What we wrote when he was still alive….. KOBILO USUALLY FAILS THE OBJECTIVITY TEST. By Gitungo Wa Wamere. “Objectivity they say is a method, a habit, a discipline of mind.” John Fuller Tribune Publishing Company. It is true that in a democratic society the media plays a checks and balance role. In this role it informs the people on the misdeeds of those in authority in impartially without taking sides. In journalism they call this kind of impartiality, objectivity. I don’t study journalism, but you don’t need to have attended a lecture on journalism to be objective. A regular writer in the THIRD EYE publication, one Obilo Kobilo has been failing the objectify test whenever he takes his pen and paper. The good writer lacks self control and spews vitriol to anyone who he differs with without considering the effects of the words on that person. Many readers of his column that I interacted with in the time of writing this article, described him as a haughty and insecure writer who presents himself as an “intellectual adolescent”. Or what can explain his over usage of hard words? Journalism is not about showing off or settling scores, it is a calling, and it is all about being an ambassador of truth and truth alone. In order to report fairly one has to suppress himself. Your ego, pride and prejudice should not feature anywhere. Immediately any of these infiltrates in your reporting the essence of journalism loses its meaning. In this age of self exposure that Kobilo lives in, journalism has been dominated by people with protracted ego to the extent of making them blind to facts and basic tenets of civility. Kobilo should learn how to process data so as to give readers full baked information. In journalism lectures that he attends, I am sure lecturers therein teach that journalists should take facts that they have accumulated and honestly process them into a pattern. Unfortunately Kobilo knowingly or unknowingly, defies all the laws of proper judgment and reports what he likes and presents it as the gospel truth. How can you explain his recent accusations of MUSO defrauding students? Kobilo is more of a politician than a reporter and presents himself as a typical Machiavellian. Consciously or unconsciously he has this illusion that fighting the “seniors” will make him great. He breathes fire and wages war even when there is no need to fight. When he directs his “arsenal” to a person that he differs with, you can think that that person is an Idi Amin. Objective journalists the world over will tell you that a reporter should be restraint in choosing words. Objectivity in journalism is non-negotiable but it should not make Kobilo, I and others who write on these walls despair but humble. From gitungo-gitungo.blogspot. Published on the blog on Monday, 23 April 2012
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 08:26:21 +0000