Journalist from Bungoma county have been accused of not being objective in their work and only coming out to report on negative issues in the county thus painting a dark image of the county a far contrast from their counterparts in other counties.
Speaking to the Weekly Western Chronicle Boniface, (not his real name)a county employee, stated boldly that there is the need for journalists to change their perception on issues in and around the county.
He points out that the society is headed for a fall if it dwells on the negative, adding that there are a lot of positive issues around which when covered would propel the county to the next level.
“There are a lot of good positive stories to report on, but journalists do not see that.”
It is quite unfortunate because such positive stories are treated as not being newsworthy, instead, journalists dwell on the negative stories as news items which when consumed by readers, viewers and listeners leave them in distress, sympathy and siphons all the energy to move forward.
“If someone has not died, there is no reporting, in fact when we see journalist around we just know something crazy has happened,” he insists.
Journalists should think outside the box.
“We have lost objective journalists, the ones we have copy paste,” he says.
They should report more positive stories, projects, and programs which when read by the audience will leave them with a desire to steer on in life. He further affirms that journalists have painted a dark image of our county, if someone mentions Bungoma county then a lot of negative issues come to mind like the non-carcinogenic wheelbarrows, Saleh Wanjala the Bungoma ”James Bond”, unga people and so on.
He insisted that there are a lot of positive stories in the county which are being overlooked for instance the starting of poultry slaughterhouse for indigenous chicken which happens to be the only one in East Africa. The genius teacher recalls that Bungoma is the mother of trade unions in Kenya and it happens to have been launched by the queen of England.
“Bungoma is one of the richest counties in Kenya, but cartels are killing our media.” he said.
As if that is not enough, he praises the county government for being easily accessible, it is an aspect that was seconded by our reporters. The governor and his deputy are all over the place, all appointments go, as opposed to other counties whose governors are unapproachable due to heavy securities.
“Our governor is easily accessed as compared to other governors from other counties.”
Mr. Werunga (not his real name) a former journalist and writer of one of the western newspapers, holds the same opinion by saying that Bungoma county is the second richest county in Kenya, with financial institutions and cash flow larger than its neighbor Kisumu.
Werunga adds that today journalists lack originality,they have refused to take a different lane in their profession. Most are proud of what they should be ashamed of,not good ambassadors of where they come from.
Veronica (not her real name) a worker at Bungoma District Hospital in Bungoma county, beckons that the hospital has a lot of small steps it has made which do not get covered, she says that whenever she sees journalist at the scene then she knows that a patient has died or a man got injured when trying to cling on a chopper, she moves on to mention how the region has many national players in the in the national teams like football and rugby plus the best national coaches and referees come from this county but they are never proud of their home because the media do not cover them or celebrate them, instead they focus only on negative stories.
She finishes off by bolding stating that information is power. Urging the journalists that news is not only negative stories even the smallest individual efforts should be recognized and covered by our media people.
“Recognize small individual efforts, do not wait for a crisis to report.”