Desperate dry days

Desperate dry days

T

here is nothing wrong with questioning people in authority and holding them to account. In fact, they are the ones who do not understand our business. We cannot mind our own business for they are our business. Put differently, their business is ours.

BY MUSYOKA NGUI

A close shave. A near commotion. Foiled accident. These encounters do not exactly make news. They just attempt to. Journalists feel like nudging the actors. Stirring up the action. Because they want news badly. The editor is on their neck. The competitor is breaking the story and you have no clue?

I was in court recently and the place was undergoing construction. A few steps from the courtroom, I tripped and almost fell on a trench. My pressed clothes got dirty and as I struggled to be on my feet, a fellow journalist said: “You should have fallen on the trench real bad so that we get news. The court proceedings have not started and the bureau is demanding today’s submissions.”

To her, I was the fodder for which she will be saved during the dry day. I refused to be news. Bad news sell more than good news. So why should I be the poster child for accidents?

That and many other occurrences prompted me to think of journalists as sadists. They would rather watch a fight than intervene because if they do, then they will kill the news they are looking for.

To avoid being dry, you should be having ample contacts on your beck and call. From regular calendar events like school opening, closing and graduations to constant calls to the OCPDs, insiders of large corporations as well as street savvy people such as security guards, hawkers and touts.

Another place that may save you the drought is the morgue. Your archives will provide crucial leads to a story that needs to be followed up, a complaint that needs to be balanced by interviewing the other voice and rich variety of topics to choose from.

Ever wondered why some journalists and media houses are always plugged in? Why they are always on the know? One unspoken secret about them is how they treat their clients. If you are not hospitable people will give you a wide berth. People want to hang out with others who will appreciate them, encourage them and not those who want to put them down. If you are perennially subjective against a news source, the source will punish you by declining to grant you an interview because the last time you insinuated and played what if card.

There is nothing wrong with questioning people in authority and holding them to account. In fact, they are the ones who do not understand our business. We cannot mind our own business for they are our business. Put differently, their business is ours.

The writer is a final year student of Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and Media at Chuka University and an intern at KNA Kitui Bureau. He blogs at musyokangui.blogspot.com

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