Robert Alai is like the one-man TMZ version of Kenya. He can be credited,and rightly so,with breaking many of the news that we end up digesting,consuming and regurgitating weeks later. That’s one thing we’ve come to accept… But not with a full heart. Or a desire to credit him as the source.
Sometimes last year,on a boring Sunday morning (like all Sunday mornings) Robert Alai dropped a video of Hon. Alfred Keter,the Rift Valley prickler,causing havoc at a weighbride. He was accompanied by some Indian lady whose name I can barely remember.
Hon. Keter was a total mess. He appeared very drunk,sounded arrogant and entitled,name dropped a lot and even frequently used unprintable American swear words (but getting the pronunciations very wrong).
Video had gone viral by Sunday afternoon. All media had picked it up. But none of the media editors or reporters expressly credited the video to Robert Alai.
That same evening,Larry Madowo would host the cantankerous Member of Parliament,along with his female irritant,and they’d processed to butcher LIVE Television interview as we know it. All this time,Alai’s name didn’t – wouldn’t – feature anywhere.
And there’s a reason.
Alai is also responsible for the exclusive video showing a local televangelist,a pea-brained businessman,a local singer,some popular Senator and other fellows smoking cigarettes,drinking and also making wild threats to Raila Odinga – straight to the camera.
Today,little of heard of almost all of the protagonists in that dinghy room. But Raila Odinga still holds sway.
Alai,even when he’s the sole purveyor of some piece of breaking news,seems reluctant to OWN the news and to demand credit.
He appears like a slack protector of his own property – and rarely does he splash his own name – in the form of a watermark – across all of the material he exclusively publishes online.
Unlike Mohammed Ali or say,the less manicured,Cyprian Nyakundi,Alai does not boast his conquests around. He rarely owns stuff he’s exclusively broken to the masses and rarely takes issue with people who peddle his exclusive news around as if it were their own.
Even with an arrogance that can be simply unmatched,Alai never seems to want to beat his chest over something he exclusively reported. Why? You may ask.
Well,Alai,unlike TMZ,does not pursue stories – much less pay for them. All Alai did was carve out a ‘People’s Champion’ persona and therefore,earned the trust of the people who now,trust him with their news and their videos and their exclusives.
Therefore,Alai is rarely at the scene of the action. Neither does he,despite what he says,personally investigate stories before publishing them.
He has provided his personal phone number across his social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter- and so,anyone who follows Robert Alai,and he has hundreds of thousands of followers,can quickly text Alai anything they wish,anytime they wish.
Eventually,Alai ends up with a network of informers from allover the Country – both lowly and powerful people – who can call or text or WhatsApp him anytime soon as a story breaks.
But Alai is NOT a media company. He’s a one-man news machine. He therefore cannot be everywhere,every time. Neither does he have reporters on the ground – or office – to follow up news for him and to ascertain a story’s truthability.
Therefore,it’s easy to dupe Alai. It’s easy,also,to machinate a story and send it to Alai. He doesn’t solicit the news. It’s sent to him by anonymous people,most of whom could be driven by malice and mischief. And still,he might publish it.
Enter Twitter. Another one of Alai’s main sources of news – and also medium of conveyance.
Unlike traditional media,Alai does not receive press alerts. And in a rush to beat traditional media,he might end up in a shit hole many times over.
When he ” broke ” the news of William Ruto’s sudden collapse and subsequent hospitalization,Alai didn’t even have the exclusive news in his hands. He simply scanned through a couple tweets and several anonymous texts and BAM! It became exclusive news… Only known to him.
It would later turn out,The Deputy President was not actually admitted. He didn’t even collapse and didn’t end up rushed to hospital at all. It was all a malicious report,the DP was for as a fiddle and doing just fine far in the North Eastern Province.
Alai would later eat humble pia and attach his update with some several screenshots of tweets he must relied upon in coming up with his ‘Breaking News’.
Interestingly,some of the tweets were made using FAKE accounts of public figures – and yet Alai believed them too,just like anyone else.
Well,while Alai has been reliable before,in breaking scandals mostly,he may never reach the stage where his word alone will be enough and final.
Also,most of what Alai considers news is really just sleaze and gossip and basic propaganda,stuff that is generally deemed gutter press and stuff that may always be taken with a pinch of salt.
Yesterday, Robert Alai’s reputation was badly damaged. And that incident makes you wonder how many other things has Alai claimed in the past that were actually false and mere propaganda.
In this age,social media and traditional media must move in sync – social media for the hard truths and traditional media for the final word.
