Opinion is free in media, but it must be in respectable language
What you need to know:
- In particular, I thought, her stream of invective against married women, as pointed out by Dr Njoki Fernandes, was the last straw.
- Nation Media Group encourages diversity of thought and opinion.
Last week I weighed in to support readers who have been complaining about Njoki Chege’s insolent and abusive articles published in the Saturday Nation under the label, City Girl.
In particular, I thought, her stream of invective against married women, as pointed out by Dr Njoki Fernandes, was the last straw.
But some readers have come out strongly to oppose the position I took.
“You ended your article thus: ‘Editors should keep a tight rein on her’. You are not serious!” said Peter Ngunjiri.
“If that goes for Njoki, then the paper should do likewise for its cartoonists. Njoki is a writer with not just the sixth sense, but one who is gifted with the very rare seventh sense.
She is an acclaimed entertainer and educator who easily sees life not just in the abstract but through stained glasses, and stops us from falling through the cracks of life.
She captures our failures in the most dramatic and colourful ways. She should be left alone to educate us on our shortcomings. Njoki, endelea!”
Serah Wairimu said although in principle she agreed that vulgar language should not be allowed in journalism, she disagreed that Njoki’s articles had crossed the threshold for offensive language.
“I look forward to her articles every week. I like her style and her courage of covering unpalatable but real issues in our society. She has her market segment.
I actually feel she has insight beyond her age so I wonder if she is a cover for others? I am an old educated professional (as described by Dr Njoki Fernandes) with family and career and I can tell you that Njoki Chege’s article on married women was factual — for many married women — in exactly the way she described it, commas and all.
For sure it is not a universal truth but it is plain to see all around us.”
A GOOD SUBJECT
She also argued that no amount of marriage bashing has ever put off young women from aiming for marriage, so we should not fear that Njoki will stop our youth from marrying.
“Even children from dysfunctional families trust that they will have better luck in their marriages. Miss Chege herself will get married — I’m SURE,” she said.
“Your article has opened debate but it is not very balanced,” said E. Njoki Wamai.
“Njoki sounds naïve, I agree sometimes, and I sometimes get offended. But most of the time she is shining the truth or the mirror on Kenyan capitalist religious-Eurocentric middle classes who are so uncritical of themselves.
When we feel offended by something it calls for us to change. Njoki challenges primitive capital accumulation, middle-class arrogance and display of it.
“And this concept of motherhood that Kenyan women and indeed women all over the world hold so dear, which privileges them above other women, yet the non-mothers are motherless because of reasons beyond their control.
It is just patriarchy she is fighting though she is sometimes inconsistent. But we need to support such talent. She just needs a little training, a masters in a critical subject and she is a serious writer.
So please do not put her down. The poor are not complaining, only the rich elites in Nairobi and elsewhere in London.”
Ms Wamai concluded: “She makes a very good subject for a masters thesis. I am a PhD scholar at the University of Cambridge. I have never met her.”
OPINIONS
Those were the views of the readers who came out of the woodwork to disagree with my suggestion that editors should put Njoki on a short rein.
One man, two women, to be exact. Not that numbers matter. In journalism, the pursuit of truth is a function of opposing views.
That is why the Nation Media Group encourages diversity of thought and opinion.
Truth on many issues is only discoverable by listening to opinions and ideas from all sides.
A good newspaper is a free marketplace of ideas. But it is also a custodian of societal norms.
That is why NMG is, or should be, sensitive to society’s notion of what is proper, clean, fitting, and decent. Opinion is free, but it must be clothed in respectable language.
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