ISSUE 008, December 16-31, 2009
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Unfiltered, uninhibited…. just the gruesome truth
December 16-31, 2009
ISSUE 008
A bimonthly on-line newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African Woman and Child Feature Service
Journalists cautioned as paper is launched amid pomp and colour
Mr Ezekiel Mutua, Director of Information and Dr Joyce Nyairo (centre), Programme Officer at Ford Foundation are joined by Ms Rosemary Okello-Orlale, Executive Director African Woman and Child after the Reject publication was unveiled, last week.
By NICHOLAS ODHIAMBO African journalists have been urged to write positive stories that could help alleviate the suffering women and children undergo in the continent. A former dean at the Strathmore University, Dr George Njenga who delivered a keynote address with a paper on Media Ethics, Responsibilities and Innovative Technology said media houses in Africa have been concentrating on doing political stories and for-
getting to highlight the suffering of women and children on the continent. He said African journalists should embrace responsible journalism where they point at the failures while encouraging positive happenings to develop the African people. “All media houses do is just talk politics. They should find positive stories that can help alleviate the suffering women and children undergo in the society,” reiterated Njenga.
The don was speaking during the launch of Reject, a bi-monthly online newspaper by the Media Diversity Centre, a project of African and Woman Features Service. Njenga challenged journalists that they had taken the responsibility of providing the communication oil that keeps countries in unity and the development machine working . In their search for a better future, therefore, they must ensure their stories include positive happenings on the continent.
He cautioned: “Remember that on the altar of your ethical or unethical journalism, the African countries will develop or remain deeply absorbed in their own underdevelopment as we are experiencing at the moment.” Giving the example of a Spanish media that has pages for positive things happening in that country, Njenga said: “In Spain you will find pages reserved for positive things in that country while in Africa it is all bad things.” Reject online newspaper was started after it was realised that many positive stories that are the voice of the people are often left out of mainstream media as they are unable to compete with politics that carries the day. The Executive Director of African Woman and Child Ms Rosemary Okello-Orlale said: “Reject is a platform that connects community issues into the information highway where people can access what ‘we call realtime features’ as it happens at the community level and captures their feelings.” She explained: “It is what we can call modern day drum and since every community needs to speak to itself and in its own language, tell its own stories and celebrate its own culture and identity; Reject is providing that medium using local and ordinary people to do so.” She said what Reject is trying to achieve is called the ‘Fifth dimension of the Fourth Estate’. “And unless us journalists we start thinking outside the box of the Fourth Estate and start interrogating the factor of the Fifth Estate where ordinary voices are found, what makes the community tick and their views of how things are, and start going beyond the real story and asking relevant questions, then the media will have failed in achieving the fundamental rights of everyone — freedom of expression.”
Africa Woman and Child Feature Service and Media Diversity Centre join the Reject Team in sending Seasons Greetings to all their readers.
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