WHAT NEWS HAVE YOU BROUGHT US TODAY?

By Dode Sescri

WORDS TO ELATE

First Agenda

Copyright © 2016 DODE®

No part of this book should be redistributed without prior permission from the author, both in print, portable digital format and online.

Disclaimer

All readers are welcome to challenge the contents of this book, and should process them with their uttermost intellectual capabilities before they can assess them for reference purposes because they are largely a work of the author’s own imaginations.

Some stories given as examples in this book do not represent Factual or historical events but have been used fictitiously to bring out the literal aspects of discussions and also demonstrate the author’s intended thoughts and ideas exemplarily. Do not take them too seriously.

This book is stacked up with numerous mini chapters the author refers to as Bulletin. Each bulletin stands for each idea or topic of discussion.

You will also find some non-English words, the author has used them only for the sake of enhancing description. They are not a result of typo.

Contents

Bulletin 1: A Camera in Need

Bulletin 2: Idle Report

Bulletin 3: Miss Anonymity

Bulletin 4: Bold Tommy

Bulletin 5: Out and About

Bulletin 6: Relay Race

Bulletin 7: Matters of Ethical Concerns

Bulletin 8: Media Activism

Bulletin 9: The Blame Game

Bulletin 10: Hostile Perceptions

Bulletin 11: Misled

Bulletin 12: Honeycomb

Bulletin 13: Moderate Fame

Bulletin 14: Troublemaker

Bulletin 15: Intrusive Behavior

Bulletin 16: Romanus Suspicius

Bulletin 17: Fear Factor

Bulletin 18: Chasing the Weather

Bulletin 19: double sided

Bulletin 20: Master Plan

Bulletin 21: Sudden Spread

Bulletin 22: When the media fell in love with Scandals

Bulletin 23: the accountability bill

Bulletin 24: Corporate witnessing

Bulletin 25: media scavenger

Bulletin 26: double blackmail

Bulletin 27: the buster is busted

Bulletin 28: a war of veils and curtains

Bulletin 29: media power soliloquy

Bulletin 30: smart jurists

Bulletin 31: Judge Expose

Bulletin 32: the language that ye speak

Bulletin 33: the media pinches

Bulletin 34: what news do you bring?

Bulletin 35: park business

Bulletin 36: security stripped

Bulletin 37: painful interrogations

Bulletin 38: the media business changes people

Bulletin 39: media goggles

Bulletin 40: Very Important News

Bulletin 41: Will Bad News ever end?

Bulletin 42: The Controller in my Hands

Bulletin 43: Mutual Benefit (Symbiosis)

Final Clause

Footnotes

Bulletin 1: A Camera in Need

Only after something bad happens that the people rush to call the media to record the events. People say, “I think I heard an explosion somewhere behind me, please call the media to tell us what’s going on. Is it not the responsibility of the media to take note of everything happening around us? What about the disturbing images & films of a recent road carnage? Oh Yeah! Let them capture that too of course,” when people get into trouble and they need help, they cry out to the media saying, “please show the world what we are going through, so that we might get some help from the entire public, however, the one place people don’t want media presence is in their comfort zones, “I don’t want Cameras anywhere near my private retreat on the mountains,” says the congressman, “nor anywhere near my private longue, or anywhere near my personal park. I rebuke all spying behaviour,’’ he exclaims. It appears to be some kind of poetic justice that they are placed at the mercy of the same media they had used against their rival politicians a short while ago.

Bulletin 2: Idle Report.

There was once a beautiful wedding ceremony taking place at a marvellous mansion in the countryside. During the dining time, Miss Lorna(the bride’s mother) was walking down the corridor with a tray full of hibiscus juice, she accidentally hits something with her foot which causes her to trip over & fall, she unfortunately smashes the tray with its entire contents onto the groom and his bride at the table, their beautiful white linen garments were badly stained, which became red as blood. Coincidentally a group of mindless folks happened to be just around the corner when the incident took place, and quickly took snaps. In less than 48 hours later, Miss Lorna saw images in a local newspaper which grabbed her attention. The headlines read:

- Furious miss Lorna ruins her daughter’s wedding with juicy red

- The red dance by a clumsy creature (with the images of her loosing balance as she fell onto the ground) and many more intimidating statements in the other papers.

The same is true with Jaffer Screw the cheeky athlete, he had once entered a restaurant with a friend several months ago, as they chat time slowly ran by while they laughed over their past misadventures, “where are the table spoons?” said Jaffer, “pass them over to me please,” Gazing at the bowl of rice placed in front of him, “I think the waiter has forgotten to bring us two, let me go and check that out,” said his friend, but he was really hungry, he couldn’t wait for them to return, so thinking unto himself he said, “why can’t I simply use this spade just for a taste as Willis brings me my essential tools?” only a few meters to his left side was sitting someone who happened to know Jaffer before, he secretly took snaps of him trying to feed himself with the large serving spoon. Then a month later, Jaffer saw himself in a sports magazine with the following headlines,

“Jaffer the giant swallows five pounds of rice in just one gulp”

He was so heartbroken that he stopped going to the field practice for nearly a year, he remembers the restaurant incident very vividly, but he never saw any cameraman there, he thought he was alone with his friend Willis, “this world is getting much scarier than I had believed it to be”.

Many people often wonder about the causes of such brutal publication of heroes’ personal affairs and lives. Could it be in the belief of the notion that once someone becomes a public figure, be it in politics, finance, sports, etc., then all of their life’s other activities should be shared with the public including those things that take place in the most private corners of their homes, or could it be a disillusioned way of relaying information from the reporters in the field to the presenters on live screen, once your name becomes popular so does everything else about you. There are so many procedures involved in the process, a field reporter records an event then passes it on to the studio, it goes through a number of hands, the second, the third, and when the fourth one sees these headlines are not interesting enough or not presented in a very strong way or simply believes it to have very little read value, he/she therefore puts in an extra concoction of words to add a little more taste. The end report produces something totally different from what the field reporter had intended.

Sam and Philip were having a nice afternoon on a golf course, as he removed his cap, he saw someone coming, a young lady was walking up the bunkers, he turns to his friend, remarking, “hey Philip look, it’s that da*@*%^£* reporter again, what does she want this time around?”

She warmly passes greetings to the golfers who are reluctant to respond. “Hello Mr Samson, I would like to ask you a few questions, will you allow me, if you may?” “what kind of questions?” barks Sam, “You people think of yourselves as being smart and well organized when most of the time all you do is breech protocol, there are more important things going on around the country, why don’t you go film them, then leave me in peace, do you have any idea you are being a nuisance every time You walk into my backyard with your flimsy cameras sniffing every household equipment you find? Why does the media always meddle in other people’s affairs?”

The young lady was so annoyed that she quickly rushed off without saying a word, in the process leaving behind her left shoe on the golf course, she then published the remarks of Samson just the way he had spoken them in the papers, with the statements, “SAMSON KELLY THE MOST VULGAR OF ALL GOLFERS” including a detailed description of the account.

Bulletin 3: miss anonymity

I really miss anonymity, says the sports legend, long ago I could pick up my boots, dress myself up and go anywhere I wanted anytime I pleased without some cheeky brats bothering me, with their silly Cameras. Oh God! Where do I hide, I need a place to calm down and relax, at least for a minute?

