When Sh100m donation in kind is a bigger news story than cash

Is this discrimination or error of judgement? asks Zoeb Tayebjee.

The managing-director of Topsel Trading is referring to the story headlined “Guru’s done his part, but where are other tycoons?” (Daily Nation, April 3, 2020).

“When Devki Group of Companies chairman Narendra Raval (Guru) pledged Sh100 million worth of oxygen supplies to public hospitals in time of need,” he says, “you splashed this news prominently on page 6; rightly so, as this is by no means a small amount.

“It came at a time when our country is going through the virus taboo. Additionally, Mr Raval is a big-hearted man when it comes to donations and other charity works. But when the Co-operative Bank of Kenya donated Sh100 million in cash, you tucked away the news at the bottom corner of page 29 of the Daily Nation of April 7, just one long paragraph of 71 words and no picture.”

The Guru story, complete with a three-and-a-half column 3.5-inch-deep picture, is 1,289 words long. It occupies nearly the entire page. “Surely, the bank deserved more than a mere paragraph?” asks Mr Tayebjee.

NEWSWORTHINESS

For the record, a longer version, of 472 words, of the Co-operative Bank story was published online, complete with a picture of the bank’s Managing-Director Gideon Muriuki. See “Co-op Bank donates Sh100m to boost the coronavirus fund” (Nation Online, April 6, 2020).

Still, Mr Tayebjee’s question is valid. But, I’ve no discoverable answer. Well, you see, there’s an almost scientific way of determining the importance or newsworthiness of a story, hence the amount of space and prominence a story should be given.

Editors consider a set of factors or values that determine the newsworthiness of a story and the play it should receive. The most important ones, in this case, are relevance, impact, prominence (or size), human interest and timeliness.

I need the whole of this page to explain these terms of art in relation to the two stories.

In any case, you might not even care for such a technical explanation. Suffice it to say, in theory at least, the two stories should have received more or less the same play.

* * *

On April 1, the Daily Nation published prominently on page 4 a story headlined “No more BBI as funds diverted to fight virus”.

The story said the government has transferred Sh1 billion from the kitty meant for the BBI rallies so as to fight against the coronavirus.

The transfer marks the end of BBI rallies, it said. But the next day’s Daily Nation said the story was an April Fool’s prank.

Nairobi News — never to be left behind in such tomfoolery — published a story headlined “Pornhub opens office in Nairobi, offers Kenyans free premium access”.

The story said Pornhub is the leading online adult entertainment platform. “To celebrate the launch, the company offered fans a chance to win one of 100, 10-year memberships to its Pornhub Premium service.”

The NMG editorial policy doesn’t specifically prohibit pulling April Fools’ Day pranks on readers. But it’s clearly not in favour of any editorial content that doesn’t “justify the space they occupy”.

And it requires editors to “make every effort to eschew material that is vulgar or tasteless”. It states that “salacious writing or stories” have no place in its platforms.

Such stories “only takes up valuable space that could be better dedicated to more edifying issues”.

ACCURACY

My position is unequivocal: pulling April Fools’ Day pranks on readers and listeners is a no-no for a quality media.

In my article, “Why the ‘Nation’ shouldn’t mess with readers on April Fools’ Day” (Daily Nation, April 2, 2019), I said people rely on the media for accurate news, even on April 1.

I said then, as I say now, that journalists should not write pranks as news, even in the name of entertainment. If they really want to be comedians, rather than journalists, they should join the Churchill Show.

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