Watching news has become a little depressing of late. Story after story is about death, violence and murder. I see the kind of stories given priority and wonder “what was the journalist thinking?†It constantly baffles me when I see what is considered news worthy. When choosing what should be aired, where do you as a journalist draw the line?
We see images of police brutally beating up suspects. After the recent explosion in Nairobi’s Eastleigh area, a certain media house aired a clip of the public beating up someone based on their ethnicity and blaming him for the explosion. Another media house aired footage of an accident scene and showed a man crushed under a trailer screaming for help as he died. There has been footage of the mentally ill aired without consent from them or a doctor to certify what is aired is not violating their rights.
As I watch all this and analyze what is happening, I can’t help but think that our media has failed us. They no longer know when to say enough is enough and let people have privacy. Anything you do is aired for all to see. It does not matter how it will affect you no do they care if it has no value whatsoever to the audience. When did it reach a point, that there is no professionalism in journalists?
Ethics, professionalism, objectivity are among the few things I would love to see in media. I would love to see a journalist get to an accident scene, see someone hurt and turn off the camera as a sign of respect. To see them say I cannot air this story because it will fuel tension in the country or it is too biased.
Sadly, this is not the case. The need to get more ratings and profit is making journalists forget when and where to draw the line in reporting. Something needs to be done before it gets out of hand.