Bulletin 4: Bold Tommy

An interrogator once asked a farmer, “Do you have snakes in your house?” The elderly man was very furious for being asked such a rude question, he replies “I don’t have them, moreover I don’t keep pet reptiles, have you ever been to my house before, how can you throw such a Nasty question at me?” he asks back furiously, the interrogator cleverly dodges these remarks saying, “well there are some released alleged photos of your living room circulating around the place, they show your children playing with pythons.” “Of course, that’s not true,” replies the farmer, “those are simply toys, whoever did this was on a mission to crush my image, you know a photo can be put into a machine and perform great wonders with it…”

The interrogator once asked this question so boldly that we thought the ideas came directly from him. The fact that he was pointing a finger at the interviewee as he spoke indicated that he had some kind of authority over him, he was out to extract a piece of information from him, but when he received his answer in the same direct bold manner, he cowers away like a mouse that has seen a cat, this smart move enabled him to inflict doubt on the interviewee without having to deflect it upon himself.

Bulletin 5: Out and About

A renowned journalist went to visit a former inmate who appears to have been released on suspicious grounds, the journalist passes him warm greetings, then proceeds with the interrogation, “how many weeks have you been here in your estate since your release?” “About five weeks,” he answers back, “please don’t ask me questions about Mr Malone, if you may agree, I don’t work for that hamburger man anymore, besides that I am a changed man,” says the former inmate. “Do you think your neighbourhood will be safe when you are out? You may claim yourself as a changed man,” says the journalists, “but looking at the records here, they say otherwise, they say you are responsible for ….”

“STOP that!” barks the former inmate, cutting her off, ‘’did you come here to torment me with my past life? why are you people so obsessed with records, records, records and more records are the words you torture me with, I try to live in peace and you people drag yourselves here to bring me back bad memories, and cause me sleepless nights, do you think you are a better person than I am? Have you gone through the circumstances that I had to endure so that you should be talking to me like this? The very presence of you here is a sign of bad omen to my future days, do you want to take away my hope? You bloody fool…”

Upon realising things were getting heated up, her fellow reporters advised her to leave at once, she was escorted outside to the gate, out from the angry man’s estate. “Never again should you ever approach a former inmate in that manner”, they said to her,

Bulletin 6: Relay Race.

At around two Millennium B.C Egyptians were working on a quarry to erect an obelisk in honour of their dead pharaoh, so they stood side by side in a very long line that stretches from the quarry to the construction site, standing on the opposite ends are the chief sculptor and the chief architect, at the construction site, the chief architect passed a message to the man standing beside him and asked him to pass it on to the other, and another and another till it reaches the chief sculptor, he said, “tell the chief sculptor that we need a smooth sharp stone to put onto the obelisk’s head,” but when the message reached the chief sculptor it said something like this , “the chief architect says you have a smooth sharp head, it looks like that of an obelisk”. Upon hearing this, the chief sculptor was very upset, it nearly brought the entire work to a standstill, “is the architect trying to start a conflict with me? He could be jealous of me because I am the best artisan around here, that’s why he insults me this way,” he said, he wondered for a while then makes up his mind to speak to him personally, later after the day is over.

Later that evening they were together at the pharaoh’s dining table, the sculptor asked the architect about his earlier statements based on what he heard from the other masons, to his surprise, the architect laughed out loudly exclaiming, “aha! Is that so? Is that what they told you? I too was wondering why you were taking too long to respond, I thought you were ignoring me. What a crazy day, next time I will stand on a rock and shout my requests directly to you so you would hear me properly, sleep well,” he said, then they parted ways.

When a simple piece of information passes through many hands, it undergoes so many changes, editing, modifications, that by the time it reaches the final reader it has evolved and been transformed into something totally different from the original.

Bulletin 7: Matters of Ethical Concerns

It’s an unfortunate thing to say that there are many journalists who have lost their lives in the field of reporting, trying to bring you the viewer the latest headlines, we wish we could honour them by remembering their names as long as we live, on the other hand, there are activities taking place on the field that may raise questions of ethical concerns.

It isn’t wise for reporters to rush into battle grounds with their cameras hoping the bullets will spare them simply because they are renowned journalists. They should value their lives more than the news bulletin they crave for.

Some of that behaviour may be regarded as ghoulish, heartless thinking. Once a journalist was holding a camera onto the face of a child who had been hit by shell fragments in a warzone and is being rushed to hospital by two well-wishers, the reporter happens to be enthusiastically capturing the agonising moments the poor little child is going through, the unbearable pain, the shock, numbness, all combined feelings, was all being recorded on video. On reaching the hospital, he’s laid onto a bed, a physician is called in, he tries very hard to stop the bleeding, blood gushing from his left limb, he asks the other two well-wishers who had earlier carried him to help, the cameraman too is asked to give a helping hand but he refuses, saying he’s capturing important events of the chaos on tape, they plead with him, “please put down your camera for a while and help us save the child’s life,” but the cameraman is strong-willed, he’s determined to capture every single minute of the activity, few minutes later the child passes out, he finally lets go of the fight, the two men who had brought him to hospital step back in shock & disbelief, they become furious beyond control & were very angry at the cameraman. “had you given us an extra hand our precious little boy would be alive by now, look at what you have done,” as their laments were being captured on tape, they turned against him, threw him onto the ground and started punching every part of his body they could reach, they broke his camera, they hit him so hard he was nearly killed, luckily he managed to make an escape and went to hide behind a stone wall where he was to be found two days later by military paramedics, from that time on he has never visited chaotic places, and he stopped taking films on battle grounds.

Why quarrel bitterly when you are not willing to lift a single finger to help, you see cameramen filming a torrential flood, huge waves of water carrying away trees, homes cars, etc., you get to see people and damaged houses floating on water like pieces of rubble from a shipwreck, but the journalists remain standing there screaming and whining as if they enjoy the spectacle.

I don’t know whether this is what actually takes place or there is some other part of the story hidden. It could be that in most cases they do actually offer help, it simply is not the focus of the attention (for now). The argument here is whether more and more pictures should be relayed to our screens showing reporters offering help instead of just standing there and complaining. It could be possible that they are among the first people to arrive at the scene and the victims think of them to be part of rescue team who have come to their aid. ‘’The hope to get assistance has finally arrived, at long last,’’ they sigh with relief. But these fellows are there to make a film. To take clean shots of it. The entire disaster scene must never be interfered with if you wish to take a good quality footage. Rescuing victims of an accident or a natural disaster is not their job.

Bulletin 8: Media Activism.

Another issue at hand is how to distinguish media reporting from media activism, is it appropriate for well-established media personnel to take part in a protest they are reporting on? Openly endorsing the activity one party is engaging in as a just course whereas the other is wrong. For instance, when there is a conflict between workers of a given factory and their employers. They gather in masses and move into the streets demanding better pay, upon investigating further, the reporter discovers that workers have been experiencing very harsh conditions, so the reporter takes on another role as a workers rights activist, she writes statements which appeared in the evening headline news, describing how dangerous the factory is, “many workers nearly suffocated at basement due to poor air conditioning,” she wrote, “there are also huge sharp objects that have tattered the floors, others protrude from the walls and hang dangerously from the roof, many workers after completing two years of their contract went home with lung disease, physical injuries, etc.”.

Such remarks drew the attention of the factory owners from the protesting workers to the journalist herself, “did you come here as a reporter or as a workers rights activist?” which one are you?”

There is likelihood that taking sides in a dispute by media personnel fuels more conflict when one part feels they are being threatened by their presence.

Should journalists join a group of protesting crowds and mingle with them, hold their banners, shout their slogans, or should they refrain from the commotion, by standing far away, only watching from a distance, describing what is happening without having to involve themselves in any way? “These are workers’ rights at stake here, something must be done, or else…”

This move leads some viewers to hate their once favourite newspersons.

