How the poisonous side of social media is killing the newspaper

At the weekend there was a scare. A popular radio presenter, Meddie Nsereko Ssebuliba had an accident. A Luganda newspaper reported that the doctors were ‘very worried’ that he had ‘not bleed externally.’ That was only the beginning.

In the middle of the night, someone took to social media to pronounce him dead. He then prayed to the All Mighty Allah to receive him in Janna with utmost mercy.

I had last spoken to him a few days ago as he sought clarity on a matter regarding some history of the turbulent 70s. Naturally, I was very shaken. Because it was very late (about 2.30am) there was no way of confirming this ‘sad news’ except checking on the Internet. Interestingly, no major news website made mention of it. It was only hot on social media sites like Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Next day at Kibuli Muslim Hospital, there was Meddie, lying on his bed. Save for two IV cannulae in his left and right arm, it was difficult to tell that he had an infirmity of any nature. No scratch at all. He was in his usual element; full of humour and wise cracks.
He dramatically told us how the angel of death tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked up in his face, Malak-al-Maut apologised and said to him, ‘you are not the one I have come for!’

He spoke about the regatta at Mulungu, the Onduparaka game against Gor Mahia and the SC Villa meeting, which he intended to attend. He spoke vividly of so many people who had come to visit him. In other words, the man was full of life.

So how did his ‘death’ make it to social media? A week ago, one of the most followed personalities on social media in Uganda, popular NTV news anchor Faridah Nakazibwe was interviewed by Crystal Newman Kavulu, on 88.2 Sanyu FM.

She said she does not take social media seriously because people there simply do as they please. She gave an example of someone who wrote that she smiled with her fans on TV during the day and cried in her bed the whole night. She then wondered who follows her to her bed to witness her crying ‘the whole night!’

Social media unlike the printed newspaper has a liberal side to it that is very poisonous. While the newspaper has several gate keepers who are fully aware of the legal, moral, financial and social implications of inaccurate news, social media has a free for all aspect that allows irresponsibility to take centre stage. A person may hide under a pseudonym and say what comes to their mind. Post pictures that encroach on the privacy, of others, use obscene words without fear of reprimand. Yet in the newspaper your byline is your credibility and your word is your bond.

Many times we have to re-write paragraphs, remove lines and words because the editor keeps asking ‘can you substantiate this in court? Is this fair? Are you 100 per cent sure?’ etc before we go to print. Sometimes whole columns and stories are spiked for similar reasons. A ‘safety first’ approach may kill a newspaper story which is not the case with social media.

Things that may sound good for a mind waiting for gossip may not make in to the paper for these reasons. So you have a ‘dull story’ which the paper can stand by.

Now you don’t have that on Facebook. Anyone who has a gadget connected to the Internet with any agenda will employ their chicanery, and make news. You get every detail, true and false; nicely exaggerated with no holds barred. Secondly, the issues of time. While the newspaper will take another 24 hours to give you a story, on Facebook and social media it is instant, touch and go.

So if one is miserable and they are searching for company, they will make other people miserable too by simply writing miserable things about them.

That is why social media has its fair share of false stories that bring down people. Kill them prematurely. Infect them with terminal illnesses, run them out of money, collapse their businesses and break their marriages.

The ones who write the stories careless because most times they have no fixed address in the conventional sense like the newspaper which one can sue and get reparations. Theirs is just a page with a photo which may all be specious.

Because many people in society are angry, and hurting they have overtime become cynical about the establishment and its institutions. They are ready and willing to believe things that are negative about the State, institutions and individuals.
Because newspapers, for reasons mentioned above are bound to strive to be accurate, social media becomes a refugee for many. Here they find people ready to feed them with hard luck stories to satisfy their demand.

Nicholas Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected] Twitter: @nsengoba