A week in politics is a long time. During the past week the public has been subjected to the Rush Hour drama of the media frenzy associated with sensationalizing news in this small country.
We now have on public record several people who will be seeking legal advice over some stories carried by the local media.
The stories we refer to relate to an article a local print newspaper has “reliably” got hold of. One story was followed by an article with the faces of the “alleged” disgruntled group.
The media continue to find creative ways of selling their papers and getting the news to the public. However, how does a society reconcile the rapid denial by people whose names have been published by the media house?
Where does a media house stand on the accuracy of a story? Does the media house take the word of one person/persons who may have delivered the letter implicating others occupying public office?
Where is that investigative journalism?
Now, if a note is delivered purporting to speak to something as delicate as internal leadership of the party in power and names are called, is it not the duty of the media house to check with all people in question?
Where a media house sticks its neck out, there must be recourse for the aggrieved people.
There is no doubt a role for the media in bringing news to the public. However, the current Rush Hour sensationalizing of news must be put into context.
It cannot be denied that freedom of speech is enhanced by a plurality of media voices. Democracy is widened and deepened through the effort of a plurality of media voices. The voices of the poor and vulnerable are amplified through letters to the editor, call-in programmes, and so on. All these contribute to making a rich democracy work.
The volatility of the current economic and social environment makes our country and its people extremely vulnerable in matters of investment opportunities and moving our development forward.
Investors depend on local news and accuracy of the reporting to help them in an unbiased manner to guide and influence their decisions.
All countries in the tussle of economic recovery would be happy to have the truth reported about their efforts.
Issues of trust and investor confidence feature high as factors that help influence our foreign direct investment. When these elements are unjustly questioned through media house reporting, all suffer.
We have seen the extent to which media houses go in an effort to extract stories from public persons.
In Britain, the world witnessed the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch’s news empire, brought under global scrutiny over an issue of phone hacking to garnish news for its newspapers.
We trust that our local media do not fall prey to the vagaries of their international counterparts; and that the plurality of media voices will serve just ends and not become means to an end.