Bulletin 9: The Blame Game

People blame the media for fuelling riots at the public square, while the media blames the people for blindly approaching controversial issues, they told the media persons, “riots broke out in the city square immediately after you announced that the elections were rigged,” “no! I didn’t say the elections were rigged, I said the opposition claimed they were certain that a rigging had occurred and wanted to show the world that they had been tricked, the elections were unfair, totally unfair,” “ but that’s after your famous announcement that such a tragedy began to unfold,” they repeatedly shouted to the telecasters, you are the last in the line, in this long chain of events, had you been careful with your words, maybe none of these would have happened, a dozen lives would have been saved, no glasses would have been broken, no property would have been destroyed, the city would have remained quiet just as it has been for many years.”

The reporter began to defend himself “why do you cast blame upon me,” he says “however I am just a journalist reporting on events taking place on the ground while you leave out the people who are truly responsible for such a mess?”

There is freedom of speech, anyone can say anything they want, whatever the consequences may be.

Bulletin 10: Hostile Perceptions.

Another change that has taken place in the modern society is the way communities from different geographical regions perceive one another. A lot of hostile perceptions of people regarding a particular area or county are largely based on what the media feeds them. It is upon such a foundation their knowledge is built.

Here is excerpt from Marko Pito’s journal, a self-proclaimed journalist in the year 1989, after travelling for many days he came across a huge city. In the outskirts of the city there was a small bar named WESTMOBSTER BAR, then after having a brief chat with the men inside, they asked where he was from, he said “I am a cultural anthropologist, I came here to find the roots of the Vikings, I am from Swaziland”. They asked him where exactly that place was , in his reply, he gives a brilliant answer, he says, “if you know south Africa, if you can correctly point it out on an atlas, then you probably know where Swaziland is”, “Oh! you mean Africa?” they giggle back still very dizzy , “I know lots of stuff about Africa, one huge hairy man said , “in fact we learn a lot by simply looking at the news”, “go ahead”, says the researcher, describe it in just five phrases , then they got down to work , first I may say;

“Africa is a warzone, there is fighting everywhere all the time, I’d advice my relatives to think twice before taking adventure trips into the continent’s soil.

Africa is a land of beggars, there are beggars everywhere, on the streets lined up in long queues from the time you set foot at the airport to the time you reach your hotel apartment, make sure you carry bundles of cash to give along the way when you visit.

Africa is a land of primitive Bushmen who live together with wild animals, so remember to bring your cameras over when you travel because you’d expect to meet lots of wildlife along your journey.

Africa is a hostile continent, there are numerous savage tribes that constantly butcher one another for sport, or simply for fun. Cannibalism is also rampant in this part of the world. So be careful with your journeys so that you do not be turned into a feast during your honeymoon.”

The researchers then asked, “What proof do you have to indicate these statements are true, for what reason should you believe in them?” they pointed at the television behind them, “don’t you see it is all in the news, even a blind man can see that?” Then a middle-aged lady who had been listening to their conversations as she served them asked the visitor, “If you were doing research of such a very important subject matter, why would you come to a bar to seek answers from? Shouldn’t you be in some college by now?”

The young reporter who was so heartbroken left the restaurant without saying a word, several days later, he was able to fly his way back home. For several weeks he could not discuss the aftermaths of his journey with anyone, after persistent persuasions from his friends he finally led it out , he told them how long and gruesome his journey had been, he also lets them know about what he heard at the WESTMOBSTER BAR, another roommate tries to brighten him up, I too have been to WESTMOBSTER, “in fact WESTMOBSTER estate is a huge residence full of expensive housing designs, when you are there, you feel as though you were in paradise but there are other shocking things I saw near the city,” he murmurs jokingly.

There is plenty of selfish lifestyle going on in this part of the world, everyone lives for himself with no regard for the others.

It is an estate full of ill-bred kids, their children are all spoilt. The moment a visitor walks in through the street, their children came out to throw toys and eggs at them, telling them to get away from their neighbourhoods, A boy can tell his father, “your head looks like an avocado”, and the father neither does nor says anything.

Soap operas give false impressions that western children always have disputed parenthood, and family quarrels dominate daily life.

Then when the researcher once again queried the source of their confident remarks, they point towards the television, “don’t we see all that in the big screen?”

This interview took place way back in 1989, I have no idea how those statements fare by now. I don’t know whether any of those accounts have some truth in them, one thing I am sure about is that people are the same all over the world, they are equally vulgar, one group tries to downplay the other by giving positive remarks to themselves and ill remarks to the others.

Like the Nurei and Bondoti tribes, the Nurei tribesmen call themselves the true peoples of the world because they can fish and swim efficiently unlike the Bondoti farmers who scratch the soil like weasels. Bondoti on the other hand say they are the truly civilized people because they grow food and store them in silos for future use, and to protect themselves from natural disasters such as draughts that may occur, they say Nurei tribesmen’s hands are covered with scales all over from catching too many fish in the rivers. Every community tells good stories about their tribe to their children but say horrible things about all the tribes around them, that’s human nature.

Bulletin 11: misled

Some travellers came to the horn of Africa actually believing that his whole continent is a bush, with literally no civilised houses erected, people walked around in animal skins and spoke only in native language, so they packed their belongings up with all the things they might need. As if they were going for camping in the woods, they took with them the best of all terrain vehicles like those gigantic wheel sized hovercrafts accustomed to the military, and set forth to a great adventure, some of them even wanted to carry their own drinking water so that they might not be affected by waterborne illnesses if they were to drink contaminated water. Its only when they landed in the megacities that they found out their place of visit wouldn't be as scary after all as they had believed it to. I have grown more and more mistrust of the media in the past years, if there is information aired live that I feel is incomplete I make sure I find out the truth for myself from different sources other than the mainstream media, the journalists who traverse continents to find information are just people like I am, if they can find out information, why can't I?

Innocent citizens continue to be brainwashed with old time stereotypes while the world out there is changing so fast. I don’t know of anyone else in the world who is more paranoid about the media than I am.

I am therefore thinking of starting my own media company which would deliver fairness and respect to all regardless of age, origin and social status, sadly the dream wouldn’t be a possibility because the main role of the media is to expose the rot deeply entrenched in our society for the benefit of everyone. This leads to clashes with everyone around and are suddenly caught in the loop. With fights often breaking out, it is nearly impossible to deliver fairness and equality when what you are constantly seeking is faults, cracks, and crevices. Over the years I have grown a certain degree of Paranoia towards the media, on the other hand, I have also drawn reasonable conclusions to its importance.

Bulletin 12: Honeycomb.

This is what happens to someone who comes out of anonymity and instantly rises to prominence, the attention of the crowd diverts away from whatever place it was focussing on straight to him. You do something insignificant, somebody else finds out about it, and it shoots you to fame, onto a world stage.

How do they handle such a situation? People plunged into success they never really prepared for. It becomes like a game of hide and seek, or cat and mouse, whichever way you describe it to be that’s up to the one experiencing the waves of change, these fellows no matter how hard you try to hide your private life, they’ll certainly find you, you can never hide from them forever “we just wanted to say hello, so we stopped by to greet you, are we welcome here today?”

