Same Headlines, Same Stories, Same Days, Twice: Who is Sabotaging Who Between Nation Media And Standard Media?
Sunday 23, November, 2014:
The Sunday Nation: Massacre At Dawn
The Standard on Sunday: Massacre At Dawn
Saturday 6th, November, 2014:
The Saturday Nation: Free At Last
The Standard on Saturday: Free At Last
These are the headlines we have seen in less than two weeks in two different top papers in the country, on same days, about same topics.
This is one of the rarest incidences in media and journalism. In fact, even if it happens, it does once in a long time, not twice in a span of less than two weeks, leave alone a month or a year.
What is the possible reason behind this? Hypocrisy? Sabotage? Conspiracy? What is really happening at Mombasa Road and Kimathi Street?
Have our editors run out of words to put up in headlines? Are the two most esteemed media houses in Kenya getting the services of a single editor? Is someone betraying their employers? Is it a case of teaching employers a bitter lesson? Competition? Traffic? Sales? What exactly is happening in this powerful media houses?
While we are grappling with these latest developments, here are some of the likely reasons that lead to these very rare but disturbing instances.
First, the most likely reason behind this is that the editors in both houses are conspiring to bring down their employers. I mean, they are working together in closed doors to come up with similar headlines to balance the income accrued from the sale of papers.
Yes, some people have their favorite papers but according to what I was taught in a journalism class four years ago, a newspaper headline has a lot of significance when it comes to attracting the attention of the reader.This is why media houses have editors, experienced editors who either come up with these headlines or approve writers’ headlines.
Therefore it is justifiable to lay blame on the editors for this terrible mistake that is gradually swindling the importance of print media in the world and particularly Kenya. If not the editors then their close confidants in their houses are betraying them without their knowledge. This again, highlights the incompetence of some journalists who have kept bringing disrepute to this noble profession.
Being called a hypocrite is arguably the lowest moment in a journalist’s career. But our newspaper editors have allowed this to happen, thanks to their incompetence in their duties. In fact blogger Dikembe Disembe had every reason when he said, “Same headlines!!! Why this big lie? This hypocrisy? Then you point it out and you become an instant bigot”, the latter being in reference to Nation’s Macharia Gaitho who the other day called Dikembe a bigot because of his strong criticism of the Jubilee government.
I personally wonder if Gaitho has talked to the Nation’s editor over the same. The worst thing one can ever do is try to remove a peck from their counterparts’ eyes when they themselves have logs in their eyes. This is why Dikembe and company got guts to bash journalists and call them names. After all, if this is what is happening in our esteemed papers, they have every reason to abuse journalists.
Competition for market and readership could be another reason behind this. While one media house is reaping big, the other is probably trying to copy paste what their competitors in the market are doing, ending up copy-pasting even the front page headlines. Dangerous indeed! It is a case like that of that primary school student who knew absolutely nothing and depended on their friends for answers in an exam room. They could copy everything including the name. It will not take long before you see either Standard newspaper or Nation newspaper copying the other’s name and titles.
Sabotage is another possible reason. Someone in either house is sabotaging the efforts made by their colleagues in coming up with the most suitable titles for their front page. This someone is again conspiring with competitors to leak titles from their houses. This, as it should, is not expected from a competent journalist.
Finally, as we wonder what is likely to happen next, the print media is in a very big risk of becoming obsolete, thanks to advancement in technology and the development of information systems that have encouraged the growth and expansion of social media. It will not be long before newspaper vendors run jobless and printing houses close down. This will be accelerated even faster by such blunders as seen in Daily Nation and The Standard newspapers.
