Virus news coverage gives society a fresh view of itself, talents

The paper today has no news,” the old fellow sitting next to me pronounced gloomily. This was a few years ago in a tea shop deep in the village. I had asked to read the newspaper sticking out of the pocket of his frayed jacket.

Of course the paper had plenty of news. What the grizzled man meant was that the paper had no political news. Tragically, his idea that news is politics is representative of the views of millions of others, and is the result of media practice in Kenya since independence.

This media tradition is illustrated by the following incident. Three years ago during a live press conference in Nairobi, rival MPs and senators came to blows on a matter of great national importance: Who had bought tea for whom! Yes, you read that right.

That MPs in a country in which thousands of children die of preventable diseases every year and where millions of people are permanently under threat of famine can come to blows over such a nonsensical matter speaks to the decay of our political culture.

Even more tragic than the fighting, and what it says about our politics, was its lavish coverage in the media. The fight and the reportage demonstrated the unwitting relationship between the political class and the media, that has helped define and shape the country’s politics and culture.

In Kenya, political rabble-rousers become media darlings. During last year’s by-election in Kibra, a former senator was captured by media throwing stones at supporters of a rival candidate. On the following Monday, he was on a morning TV show, not to be grilled about such thuggery, but to comment and debate national issues.

In most TV discussions, panellists explain the political status quo, not offer alternatives. With a few notable exceptions, moderators of such sessions offer no pushback; their function, it seems, is to give equitable time to the panellists to advance tribal agenda.

The Covid-19 crisis is re-orientating coverage from the jockeying for power and resources to coverage of what really matters. Now we are learning of young people creating applications to help us observe social distancing.

Now, headlines feature doctors and nurses. Panellists on TV are psychologists and educators, not tribal spin doctors.

The new media darlings are philanthropists, and landlords who have chosen to forgo rent money in order to cushion their tenants. We are learning about use of technology in education.

The news now is about how ordinary people are coping or not. Through this new focus, the media is quietly re-shaping our value system, reminding us of behaviour and mentality on which we should build our society

The argument here is not that politicians should not be covered. Rather, that media should give equal coverage to different views and different actors because, in so doing, the media will be helping society to have a different vision of itself and see its potential.

Tee Ngugi is a Nairobi-based political commentator.