Because they may have taken something the people set their eyes onto. They’d be like that child who was playing in the fields one afternoon when she found some honeycomb stacked in a tree’s bark, she takes some of it and runs off, in an instant all the bees are after her, they sting her on her head, on her face, her hands, everywhere, wherever she runs they follow her behind, they could smell the honey in her hands. There was no place safe for her anymore in the fields, she went and hid herself under a trash can, every time she raised her head to look around, they’d sting her again and again. Luckily about an hour later the bees were gone, still she remained there in her den, thoughts of bee sting haunting her, she wanted to uncover herself once again and chase the butterflies, and it wasn’t possible, she had to wait till evening when grown-ups had to come to help her out. Her playtime was all ruined, an entire afternoon supposedly full of joy and fun was ruined, just because of the little honey she took.

Such a fellow is similar to the one who finds a group of people watching an entertaining football match, he comes out of nowhere, snatches the ball and runs off with it, their only source of entertainment. They are left with no choice but to go after him into every hole he tries to hide himself in, they’ll chase him long distances until they take back what belongs to them.

Bulletin 13: Moderate Fame

Too much fame could be harmful to one’s social life, you can’t even do anything without anyone noticing. Everywhere you go people crowd over you like bees on a honeycomb. Not a thing is reserved. It feels good to have such higher esteem, but in reality, it’s much more terrifying than people really ever imagined. That’s why we prefer to remain anonymous, being recognized for one’s achievements is a good thing but not to the extent of which even the most private activity of a person’s life gets into the eyes of the public. Too much publicity is harmful to one’s health and wellbeing.

Bulletin 14: Troublemaker.

There are these two journalists nicknamed Bojo & Matisi from WWB (World Wide Broadcasting) and DAN (Dynamic All-round Networks) who are spreading propaganda & hate speech, they hurled insulting Abuses on live television screens, their supervisors asked them to stop spreading their menace or else they’d be thrown out of the media houses, for they were not only bringing damage unto their own names but also the identity of the media houses they represented, but they would not listen.

They went to the countryside during mid-summer, there they started a bushfire, and then they rushed back to the studio to report on it. “they started complaining, pouring out laments in torrents, pointing out mistakes the villagers made when they tried to salvage goods from their homes, complaining about the slow responses of the fire brigade in their efforts to save these people’s lives, how the police failed to get to the scene on time, how the insurance companies failed to compensate the victims.

They were asked to retrieve their comments which they failed to, shortly afterwards they were kicked out of their offices, their supervisors told them, “we know you have served us extremely well for so many years, we congratulate you for that, but you have caused us so much damage in a single day which outweighs all your fifty years of good work at this premise, all our hundred years’ worth of investments goes up in smoke overnight, it’s time to say bye bye to you for now old friends.”

Bulletin 15: Intrusive Behaviour.

Such newspersons, do they probably think that the viewers are silly and cannot distinguish right from wrong, facts from fabrications. This is really nerd, unrealistic and incomprehensible.

Bulletin 16: Romanus Suspicius

People become suspicious of what these reporters could be after hoping there is no evil agenda hidden behind the so-called freedom of speech, what is he/she after? Does she plan to wreak havoc on myself and the people around me? What is their motive anyway; this uncertainty leads people to grow ever more suspicious of the media and all of its elements.

Bulletin 17: Fear Factor.

Some people fear the media more than they fear the police, when they hear a knock at the door, they open it, when they find out it’s the police, they welcome them in, but when a door is opened and is discovered it’s the media press standing by, a door is quickly slammed shut onto their faces, “no more interactions for the day please”, for they believe the police often come to protect them, whereas the media is there to expose them, and have developed a strong paranoia towards the media.

“Everything it does is malicious, every interview invitation should be preceded with extreme caution, you should be careful with your tongue, because you could suddenly find yourself trapped by your own words, unable to correct them”, they say… “The media is going to tattoo a bad graffiti onto your back, which will be nearly impossible to erase, it will be a permanent mark of your past life, so that it screams out to the world and allows everyone else to read from it. They’ll brand you like a cow”.

Bulletin 18: Chasing the Weather.

Most part of media reporting is based on current events, Just when you think you have known it all it changes, so swift , so fast you never see it coming, so matters that are of interest now may be of no attention in the future, or things that no one cares about now may turn out to be the major source of attention of the nation in the few coming years, no one ever really knows what will happen between now and then, but every personnel appears all wise and all-knowing until when disaster strikes, everything is plunged into chaos, folks often have to learn this the hard way.

The media press focusses on a particular set of issues for a given period of time, it is not the perfect place to learn extensively about other regions & localities far away, if you want to learn about history, go to a museum, about anthropology or regional Geography then go to a public library or buy a conscious documentary film, the media press may appear capable of showing you how the world is like, but not in a complete, extensive and generally balanced manner.

Media press information may be slightly biased depending on the subject matter and emphasis. Hot topics come and go by like wind, they are quickly forgotten then new ones arrive.

A short while ago, I used to have a very negative view of Berliners, based on what I have seen in the media, until I travelled there myself, I thought all Berliners were mean, angry extremists, ‘’when in Berlin you will face the highest degree of antisocial behaviour, no communication, no public interaction, no nothing, ‘’I was told,’’ It gave me the false impression that Berlin and Cairo were the most dangerous cities for foreigners to live in on earth.

I used to follow the media press hoping there is much I could learn about the other parts of the world where I have never been to, it turns out that many presenters were also blind about these issues just as I was, in fact they took away the little sight I had left and made my vision worse, I discovered that many journalists were quite ignorant of the life around them. So shocking, so sad.

Bulletin 19: double sided.

There are journalists I have met whom I found to be of noble intentions and character, on the other hand, there are those who are downright aggressive, they are both on a mission of undertaking human rights activism, and reporting at the same time, when they are asked, “are you on human rights campaign or field reporting assignment?’’ they gladly respond saying, “we are both,” they’d say confidently, ‘’with special regards to this story we are able to expose human rights infringement and loopholes, the world will get to know what’s truly going on around this place and someone might be able to do something about it”.

This kind of mentality has in turn created a cloud of paranoia around many institutional premises, when journalists appear on scene, people’s suspicions are raised, they say unto themselves, “the so called honest reporters think they are doing a great deed to the society by detailing every inch of activity that goes on in our firms, that will eventually have a long term negative effect on our company, so please”, says the manager to the junior staff, “put a sign post outside the door there to let them know they are not welcome, in clear words write, PRIVATE PROPERTY, DO NOT TRESPASS, NO CAMERAS BEYOND THIS POINT, ANY ANAUTHRISED FILMING WILL BE REGARDED AS INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE”.

Over the first few decades, media personalities have been encouraged by the society to be more aggressive in their information gathering pursuits, “go comrades, don’t let anyone oppress you, keep on fighting for your rights, your freedom of speech, never let anyone pin you down, nor deny you your privileges.”

This phrase sadly to say has created a new breed of newspersons who care less and less about the consequences of their reporting they word out anything they feel it should be known about then get surprised later of the outcomes

Bulletin 20: Master Plan.

There is a section of the mass media who want to shrink you to the size of a specimen so that they can examine you proper, to do all kinds of experiments on you with their photographic equipment.

Does one easily allows himself to be objectified by the printing press, to be used as an amusement pet?

Bulletin 21: Sudden Spread.

Media business has gone into the hands of commoners, those not affiliated to any well-established media house, it has spread far and wide in only just a few years, anybody with a camera and an audio recorder can invest in information business, whoever fortunes may favour to become a self-made newshound. There are more journalists in the world today than there has ever been in the last century. There at the marketplace a group of youngsters, once idlers dared to become self-made media personnel, they pick up their equipment and go out into the field in search of information, once they find it, all data is taken to their makeshift studio, where its thoroughly edited by enthusiasts, they are also able to find a loyal audience in their locality upon which they send their news briefings, latest stories, trends etc. the media is going back to the olden days when news briefings were passed across by word of mouth.

