It’s that time of the year again; general elections are around the corner. Whether you are listening to news, watching news or even reading the newspapers, it is evident that there is so much about political news that being reported from all the 47 counties of my beloved Kenya.
Monetary Targets
While this is happening, I gather that some journalists have set very strict monetary targets that have to be met before this campaign period comes to an end. But, how are they doing this? It is very sad and makes me sick knowing that journalists are now making it clear that they are not covering stories without being paid up front.
Then I ask myself, why are they demanding money to cover stories? Honestly, if a journalist leaves the newsroom under the editor’s instructions from a given media house, my assumption is that this journalist has salary at the end of the month. In most cases, the transport to and from the function is also catered for.
Therefore, their mandate is simply to go to the field, cover the story and immediately rush back to the office and file the story. But what is happening in Kenya, journalists actually camp at the end of a function and wait, wait and wait to be paid before they head back to their offices. I am informed that some actually make it very clear that this specific story will not go on air if they are not paid. Now, I don’t get it very clear, is this supposed to be a tip or are we as Kenyans paying journalists to cover stories?
I will start by saying this, if any of you pays a journalist to have their stories covered, you are doing so out of ignorance and stupidity. A month back I was attending a workshop with some of the Kenyan aspirants and the media discussion got out of hand. What I heard was extremely disappointing. “The Kenyan media is so corrupt and expensive. The journalists ask for money and yet they never air our stories,” remarked an aspirant, who has definitely been lied to before.
Many of them narrated their sad stories on how they have had to deal with journalists. “Some of us will never get any media coverage even if we have newsworthy stories. Only the rich and the affluent will get the prime time coverage because they are able to pay for that,” retorted another one.
When it got heated, the aspirants actually mentioned some of the journalists who have asked for money to cover specific stories and to say the least, it was very shameful and I stopped respecting some of those journalists. They went ahead to say so and so from this particular media house. One of the female aspirants narrated how she had to pay two breakfast presenters before she got an interview with them. It was at this time that I got really agitated and actually had to stand up and asked her, “Where was this? How did you get these presenters? What was the agreement between you and them? At what time did you pay them?”
Presenters Misbehaving
“I was introduced to them by a mutual friend and I told them that I would like to be interviewed on air and they told me that I had to pay a given fee, and that I had to pay this before the interview, which I did and then I was given an appointment.” She narrated. Sad as it was, this is among the biggest radio station in Kenya; I lack respect for these two presenters.
It is very sad that as journalists we have become very unprofessional and we embrace pauper tendencies. From the editors all the way down to the field reporters. I attended a function last week and again I watched some of these journalists hang around waiting to be paid. This is not a tip, is it?. While we sat down to discuss about it, I was reprimanded for behaving as if I don’t know that this cheap behavior has been in existence forever. “It is very evident that most reporters have been living out of such habits. They actually demand a given fee for every story they air or publish. Many are living out of this cash they make by exploiting politicians in the name of giving them coverage.” Remarked a friend.
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