THE MEDIA IN OUR COUNTRY IS BIASED, ESPECIALLY A NUMBER OF NEWSROOMS AND MEDIA HOUSES.
These people never cover the news we need to hear instead they tarnish the images of politicians and leaders, these newsrooms create false stories to attract more readers and to sell their newspapers, forgetting about the negative impact some of these stories they create come with. Look at the former president of the republic, remember how uNxamalala was vilified and painted to be the leader of the state capture? I cannot say Mme Madonsela was correct but she was also very much biased and she pushed her ownagenda in cases such as these the media cannot and should not run with the first story, they are to conduct proper research and get information from both parties and the third party then from there come up with a conclusion and a story that has more content. Instead the media ran with what the then public protector had to say and it managed to change the way people saw uTata at the time.
Remember when they lied about the former president having a house in Dubai? When we defended him were painted to be blind followers of a corrupt illiterate remember? But the very same Sunday Times came out later on this year to apologise to uNxamalala claiming they were instructed to do so and were influenced by forces from outside….
You see with the media you can either be painted to be a hero or made the villain and even if they come and apologise at a later stage that will not repair the damage caused.
Hence the importance of being objective and truthful, give us facts! Tangible information, not spin doctored stories reared the opposite way.
Also remember how the media painted Mama Winnie to be a terrorist and cold hearted child slayer? Remember the negative impact that had on her? Imagine carrying a
burden that is not yours until your departure on this earth?
I also wouldn’t apologise for something I know I didn’t do!
Here is a link I’d like for you to open, watch the video and you’ll understand my frustration.
Now this man coming out now might not be too late to rewrite the history in books but it is late to apologise to uMama as she is no more, what I also do not like is the fact that this white man sat with the truth this whole bloody time! Also what happened to journalists being hungry for the news? Nothing prevented all these media houses from republishing this story yet they chose not to. I am not mad nor is this a personal attack, truth be told the media IS BIASED.
Mama Jessie is right though certain journalists are conniving, they forget the importance of objectivity and truth telling in journalism they forget, the whole point or the idea of freedom of speech, they do this purposely and parade around like kings and queens of the media, forgetting about the negative impact and outcomes of their actions, journalists like these must be called to order because what they are doing is wrong, I salute Mama Jessie for standing her ground and disciplining such.
(Rosen, 1993) suggests that the claim of objectivity by journalists has been a way of countering interference. In order to counteract meddling by publishers and advertisers, journalists have declared that they needed to tell their story objectively.
What is being objective?
Being objective is defined as not being influenced by personal feeling or opinions considering and representing facts.
What is journalistic objectivity?
Westerstahl (1983) divides objectivity into “factualness” and “impartiality”. By factualness he means a form of reporting dealing with statements that can be checked against other sources, and which are then presented without comment. Impartiality on the other hand is an attitude adopted by reporters. Each of these two categories can be further divided into “truth” and “relevance” and impartiality into “balance” and “neutrality”.
What is factualness in journalism? On a philosophical level, truth is about knowing. But journalists tend to look at truth practically rather than philosophically. Nel (2005:54)
What is impartiality in journalism? Impartiality in journalism is how the news is selected and how editors and reporters make choices on which topic is newsworthy? Who the most appropriate sources are, how the information should be arranged in the story, where and when the paper or broadcast is to be placed and how it shall be distributed and at what costs, also how the audience will respond to the message being conveyed is of utmost importance. This doesn’t mean journalists or people in the media are to pick sided due to power and status bit they are to acknowledge the fact that they are biased and, if their goal is to deliver to the masses, they are to actively work in a balanced manner and be neutral. By fairness I am referring to the selection of stories, also fairness in reporting makes it much easier for different writers or journalists to cover whatever selection given to them at time. Fairness in writing stories means events are placed in context and Age, and that ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation are not pointlessly emphasized, reinforcing False stereotypes.
Remember NEWS is the first rough draft of history, now we cannot have future generations reading falsified information or even reading incorrect biased articles that were written in the name of freedom of speech. The media itself has forgotten what freedom of speech actually is and need to fix that before more people fall victim to being vilified and bullied by journalists in the name of information seeking and freedom of speech.
La Nkosi
La Nkosi Writes 