Bulletin 22: When the Media Fell in Love with Scandals.

A section of the media industry love scandals so much, they have tasted the drama it unleashes, many times, and are certain it’s something never to turn a blind eye on, it will bring you great fortunes, crowds flock around these newcomers to the spotlight and take photos in bulk, cameras flashing so bright they almost blind them out, one cries out covering his face with one hand and the other stretched outwards to shield off the crew closing in on them, “aargh! I am allergic to cameras”, he exclaims, “please keep your distance, you will crush us”, sometimes they get extremely annoyed, they give unkind annotations saying, “individuals that follow up constructive stories are like bees that make honey, they want to make something sweet and useful for all peoples, whereas those that run after those rumours which brand people with ugly names are like flies which chase after carcasses, each group can easily distinguish their true source of meal.

Bulletin 23: the accountability bill

Some members of parliament began pushing the proposal that says investigative journalists and telecasters should be held accountable for the words of their mouths, with all the results of their reporting, just the same way MPs are strictly scrutinized and words they speak are held into account to be possibly used against them in the future. If a journalist gives a disturbing report about a given market then should it lead to rioting, angry protesters damaging property in the marketplace then the shop owners have a right to claim compensation from the journalists and the media companies that caused the upheaval. If a poof can be revealed that links them to the rioting and violence in the city square, then proper action must be taken against them. The mayors, councillors and members of parliament from Way-man County had a heated debate, they couldn’t decide exactly what to be done about the current uneasiness. Every man and woman, whether great or small, rich or poor must be held accountable for the words they speak. It will not be like in the olden days when a group of researchers would throw something into a crowd then walk out of the commotion leaving everyone to decide for themselves.” We have got to look at the bigger picture, says the mayor, if you really love this town, then you'd not want to be the cause of its ruin."

Some activists reacted by conducting a public protest against the proposals brought forward by the council. “The media struggle has come too far, we surely do not want to take it back to the olden days (the Stone Age period). When activists were tongue tied and kept in small dark rooms for speaking the truth, "are you taking us back to the days of media oppression Mr Mayor?" the people shout at him.

“Of course not,” he replies, ‘’you are saying that you speak the truth to the people, which of course is your truth. Everybody here claims to be speaking the truth., everyday your reporters storm into my office with their hairy microphones, when I ask them to be more careful with what they are doing, they slam my office desk saying, it's my RIGHT my FREEDOM. To you, the word freedom can mean a lot of things, do you mean freedom from responsibility? Freedom from blame? Freedom from accountability, freedom from worrying, concerns, care…..?

All right, I understand it's your right, your freedom, everybody here has rights, you somehow happen to put your own interests and desires ahead of everyone else. This town is bigger than any of you and all of us, should any calamity come upon it, all of us will be affected, if you claim to love and care for this town, then I bet you'd give us your support and help us build it, not to demolish it, my office is the most intruded room in this town." said the mayor with empathy in his voice.

The mayor has often been heavily criticised before because of his mysterious spending, secretive budget allocations and unclear awarding of contracts.

It continues to stir up anger in the protesters, they demand better reforms.

"Do you know what happens when a councillor gives his first speech?" asks the mayor, ‘’every citizen takes out their pen and notebook, writes down all the promises he makes, then they put people in charge to follow up his activities, to make sure he fulfils every promise he makes, for us people in positions of leadership, life is quite tough for us, compare that with a well-established and respected journalist. No such thing ever takes place, in the last half a century, the media industry has grown larger and more influential, with this immense influence comes immense power, for us public officials and figures are constantly at the mercy of their reporting, they should exercise great responsibility, anything they present does have a long-term effect on their viewers and the society at large. Accountability is supposed to be a two-way exchange, if they want me to be responsible, they should not act otherwise. We are just trying to keep their power in check, were you not aware that the media industry has more power and influence than any other Informational institution in the world? More than health institutions more than financial institutions more than the co-operative institutions, more than sports institutions, etc.

What is actually the role of the media? Is it to demonise politicians and other people in public offices? To give the impressions that they are fork-tongued serpents who say one thing then do another?”

Before he could finish objects were flying towards him, flowers, sticks, shoes eggs, the people hit him on the face, he fled from the podium and sought refuge in the town hall, the people couldn’t take in anymore, they had heard enough from this mayor so they wanted an alternate solution, a quick change to his system of governance.

Bulletin 24: Corporate witnessing

Media press just like any other industries has been hugely commercialised with tons of money pouring into it from every direction, its activities have never been this intensified before. In a perfect business what else is more important than profit? If they don’t gain a few more viewers and readers a month, they shall be forced to shut down, I wished media corporations were NGOs, then they’d give One Hundred percent perfect reporting. Matters of ethical concerns such as privacy intrusion, ghoulish behaviour, aggression & vulgar language are all of little or no concern when compared to the ultimate price," more viewers and readers means more financial gains," outselling their competitors, after all they are just doing their job, ‘’I must give a complete account of what happened here, my superiors demand that I should carry out my duties with due diligence, not leaving out a thing.’’ Exclaims the journalist.

Bulletin 25: media scavenger.

A reporter was chased away by female nurses and other workers from a nearby regional hospital, they kicked him out of the premise far out onto the main road, and they made sure they pushed him out for good. "Whenever this guy shows up with his sleekly camera, we would often hear that an important patient has died. We are losing clients because of your miserable face, you are a sign of bad omen, go away please,” they screamed, “the very sight of you here fills us with horror."

‘’You see ladies,’’ the young man defended himself, ‘’I myself don’t like this job, it’s been placed upon my shoulders by my employers, I have been specifically assigned the responsibility of taking the first notes of the events going on here and to tell you frankly, I don’t enjoy taking those pictures in fact I have more remorse for those victims, more than you the nurses, your workers and your doctors do.’’

Since we all know that money talks there is nothing much we can say or do about the daily happenings inside the media houses. It is a clear representation of how our society is structured, there is a steady stream of gainers and loosers as well. It is unfortunate to learn that there are those who benefit from misfortunes of others.

"Where there is a dead body vultures will gather,” is common phrase that often comes up at the municipal hospital. When you hear people utter this phrase along the corridors, then know they are referring to the media press.

As long as media filming remains to serve commercial benefit, there will always be a conflict of interest and constant clashes with members of the general public, with the media calling for more interest and interaction with the press, people demand more ethical issues to be addressed and privacy concerns to be highly regarded.

It’s no doubt why non-profit sponsored programs and shows are more educative, engaging and emotionally fulfilling than those with money making agendas behind them, and those papers that depend entirely on the number of copies and readership volume have more sizzling, kinky and cringing stories than those papers that have a wider distributed source of income, as we may speak, there are many media groups that have managed to overcome this urge for quick profits just like any other entertainment industries, like film and music, the lure of quick easy money drives them to do things they wouldn’t have done otherwise, engaging themselves in embarrassingly unspeakable actions & activities. This too being part of human nature and applies to all fields of profession. We tend not to like it when we are on the receiving end of the punch. When promoting my products at the local media stations I gladly present my work for display but on the other hand easily get annoyed when listening to other people’s advertisements & promotions.

Bulletin 26: double blackmail.

