians will soon leave the front pages.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I totally agree. Here in USA we are all doing the same. Staying away from Kenyan unnecessary news. We have entertained politicians too much on the media to the point that all they want to do is make more drama for public eyes. For me, it takes expensive phone calls to friends and relatives around the country to find out what is really going on all over because I can’t find that in the news. Its a high time we changed the face of media in our country! The news they have now on politics are a real turn off!
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Hi Sunny,
Love your articles.. particularly today’s theme, which prompted me to write this.
It would be great if you could add a link from your site to social networks like Facebook, etc..
Would allow me and many others to easily & quickly share you and your thoughts with others online.
Asante!
Geff.
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Hi Sunny,
Your article was spot on!
Having lived in South Africa for 14 yrs until my relocation to Kenya in Fabruary 2009 last year- I find that the media in Kenya is doing a disservice to the society. They hardly cover the economic news let alone other news of national importnance, like when Kenya became the 2nd country in the continent to switch to digital TV, it wasnt even in the 9′Oclock news. Yet it was something to be truly proud of as a nation.
Take for instance the Central Banks’ quartely MPC decisions, ithey hardly get prominence in the local dailies!! I lectuer at a local Business School and when the MPC made their last sitting and decided to leave the interest rates flat- my students didnt even know what I was talking about. In SA, such a huge media momentum builds around the Reserve Bank’s decicions such that the radio commentaries, business dailies and local newspapers and TV carry the story, days on end- and all the economic news that are worthy- like the real estate recovery, stimulus packages being implemented and their effects etc.
Here, its politics and poverty- even my 13yr old daughter is turned off by Kenyan TV and newspapers.
Keep up the good work.
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Sunny,
You got it spot on this one, majority of Kenyans are interested in what politicians do or say on almost every single issue. As you clearly stated in your book the “customer is always right,” right? I have encountered situations where after watching the first three news items somebody flips to another channel saying there is no news all because they are looking for politically related stories.
Once I read an attribution made to a former ambassador to Kenya and what they said was from the headlines in our newspapers it seems nothing ever changes and one would easily the current issue of the paper for a previous one. Someday I, believe, we will have headlines like ‘ 2 millionth KPLC customer connected’ or ‘ Marsabit town gets piped water’
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Your article was spot-on! News in Kenya is synonymous with politics,mostly a lot of which we could really do without! It’s really time Kenyans started to look at things different and stop giving all this undue attention to politicians’ cheap talk and mindless games. Keep up the good work,Sunny!
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I took a one year break from local news only to tune in last week to the same drudgery in the name of news.
There’s a point I had access to a Dubai TV channel and the news was substantive. Economic growth and indicators, development, social issues. Stuff you actually are interested in and could change your life.
Kenyans need to stop making politicians celebrities and the media will respond in kind.
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Hi Sunny
This is absolutely true. We have a problem with our media. I used to be an ardent reader of local dailies but these days a week passes without buying a copy. The problem is that our media is full of pessimistic speculators who always expect the worst from every situation. Take an example the ongoing PSC retreat. Other than the media celebrating with the optimistic Kenyan’s populace, the best they can do is to speculate on who schemed what and who was cornered how. And a majority of Kenyan population is big funs of this “news”. You only need to listen to our FM stations. Every morning they will always have debates on “news” making headlines. And time for receiving calls has never been sufficient. There are always people who are left with their calls unanswered. But what about Sunny Bindra informative articles? Ten comments are far too many! We are busy commenting on news. Yes we are.
Mutero
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Geff:
The links to social networking sites will be a feature of Sunwords 2.0, which will launch soon.
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Alice:
I think the kids are going to cure this disease. Very few youngsters show any interest in news these days. It is our challenge to engage them.
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Sunny,
i can tell you much of my interest in reading and writing was largely developed through exposure to the media especially the dailies. it was so inspiring to read from every single one of them…. that was nearly 20 years ago.
now, its one of the last places i visit for inspiration whenever im doing research. iam particularly more disappointed in the recent niche publications like the business daily and smart company and other magazines that represented a faint hope of preserving newsworthy content….. they have now gone awry and turned to politics and other macabre content in what looks like a rush or clamour for readership!
i cant remember watching the news or reading the dailies ardently.
its really disappointing and i would join any cause to raise alarm. any initiative to raise the red flag, count me in Sunny.
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Can you imagine the torture experienced by those who are not lucky enough to have cable tv in their homes?
I came to the conclusion that many Kenyans are bitter and discouraged at the direction that the country is going. In most cases, this produces a cynicism and subsequently, a carelessness to their day-to-day activities.
There is lack of hope in the news. Just bland reporting of nonsensical events of the day. This can only come from sould and hearts that have lost hope.
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It time we kenyan especially African start sourcing ur news from diffrent sources becoz the news we sometimes get feed with has been corrupted, mis quoted and put out of context.We need pple to read more I means books than watching TV.
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I think what is presented in the dailies is just another reflection of the lack of intellectual rigor within the masses itself. I say this based on a recent inquiry to a colleague at a private institution of higher learning. I asked if any lecturer from the Business department cared to give a public seminar or talk on the impacts of the global recession to the country and the area they were based at. Nothing! the so called intellectuals were too ‘busy’. I may not generalize but this small example shows how the malaise is evident in the institutions of higher learning. How then can the consumer ask for what is worth when all along they are ingrained to consume and expect the macabre?
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You’ve got quite some point.In Kenya there are many educated persons but all reasoning is done based on politics not your qualification or job performance.Most Kenyan managers are paper professionals coz of their academic achievements but tell them to make a staff hiring or even a supplies decision then you will be very shocked.Most Kenyans hire,promote e.t.c based on tribe.Being a man eat man society has resulted in every individual crafting his own economic chart.There is no collective economic growth action or responsibility i.e a national way forward to uplift our total economy.Those in power allocate major economic resources to their areas with total disregard to areas considered opposition.This next comment could be rude,very rude but somehow I think Kenya needs an economic dictator or worse still “RECOLONISATION”.
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