Muhereza Writes,
muherezamodern@gmail.com
“When you have a full mainstream media house categorizing a birthday party as a headline in its evening bulletin, one is left to wonder,” Muhereza Writes
Last week at rendezvous with a friend, he confessed how he has taken quite a long period without watching Televisions. Asking him the reason why, he urged that TV content has driffted from how it used to be in the past.
It’s nolonger super entertaining and informative nowadays, it’s is laced with propaganda. He urged that it’s rare to find the element of neutrality that defined true journalism in today’s media content.
One would not be judged wrong if they said that journalistic principles of accountability, truth, integrity and impartiality have gone to the Dogs.
Most of the key players in mainstream media are biased along political lines. This is gradually eating up professionalism in the media and its the consumers of the media content that are affected most.
In a bid of “Who breaks this first”, some mesia practitioners have errored and given fake news hence transgressing the journalistic major principle of truth, he urged.
I found his argument interesting. When you have a full mainstream media house categorizing a birthday party as a headline in its evening bulletin, one is left to wonder.
A section of Uganda’ s journalism seems to have lost credibility that if this problem is not rectified we shall have media houses divided along political lines and other social aspects.
We honestly have to acount media houses to greater standards better than how they are performing. Media no longer serves to the interests of the public but a selected group of individuals.
They have to be distinctive from Western mainstream media that has cleared all doubts of being presstitute and a foreign policy tool for the west, we need to do better. Media houses in this country need to set their priorities clear if they are to play major roles in this nation’s development.
An effective and nation building media house needs to give more time to government bussinesses like Final Investment Decision of Uganda’s oil for the citizens to understand the opportunity that come with it and use any available leverage to take part than wasting their time’s resources on Norbert Mao’s informal rants about NUP. The media should stop priotising trivial issues and give wide coverage to public affairs lest it risks loosing the audience of serious people that want to give attention to real issues.
Trivialism should be left for social media platforms and for mainstream media houses to survive the negative impact of social media, it should brand its self as the last resort of serious and big issues.
Has Journalism Got lost in Trivialism? May be Journalists can answer to this