Blackmailing and other threats arise not only from professional journalists but individuals as well as anyone with an audio or video recorder can secretly tap into an icon’s embarrassing moments and threaten them with exposure if they do not fully reward his/her demands, these are just ordinary folks , none of them has ever stepped into a film or mass communication school, yet they act strangely in a way you would relate to some malicious professional reporting, its human nature as a matter of fact.

If there is no public image you are protecting, then there is obviously nothing to worry about, whenever you have a high social status in society somebody somewhere will always try to take advantage of it whether he/she is a journalist or not.

Once in a small country in the north, there was a clever wealthy smuggler and a smart reporter too, who stalked tycoons in that area, and the trader on the other hand began to think of a way of using the reporter for his own financial gain. To eradicate his competitors and thereby increase his profits, the other side the reporter was thinking of a way of raking some cash out of this talking gold bullion, unfortunately both were in the end caught red handed after they had made a deal. They try to manipulate one another, they tried to control and destroy each other and ended up in the same hot soup.

Bulletin 27: the buster is busted.

The guy who was describing foul things on popular radio, the fact that we could not see his face gave him false feelings of invincibility, no one has ever seen him or know what he looks like. This is a fellow that offends listeners the way he wishes, he says whatever he pleases, describes teeth clenching things.

I picked a baseball bat and asked the driver of the bus if he won't change the station, then he should turn it off, better be bored in silence than to spend hours listening to garbage. If he won't do any of that, I will be obliged to smash the bus’s stereo systems into pieces, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

We say to that parrot who sits behind a megaphone in office unknown to the public, you are busting others now but soon you too shall be busted, you think your studio can provide enough covering for you and you can maim anyone you wish, very soon your voice shall be relayed to the public once more with your face attached to it, everything you want to say we heard it all before, therefore keep it to yourself, speak only if you have something useful to say, otherwise you want to teach our children to speak the rough-cut languages they have learned from you?

Everything you say is so gross that whenever you open your mouth to speak, we all want to cover our ears, won't you at least try to moderate your speech? Make it more helpful, resourceful and not outright perverted? I am not being judgemental by making such demands, all I need is just a bit of your conscience, and you must remember that whatever you say on such a popular radio affects us all. Whatever group of audiences you are directing your discussions to please do not remain in the direction of unorthodox communications, pay attention to the least unlikely member of the passengers who could be listening, the kids. They are tired of your disrespectful highlights and quotations.

Bulletin 28: a war of veils and curtains.

Companies and individuals are fighting for obscurity and confidentiality while the press wants more openness in their deep inner dealings, more transparency, and more accountability. It's your responsibility to ensure public interests are put into place, who gave you that responsibility? Yourself of course. Neither of the side wants to loose or easily accept defeat nor fall victim of the media press’ ambitions someday.

Media press is also scrutinized the most. more than any other organization or corporation, since they scrutinize the public and questions the actions of many ordinary men and women, the public also scrutinizes them in a similar manner not sparing them an inch. And a single act of dishonesty could make viewers lose faith in their favourite presenters, even if he has been reporting truthful and factual accounts all his career, a single act of dishonesty will let the people think he/she has been reporting half-truths, ‘’so they have been carrying out a life of hypocrisy all these years? He mocks those living in a stable while he himself is laying in a pigsty,’’ they’d say, new brooms sweep clean but once these brooms catch soot, they taint the entire house floor, and mess up everything.

Bulletin 29: media power soliloquy

This is the media power slogan as of today sung by Eddy Jeer Pierce

- The media has POWER to IMPRESS audiences of every age group

- The media has POWER to INFLUENCE politics, economics, law & judiciary, learning etc.

- The media has POWER to CONDEMN injustice and abuses of all kinds

- The media has POWER to MANIPULATE proceedings of an ongoing show

- The media has POWER to JUSTIFY actions taken by some activists

- The media has POWER to DICTATE the transparency of an ongoing investigation

- The media has POWER to CONTROL & MONITOR the undertaking of an existing election.

- The media has POWER to ESTABLISH itself as an independent and legal entity in the society

- The media has POWER to DOMINATE headlines of an emerging story in the community

- The media has POWER to EXERCISE her freedom of expression and speech.

- The media has POWER to AUTHOURISE a commission of enquiry to be set forth.

- The media has POWER to INTIMIDATE corrupt officials of the society

The media has POWER to…….

MEDIA POWER! MORE POWER, MEDIA POWER! MORE POWER! HEY FOLKS, THE MEDIA HAS GOT REAL POWER! MEDIA POWER! REAL POWER!

One significant thing you probably have noticed is the way some anchors relay news briefings with a very authoritative and demanding voice. They speak with great authority, as if the information they are passing came from themselves, especially discussions that relate to some form of injustice, the so-called abuse of fellow citizens. Journalists talk down on viewers just like the way military generals shout commands at cadets in the military barracks. They think very highly of themselves and their studios. They strongly believe that viewers or listeners have no right to question, dispute or oppose anything they say, that they should just sit there on the sofa and take in all the information that is being fed to them.

Bulletin 30: Smart Jurists

I have seen how some of the media personnel curl themselves behind a camera like a chameleon then throw questions at interviewees, sometimes in a provoking way and when the interviewee accidentally says something wrong, it becomes the focus of the evening news, it is repeated more than ten times within an hour, "can you believe that, the YOGOS firm manager has just called foreign contractors JACKALS who suck your account dry and do no good job, do you know what the consequences of such a phrase would be, we will lose valuable investors which could hamper our city's development, " on they repeated the old man's words creating a whole range of variations to it.

But when you actually listen keenly to the interview you find that the firm owner had said something quite different and what he meant was not really as it was portrayed. The man behind the camera had asked him about dogs and how they compare to their wild brothers the jackals, he in turn replied that jackals are worse than dogs because they are of no use to man the way dogs are, the asker’s voice was surprisingly lowered while that of the interviewee significantly raised to make it look like what was replied had no relations with what was asked.

Some media persons can psychologically victimise and discourage their specimens for as long as they please without fear of a similar possible reverse action done against them.

Somebody's answering non-existent possibly imaginary questions, they struggle to find answers to reply to while their interrogators enjoy a secure hideout behind a camera, they have an apparent feeling of complete absence yet still very influential in the present discussion.

Such cases are also evident when you see entire portions of a speech or conversation left out to focus on some small nasty segment that interested the reporter most. In such cases you can never fully comprehend what the entire conversation was all about or what was in the speaker’s mind when he spoke in a given way. "they stirred him up with sole hurting words then crawled back behind cameras to capture all his violent reactions on live television, when media personnel insults a prominent figure then it's okay, it's called justice, but when the same is done otherwise, then its frowned upon as media oppression, persecution etc."

Bulletin 31: Judge Exposé

A judge upon reading an exposé of his personal affairs took his mallet went out to make war with media corporations, I will smash them head on like cockroaches, they will learn to fear the gavel, the same law they used to dismantle my image, I will use it to crush them into nothing more than dust, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing, seeing or reading.

Bulletin 32: the language that ye speak (speaking in cold tongues).

A chancellor was being interrogated with difficult questions by people who tried to get him to say something wrong. Then he began to speak in cold-tongue, "if they cannot interpret my tongues, then it is their problem, he said, if they were genuine, then they would ask simple direct or honest questions, but because they ask referenced questions just to confuse my mind, I will reply them back in cold-tongues then watch to see how smart they are."

Some of these questions may include

- Controversial questions that demand you to take sides.

- Intrusive questions that demand you to give sensitive details in the name of public interest.

- Crafty questions that try to make you answer in a way they want, to say something that you will obviously regret later, to make you chew cud.

