via Editorial Comment: When media brew storms in tea cups | The Herald February 6, 2015
THOUGH it was a typical case of let he who has not sinned cast the first stone in light of the likelihood that almost every human being, at one time or another missed a step or stumbled on something, some sections of our media treated the issue of President Mugabe’s near fall as a novelty.
We do not deny that given President Mugabe’s stature, every little occurrence in his life not only interests the public, but can be of public interest.
However, journalism ethics still call for moderation and balance.
The basic rule of fairness is very easy to recall, it is the A + B + C + D + E of the profession.
If a story has these five components Accuracy + Balance + Completeness + Detachment + Ethics, the result is Fairness.
This was not the case with the way some sections of the Zimbabwean private and Western media reported the story of President Mugabe’s tripping at the airport.
President Mugabe on Wednesday tripped over a poorly-laid out carpet at Harare International Airport, but remarkably managed to break the fall before walking to his car unscathed.
The incident was met with celebratory headlines around the world, with many linking it to the President’s age and alleged poor health.
But as we report elsewhere in this issue, the President went about his official business as normal yesterday.
Ironically, just seconds earlier, the President had admonished the media for specialising in non-issues.
The President’s wise counsel fell on deaf ears as Zimbabweans yesterday woke up to screaming headlines about the incident.
“Mugabe falls” screamed the NewsDay without providing pictures of a sprawling President.
The headline, at the denotative level, implied the end of the President’s political career.
Not to be outdone, the Daily News weighed in with: “Mugabe falls down stairs . . . collapse shocks party bigwigs and supporters.’’ However, no shocked supporters or bigwigs were shown and neither was there any collapse to talk about.
On reading the stories, we are sure many readers felt short-changed because there was a clear intention to dupe them over the incident which the papers failed to back up.
And the alleged confiscation of cameras and deletion of footage by the security team is standard fare anywhere in the world that is what they are paid to do, protecting their boss.
The bottom line, however, the reader was conned of his/her hard-earned cash as the sensational stories were at variance with the excitable headlines.
While we do not deny that there was an element of news value in the incident given President Mugabe’s stature, ethical practice still bids the media concerned to report the incident as it was, in line with the fairness formula.
We are reminded here of the case of the so-called Magunje woman whom the Daily News claimed was beheaded by Zanu-PF youths when no such incident had occurred.
It was all a figment of some reporter’s fertile imagination.
The curse of the Magunje woman, Brandina Tadyanemhandu, seems to be haunting our colleagues on the other side of town.
COMMENTS
Akadonha chete and achadonha futi!
The way the Herald is trying to spin this story definitely leaves a lot of us thinking what more is there to hide. The funny part is that they are the ones that are sectionalizing it. If it was a non event there would have been a very little hula. If you see someone denying something in this manner there is a lot more to it. A simple explanation would be “The President slipped and fell” end of story. But they come out about breaking his fall and the hump on the carpet and he walked up to his office unaided. If it walks like a duck and it qwacks like a duck its a DUCK.
Actually, everybody just wants him to DIE
With the AFCON on going perhaps it would suffice to describe it as Mugabe having taken a dive.
In African mythology, the fall of a leader signals the end of his rule or worse his death. Hence we must be worried.
With the advent of highly digitalised cellphones, citizen journalism has become equally powerful. Denialism, subvetting and suppression of information no longer help propaganda traits.
I have observed twice before when national leaders have tripped and fell, firstly it was Helen Clark in New Zealand then next was Julia Gillard in Australia and the common thing to both was they subsequently left office soon after the falling so it could be a pointer that the public tripping and falling of Mugabe signifies the end of his grip on the Zimbabwe political scene. This BS about. “The President managed to break the fall is all BS” bottom line is he fell period.
Mugabe did not fall because of a poorly laid carpet but because he missed the bottom step. There is video evidence all over the world showing that. Only the Herald is lying to its gullible readers. Mugabe is becoming senile, what he says is proof thereof and now he is beginning the physical decline that will lead to his death. Laugh at Mugabe no! Pity his illusions of grandeur, yes! Pity his betrayal of democracy and Zimbabweans, yes! Laugh at or pity his genocide against the N’Dbele, no, I utterly condemn him and his helpers Mnangagwa and Shiri and hope they all pay the price for the genocide!