Thank you for listening, and readily owning up to mistakes

Blowing one’s trumpet or horn is essentially a British idiom. For us, it’s kujipigia debe, which I think has a less negative connotation depending on the context.

Public editors don’t blow their own trumpet. They let readers do it for them.

I often get messages from readers who say they’re happy with “the good work you are doing.” But I don’t go public with such statements because I think they’re meant to be preambles – strategic preparatory statements -- to a complaint.

CROSSED SWORDS

I’m making this one public because it comes after I crossed swords with the complainant.

I’m also making it public because it illustrates the value of dialogue. He has allowed me to edit it for brevity.

It begins by saying: “Greetings and thank you for your timely corrective action delivered with a deep sense of personal responsibility and official accountability for the errors and mistakes highlighted in our fresh complaint published in your highly resourceful Public Editor’s Notebook, November 3, 2017.”

Prof Caxton Muune continues: “Kindly, allow me to express our satisfaction with your responsive explanations as we request for indulgence to propose a toast in honour of recognition of your exemplary professional discipline and leadership. You have certain amounts of humility with the presence of open integrity and honesty very rare to come by nowadays.

“I wish to share with the public the positive attributes of your public editorial performance appraisal. You so ably represent the public. Your Notebook is highly educative, responsive and corrective.

APOLOGY

Traditionally, apology and corrective action are not commonplace occurrence among the high-profile personalities who work and live in the self-denial bubble of professional righteousness for self-preservation and to ward off any unfavourable feedback from the public.

“You have gone way much farther beyond and above the expected standard customary apology to own up to the errors and mistakes with very clear consciousness of the heavy responsibility to serve all by listening and responding to voices rather than faces in the coverage of personality-based news sourcing and presentation in our conservative class-society.

“I urge all those in the public domain to emulate your example in owning up more particularly at these low moments, which is the missing link at both the national leadership and community levels, meaning each should ‘carry own cross’ to loosen the political lockdown for the country to move on and citizens get back to the serious business of nation-building.”

His message would be incomplete without mentioning Muguna Ntumbari, a reader, who, like me, had inadvertently implied that Prof Muune accused NMG of bias because of his political affiliation.

“I would like to apologise to Mr Muune for implying that he is a supporter of the party with an arm-wrestling logo, but when he accused the corporate behemoth on Kimathi Street of being ‘captured’ by a certain political outfit, to me that was an indication (albeit wrong) of which team he was rooting for,” Mr Ntumbari says.

TRUMPET

“Someone once said ‘a good newspaper is a country speaking to itself’ and the Nation has mostly lived up to that. Kudos for the ombudsman role that you play so well. Good day.”

So there you go. The public editor cannot stop readers from crowing about something they are pleased about. If that amounts to beating drums for the public editor, I’m not complaining.

The Bible is against blowing one’s trumpet. In Matthew 6:2-4, using the allegory of alms giving, it says: “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others...”

In those biblical days people would go to a synagogue and contribute by throwing money into a container with a trumpet-shaped top.

This made a noise if the coins were big (and, therefore, more valuable). This let everyone know you were giving a donation. It was like blowing your own trumpet.

Send your complaints to [email protected]. Text or call 0721 989 264