If you have something to argue, you should come clean and show your face, stop throwing heinous words while you hide your face behind a crowd.

Bulletin 33: the media pinches.

An important debate was being conducted by a renowned media organization, all the contestants showed up at the venue, one of them a popular candidate for a top government seat was very angry at the way he was asked, he quarrelled the moderators together with the assigned judges for so long that the show had to be delayed for another hour, "how come you throw nasty allegations at me and when I am about to answer you limit my speech saying that time is over , you say you have two minutes only to answer, can anybody answer a question in less than a minute? Stop being unfair."

The moderators who were well renowned journalists made allegations at him one after another, and when the old man was about to answer they shut him up saying, ‘’hurry up please, times is up you have two minutes left, please summarise quickly.’’

It becomes clear how some journalists can be smart at executing their attacks at popular folks, they punch them hard, and they don’t give them a chance to defend themselves, not a chance to give a full explanation. Limiting someone's time is not a fair way to let them express their ideas or opinions. This was a maimed freedom of expression. "If this is what you wanted then you should ask yes or no questions."

Bulletin 34: what news do you bring?

It’s quiet common in the early days for the media personnel to be attacked by people who were supposed to welcome them, simply because the news they brought turned out to be unpleasant. Reporters have reportedly been attacked after delivering shocking news. "Is that what you were so eager to tell me? Da#*%$ you miserable de**#@%." says Lady Arwin to the girl who delivered to her the news that her father has been incarcerated after being convicted of a terrible crime.

Upon hearing such news lady Arwin covered her face and fell down on her knees, she broke down into tears, she wailed for hours on, because she couldn’t believe her ears, how can her beloved father be convicted of such a heinous crime? She couldn’t imagine the thought of her dad forever taken away from her, never to see him again. She remembers vividly the good times she had with him, the popular days of her youth, simply vanished in the flash of a second, and now replaced by dark terrifying clouds. She began to associate all reporters with every bad feeling inside her.

"When I saw you with a smiley face, I thought you were coming to tell me something good. (Good news as I may say was what you harboured inside).

How could you be glad that such a misfortune has begotten me? You have no remorse, do you? Is that your job or responsibility to bring sorrow to others with news you think are exciting? No one wishes to hear any of those except you yourself," with these words uttered she proceeded to attack the lady, they fought fiercely before other people nearby came to stop them.

Rawburrggy the templar knight stabbed the messenger who brought him the news that his castle had been burned down to ashes and his wife and children snatched off by raiders. The news hurt him so much that he decided to cut the man into two.

Bulletin 35: park business

A family went into a theme park one sunny weekend afternoon to have some fun. As soon as they had settled to have some lunch, a researcher came in, he was doing a nationwide data collection of foods served near parks for some company. The family allowed him to take samples of the foodstuffs they were taking and some fruits as part of his programme, he asked them many questions and persuaded them to fill numerous forms about foodstuffs they commonly keep their house, all this being recorded on video. He therefore finished whatever he was doing and left the family in peace. After he's gone about five minutes passed before the park authorities came along to assess the situation of the park which had been closed for a very long time, since they were among the first people to use the place after its reopening, the authorities were investigating the conditions of the place, how they were served by kiosks, how other people felt about its reopening to the public after a very long time. They took into detail every shred of information the family relayed to them as this was part of an important information gathering.

Later on, they were done with their somehow serious information gathering processes and left for their daily duties. Sometime later came event organizers, they were part of a promotion team who were making way for the coming of a popular firm's roadshow advertising that’s to come to the park later that afternoon, the local football champion would be one of the hosts, “what an exciting evening it would be,” said the chap, "how would you feel like seeing Jenkins standing there on the podium with the crowds gathered around him?" He asked the family a dozen questions for their opinions of the upcoming event with an accomplice holding a camera right in their faces.

When the field organisers had left, more and more researchers, investigators, organisers, editors, and reporters came each carrying their own share of demands they wanted from the family, a whole three hours had passed, it was getting late in the afternoon, they had not even gotten a chance to finish their lunch as they were continually being interrupted by their enquiries. the woman told the man that they should get out of that place as soon as possible before someone else comes to hold them hostage, "please let's take the kids somewhere else quieter and secure than here, these fellows have ruined our picnic,” she said.

They quickly rolled up their belongings and moved out of the park, with a sigh of relief, they managed to get back into their van before anyone noticed them pass by, "what a terrifying thing it is to find yourself in the media spotlight," they said, and drove back home.

Bulletin 36: security stripped.

Many people blame the media for stripping them of security they previously enjoyed, now they have been exposed to the whole world.

A precious metal miner was complaining a lot on a national television about the media persons storming into his house. "They took pictures of everything in my house including that of every jewel with its price value then published it for the whole world to see. Now I am faced with more security threats than I have ever imagined, as soon as the first descriptions of my life success stories went live, my mother was kidnapped while travelling abroad, those thugs who held her hostage demanded me to pay an arm and a leg for her release," "your son makes zillions from his mines," they said to her, "why don’t you ask him to send us a small share of his fortune and we will release you unharmed, ask him to co-operate so as nothing would happen to you."

“Since that day,’’ says the miner, ‘’I have been on the run, I have received every kind of threat and attacks from armed robbers to highly organized gangs, nowhere in the world is safe for me anymore.

I didn't want to reveal anything in my house at first but these persistent reporters persuaded me to let them look further into the interior, they promised it would be for their own self enjoyment little did I know they had some other plans, plots to strip me of my privacy and security, now I can't even trust the walls and ceilings of my house. They have since then left me and disappeared into the unknown. Now it’s I who's left in the turmoil.”

Bulletin 37: Painful Interrogations.

It is easy to notice when someone is becoming painfully inquisitive, first he asks you about your origins, “which province did you come from? I am from Southern Namandwaland”, “well what tribe Specifically?’’ ‘’Rukiya sir,” he responds, “Well I happen to know that tribe which sub group do you speak? Danjii sire, I too speak that tongue, so tell me one last thing, tell me which clan and village you come from….” And the list goes on and on, the young carpenter asks why he’s being interrogated so strictly, ‘’why do you ask so much about my dwellings sire are you planning to visit my town? No Mr it’s just for reference purposes, never mind.

Bulletin 38: The Media Business Changes People.

I had a friend who joined the media business a few years ago, before recruitment he was jovial, very talkative fellow but after a few years of reporting he was often seen sad & gloomy, his face changed from that of a playful youngster to an old lonely man.

His face grew wrinkles and hair turned grey, I approached him on a bench one day when he was having a rest, “what makes you so upset these days man you look like you have been from a funeral, what is stressing you?” ‘’You know what old friend” , he spoke in a low tone, ‘’when I became a telecaster I was very excited, I thought I am going to be the happiest person in the business, bringing people marvellous stories from every corner of the world, now it’s the opposite, now I feel like I should find another job, which isn’t possible because I have spent many years training for this career, imagine a steady stream of heart-breaking stories flowing in from the big screen, every hour, every minute of every day and they expect you to be the one making those announcements, you can’t take in all that even if you are extremely patient. I am tired of broadcasting depressing news, maybe I should try something else, for instance sports.’’

It became apparent there was no way I could help this fellow, I wasn’t sure whether it’s his job that was responsible for the changes in his character or could it be a combination of many events taking place in his life, that have brought him to this point of despair… although a good majority of people remained unchanged after many years of working in the media business, there is a good number that is traumatized by the images they see and stories they broadcast on a daily basis, “I feel very sorry for you old friend, maybe you should come and drive my truck part time.”

