Right on, brother Mutuma!

Right on, brother Mutuma!

I read with disappointment the opinion of the public editor that Mutuma Mathiu should cease writing op-eds to portray impartiality.

That is tantamount to lighting a candle and then covering it with a bucket.

This wordsmith must not be hindered by corporate responsibilities. Let him adopt a pseudo name and continue with his immensely creative writing.

I can recognise his writing regardless of the name he uses.

Thank you, Mr Mwaura, for the continued elaboration of NMG policy and role of the editorial team. Your Friday column should also invite compliments from readers, not just complaints.

It’s dismaying to watch TV news anchors voice their opinion on news items. They should leave it to the audience to draw their own conclusions.

Take this example. A reporter in Ruaka interviews one person and then tells us: “Most people in Ruaka now say they will have to close their businesses due to the new tax on fuel...”

In the studio, the anchor comments: “Yes, we may see many more closures....” Huh?

When did one or even 10 people in a locality with 300 businesses become “most people”? How many people has the reporter interviewed impartially to come to such a conclusion?

What’s the sample population? And why not share that? Business news can’t be rumours. If you don’t have the facts, don’t report. It’s absolutely horrible to report business news that’s not factual.

— Bedan Mwatha, Nairobi.

I was watching the NTV 9 o’clock news on Tuesday, January 8. News anchor Olive [Burrows] read the news with panache.

I almost awarded her Journalist of the Year 2019 award, never mind we have barely scratched 2019.

Immediately, a field reporter was introduced into the news bulletin.

Good Lord! She undid all that had been done by her horrible pronunciation, making me almost jump out of my skin!

The words were tortoise, leopard, jurisdiction, picturesque, conspicuous, to mention but a few.

Why can’t NMG take its news presenters through a course on how to pronounce words?

— Martin Mbugua Wamathwe.

Give prominence to scientists

I’ve noted a trend where Kenyan scientists are rarely given prominence in the media. I think too much prominence is given to the politicians at the expense of scientists.

We have experienced professors who have contributed immensely to building the human resource capacity that has been the foundation of our socio-economic development since Independence.

They’ve also been engaged in various research and consultancy undertakings that, unfortunately, are rarely given prominence in the media.

This country is fortunate to have a cream of well-educated and experienced scientists such as hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, oceanographers, ecologists, geneticists, botanists, physicists, chemists and many others.

However, one rarely hears about their work in our media.

I would be delighted if you could, once in a while, approach some of these experts in our public universities so that they can share their knowledge and ideas on how we can solve the myriad problems this country faces.

I’m sure they have interesting stories to tell. I’ve been wondering whether we really value our scientists.

It’s only once in a while that we read about some of them in the transition pages of the Nation.

No wonder only a few students in this country are motivated to pursue science-based disciplines in our universities.

— Dr Johnson Kitheka, Senior Lecturer, Department of Hydrology and Aquatic Sciences, South Eastern Kenya University