Coronavirus, vegans and the art of quoting newsmakers out of context

Consumers are rethinking about the food they eat during these times of coronavirus pandemic, media reports here and abroad say.

And there’s an increasing demand for healthy and protective foods. Going with the trend, the Daily Nation is working on a special feature on food supplements containing nutrients known to strengthen our immune system.

In an advertisement titled “Immune Boosters” that appeared on Thursday and on Wednesday, the newspaper says there’s a demand for such products, as people are seeking ways to fortify their internal responses against infections such as those related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In this article, though, I’m more concerned about a complaint I received about a news story on veganism as a healthy way to eat.

Janette Wambui, who runs an online store, Vegan Kenya, was interviewed by Winnie Wangui.

The story, “Meat and dairy are disappearing from Kenyan diets”, published in the Business Daily of April 24, seemingly illustrates the fallacy of quoting something out of context.

I am yet to get Ms Wangui’s response; what I say is tentative. What I can say for certain is that quoting someone out of context is using only part of the words that somebody said or quoting the words without giving the circumstances in which they were uttered.

MISREPRESENTED

This can, sometimes, change the original meaning. It can change or advance a different narrative, distort, alter or reverse the original meaning, which appears to be the case here. But this may not be a deliberate act to mislead but failure to report correctly.

Ms Wangui started off by saying Ms Wambui had led a vegan lifestyle for 30 years.

“Her diet is fully plant-based, consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts, among other foods devoid of animal products,” she wrote.

She quotes Ms Wambui: “Being vegan has other connotations; diet is one of them. I practise ethical veganism, so I don’t wear wool, leather or silk, and this is not something new vegans are doing. Their focus is mainly on diet.”

Ms Wambui was surprised when the story was published. “I started receiving calls from family members and friends asking me why I lied about my veganism,” says Ms Wambui in her complaint, adding that she has not been vegan for 30 years.

“What I told her was that I had not eaten red meat or drunk animal milk for 30 years.”

She says although the quotes attributed to her are, indeed, things that she said, they have been spliced from different parts of their conversation and can mean something else out of context.

“This totally misrepresents my message. Last but not least, it casts a negative shadow on my credibility due to the leading factual error.”

KAGWE QUOTE

The object lesson here is that journalists must always remember that, without the surrounding words or circumstances, quotations can lead to a not-correctly-reported story.

And it’s so easy for that to happen. On May 5, NTV reported Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe as saying, “People have been going to eateries to order one sausage with two beers, anaingia hoteli ingine anakunywa beer mbili na soseji ingine (they go to another restaurant and take two beers and another sausage).”

Mr Kagwe was responding to a question from a reporter. The NTV statement is essentially correct but selected words from what he said.

What he said was full of hyperbole: “It’s a fact of life people have been going to pubs or to eateries. They order one sausage with two beers. They eat that one sausage. Anakula hio soseji na bia mbili. Anatoka hapo anaingia hoteli ingine; huko anakula bia nyigine na soseji ingine moja. Anaingia ingine, anauliza chungwa. Sasa ni desati, na ingine bia…”

Relying on the NTV quotation, we can expect in future Mr Kagwe to be quoted saying that Kenyans have peculiar beer drinking habits. That would be out of context and, therefore, incorrect.

Send your complaints to [email protected]. Call or text 0721 989 264