with news. Fifty years after independence
the one casualty of post-independence
life is the veracity of our media. We are
deep into the fake news that has been
popularized by that American joke of a
president.
There was a time that newspapers reported
and if they wanted to express an opinion
on a topical issue you would go to the
editorial page. Today the whole newspaper
is an opinion and one is hard pressed to
try and find out where the news is.
The true challenge today is to try and sift
through the many sources of information
and try to make an objective conclusion.
All news channels are rife with opinionated
presenters who appear to be experts on all
subjects under the sun.
To add to the confusion is the presence
of social media and the pervasive nature
of this medium makes it very difficult
to control. Anybody with a measure of
creativity can sit down and create news
and attribute it to ‘impeccable’ sources.
Kenya’s very own KOT (Kenyans On
Twitter) have been the source of virulent
information and have been identified as a
major barrier to building cohesion in the
country yet they carry out their craft in
the safety of their adopted countries yet
fight local issues.
Ochieng’s contention is that we do have
a problem and we need to figure out how
to manage it since we are no longer able
to figure out if the news we read, hear and
watch are true or not. This is even more
dangerous when you cast the problem in a
global context.
Unfortunately for Ke-
nya when the coun-
try got independence
the state just took
over from where the
colonist had left and
continued the state
monopoly on news
dissemination. Worse
still the practice of
misinformation was
scaled up and perpet-
uated even more.
people’s president had been sworn in to the
jubilation of his many supporters and then
another forward citing congratulatory
messages from some heads of states.
To add to the confusion the government
in its wisdom decided to shut down
several media houses and many Kenyans
were in a media blackout except for news
that were flying about on the social media
and whose authenticity was suspect.
This was followed by more forwards of
an orchestrated attack on opposition
personalities, with claims of bombings
of their residencies and assassinations.
Ochieng even got forwards of people
who had sought refuge in neighboring
countries.
On the 29th of January Ochieng got a
forwarded picture of the state of Uhuru
park and it showed a condoned off area
with massive anti-riot police prese nce with
their menacing water spout behemoths
ready to keep Uhuru park sacrosanct. In the same week a prominent funeral took
place where again clips flew around of
the opposition leader jokingly reminding
the master of ceremony that he should
be addressed as his excellency while his
administers of the oath of office were
being incarcerated.
On the 30th of January Ochieng received
another forward that showed a happy
band of demonstrators that had been
dancing with total abandon from six am
on the same Uhuru Park. The issue for
Ochieng was which of the news were real. Some of the news were true and some were
fake and it was incumbent on the receiver
to work try and figure out what action to
take given the news. If you were out of the
country as these news found their way into
the main media, the country was ablaze.
Everything about that day was surreal,
later in the day a clip informed him that a When people can sit down and
manufacture news and have a channel to
96 MAL22/18 ISSUE
disseminate the same it is a clear recipe
for chaos and while we claim that the
cornerstone of democracy is a free press
doubts abound as to whether this is what
the drafters of the philosophy had in mind.
News has become a currency and the
peddlers have realized that bad news
sells and the more sensational the news,
the more bucks they rake in. News for a
purely commercial end is irresponsible
and callous and should never happen and
be allowed to flourish.
But the fake news that are intentionally
crafted to create havoc are dangerous
and perilous as they are created with the
singular aim to cause disaffection and
anxiety. Keeping Kenyans on tenterhooks
is not the way to move this country
forward.
The government finds itself in a catch
twenty two scene where any attempt to
muzzle the media is totally ineffective
as the social media is in an unregulated
platform and only serves to make the
government look bad.
To ignore the prevalence of fake news is
to bury its head in the sand and pretend
all is well while an active opposition
is manufacturing and disseminating
information that is injurious to
government as it makes the government
look weak.
Perhaps we do really need to get to
Canaan after all, but some of the methods
that we have chosen to adopt to help us
cross the Red sea and navigate the desert
seem to be self-defeating to say the least
and we may very well destroy what we set
out to achieve.
Of more concern is that Ochieng is not
sure anymore if we are with Moses leaving
Egypt or with Joshua about to enter
Canaan as the media, fake or otherwise,
have confused the message and ensured
that he no longer understands what the
vision is and who is carrying it.
Ochieng feels that the last word should
not be that when tomorrow does come
and we have arrived in Canaan, he may
not recognize the great achievement
because it was announced on the media
and he dismissed it as fake news.