I asked a journalist who was waiting at a press conference, ‘’why is it that your face looks so sad? The presentation is about to begin, very soon the interviewees will be out giving their testimonies,’’ "it's not that,” he said, ‘’it's just that I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen." you look at the signs on these people's faces, everything tells you that things are not right here.

I know of many reporters who became pessimists after being in the media business for a very long time, their dream careers completely changed their lives and left them with a stale taste of the society.

Bulletin 39: Media Goggles

Many times after I’ve watched the news I feel like going out there and punching somebody’s face, making him pay for his treachery.

Sometimes when you watch the news you might think the world is going to end tomorrow.

What a sad thing it is to view the world through the eyes of the media? You are let to visualize the world is on fire, the entire planet is in flames, raging monstrous fires, it sends a chill down your spine when you fathom to be living in such a cold dark world.

If you really want to know plenty about a city, and its history or problems, then ask dwellers who have been there for four-five decades, they probably may have much more comprehensive concepts of the problems it has experienced for many years compared to somebody who has been there for only a few weeks, a lot of information is often relayed through the media press, but there is often much more left out.

Bulletin 40: Very Important News.

Jimmy taught me a very intriguing dialogue, it goes like this…

When someone tells me there is important news you need to watch please come quickly or else you will miss it all. Then I would ask, “How important is it? How significant do you think? Is there a tornado heading towards the direction of my home? No” he’d say, I’d ask again, “is there a serial killer on the loose in my neighbourhood?” He replies again no, I persistently ask again, “do we have a new president of the united states?” He stubbornly says No over again. I finally ask another, let me ask you one last time please, “is my house on fire?” If all your replies were No, then I do not think there is any important news to take a glimpse of in the first place, all questions I asked you were important and you replied no to all of them, which means everything else could just be noise, all noise, if he insists that I really need to watch the news, I tell him I have a very busy schedule for now, am so busy I don’t have a single minute for any other event”. When there is important news, you don’t need struggle search it out, because everyone else in the estate will be talking about it, you will hear people discussing it in the neighbourhoods, at the basement, at carparks, at the restaurants, literary everywhere, so no need to waste time gazing onto a pixeled screen.

Bulletin 41: Will Bad News Ever End?

I was listening to a reporter a while ago on a satellite television, he had visited a certain city which he was giving a report on, surprisingly it happened to be the same city I was living in that he was talking about, I couldn’t believe my ears, he was saying the vilest of things about my city, horrible beyond belief, he would move from one situation to another and another each coming one worse than its preceding opinion, I felt so bad that I wanted to pick up my things and move on to another city, I felt like I am living in a dustbin and all round me being surrounded by garbage.

I decided to gather all my luggage to move to a nearby city, to my surprise, the place I went to was not very different from the one I had been before, so alternative thought was to move out of the country, fly away and never come back, but there was an obstacle, the place I live in is landlocked and all our neighbouring countries speak a language different from ours and worse, there are no kinds of jobs I do in those countries. Where do I go now? If the city I live in is dangerous, so are all the others in the world.

This group of reporters who call themselves the grey eagles, they have an inordinate duty which is to warn the inhabitants of the earth that they are in a terrible place, horrible beyond belief, and they won’t stop until somebody pays them attention.

Bulletin 42: The Controller in My Hands

Why did I forget that the power is in my hands, by the simple press of a button you can cut off all that noise, and turn onto something useful? Right now, there are about a thousand satellite broadcasting stations around the world relaying news twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in the next decade, there is going to be ten thousand, and the following one, there will be one hundred thousand.

Why waste time worrying when you can simply switch the channel? When I suspect a news briefing is simply designed to cause me pain, I quickly run for the remote and change it, why weigh yourself down with too much stress, I get lots of stress at the workplace already I simply can’t take in any more when I reach my home, no time for double stress, evening time is a precious moment to cool oneself off from the hot day’s sun and to relax, not worrying about things that don’t concern me,

For the Saddening creeds I shall switch them off, I shall turn away from doctrine driven agendas and mind controlling debates.

Bulletin 43: Mutual Benefit (Symbiosis)

Despite all the challenges and bottlenecks present, the society still needs the media.

The relationship between the nation and its media houses is of mutual benefit, like the ox-peckers and the water buffalo, the ox-peckers pick out hiding ticks from its hide, a source of food for the birds, while the water buffalo benefits from this cohesion by getting rid of dangerous pests, when danger approaches, they abruptly fly away therefore warning the beast on time, the media despite the upheavals it has always been involved in, it has also been helping the society see parasitic activities going on in a given region, community or organization that may pose a risk to the nation’s health & wellbeing.

There are a number of problems that have been overcome through the efforts of the media press, a great example is the story of Gedna Barleys who saved his town from unscrupulous councillors. They had intentionally been tampering with the town’s fresh water resources and sewers for several years, those who had land could not irrigate their farms, and those who had built homes could not get enough water for domestic use, land and house prices began to depreciate rapidly and many people sold their homes for a penny. After they’ve bought all the property they had wanted, the councillors unblocked the water supply systems, and fresh water could once more reach every area of the municipality.

Gedna worked tirelessly for many months until he had uncovered the councillors plot, these were very powerful people in the country whom you shouldn’t be railing against that openly, he received numerous death threats, but despite all the odds he succeeded in saving his town, of course with support of some sober minded lawyers & judges in high courts and the general public. A lot of people were already aware of what was happening in the town but were too scared to speak openly about it, none had the confidence or will strong enough to risk his life standing up against such a decay in the town, thanks once again to Gedna.

Listening to press declarations makes one realise the media just like all the other corporate structures is not perfect. No one is perfect, and those working in magnificent media houses are also humans just the way you are. In as much as we struggle to keep our lives smooth, they too struggle to keep their news briefings in order. Let’s try to understand them, though we have clashed a couple of times before, we still need them, the society still needs the media.

Many conflicts occur along the way but eventually it ends up with everyone trying to treat the life of their neighbours with dignity, those few journalists who hurled abuses on live television were thrown out, their newsrooms given to fresh faces, then the news industry will once again be a delightful place.

END OF BULLETIN.

##

Final Clause

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Footnotes.

My most used/favourite stylistic features

- Sharp contrast

- Heavy metaphor

- Extravagant exaggeration.

The reference to masculine characters In the above stories is not a biased motive to discriminate against any gender, it's just for the purposes of description, the authors repeated use of words such as he/him/man/king are just for the purposes of enchanting the narrative, if you feel offended by them then feel free to replace them with whatever words you choose as you read along, these pronouns are NOT put in place to intimidate, you can also contact the author directly and specify which part should changes be made to and to what particular effect, the author respects all readers and will not misrepresent members of any class, age, status or gender. All readers are precious.

I am trying to avoid the inconvenience of having to jump from one side of the group to another as it easily puts the readers off, jumping from side to side, back and forth, here and there is really irritating, take for instance it's better to say, "the king came out of his castle, called the knights and asked him to take him out on a ride through the royal forests and left his son in charge of the castle," than to say, "the king/queen came out of his/her castle, called the knight/knightess and asked him/her to take him/her out on a ride through the royal forest and left his/her son/daughter in charge of the castle"

Textual homogeneity- some aspects of the words, phrases and stories share lots of similarities with one another, the keen reader who repeatedly crosscheck between different tittles will definitely notice this trend, if characters are portrayed in such a sluggish manner that makes the text boring to the reader, then reader please remember to inform the author as soon as possible.

Cover image: Two mainstream media reporters discuss current affairs in a news studio, theme by author.