Why first news reports of a tragedy are just a draft

An esteemed reader, Oscar Okech Kanyangareng, last week sent me a note regarding the story; “Oyam bus crash toll rises to 19” (Daily Monitor, January 7). His issue with the story was that it said nothing about the drivers of the haulage truck and the bus that were involved in the crash near Kamdini Centre.

Where are they? Have they been arrested? Have they fled? Did they also die? If so, are they in the listed fatalities and what are their names? So many people can’t die like that and you don’t write about the “perpetrators”. I also checked other media stories on the accident and that omission is also there. Maybe they were relying on the police press release but you need to investigate beyond that!

I had earlier received a query regarding another crash story; “Tragedy as Mugamba household loses three in accident” (Daily Monitor, January 1). The reader had noted the following: “It seems status is everything in today’s Uganda. No mention of the ‘most bereaved’ biological parents of the children who perished in the car accident…”  Only prominent relatives – both retired judges were mentioned!

The latter query was clarified in a subsequent story following this feedback. Nonetheless, the two readers’ queries underscore the importance of telling the full story, especially in incidents that evoke emotion and curiosity such as these tragic incidents.

Yes this is by no means just a Ugandan media problem. As David Folkenflik of the USA National Public Radio (NPR) notes in his article, “Coverage rapid, and often wrong, in tragedy’s early hours” (December 18, 2012), journalists are always grappling with scanty information and sources to break stories and meet reader expectations.

He notes: “Amid catastrophe and crisis, the media is writing in pencil, erasing it and trying again. So in stories like these, the first draft of history isn’t even a draft. It’s just raw notes, waiting for rewrite.”

Having gotten some things wrong and omitted others entirely, it is important journalists return to the story to fill in the missing gaps and to correct any errors to the “draft”. 

Readers will be looking to that and when journalists simply move on to the next story or new developments on the same story without plugging the earlier holes, then queries such as those raised above are legitimate.

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READERS HAVE THEIR SAY

Musa Nkata: Please write stories in simple language. Expressions like “silo mentality” and abbreviations like MDAs deprived me of 25 per cent of the meaning of the story! See: “Finance ministry in staff shake-up” (Daily Monitor, December 23, 2022).

Public Editor: Thank you for this feedback. You are right, the general principle in communication – written or oral – is simplicity and where abbreviations are used, they should be explained in full rather than assuming that every reader is familiar with the same.

Apollo Wangalwa: I can see the Mpoma [satellite] debate rages on. We need project, company and government historians. I recently went to Mengo Hospital for my birth records. Mengo says I was born on the 18th of August, yet my official long form birth certificate indicated 19th August. My birth weight was 2.3 pounds, yet Mengo has 5.9kg. Can you imagine a 6 kg baby?

Public Editor: Indeed without a proper national archives, many minute details on public projects die with their implementers, triggering long debates as we have had on Mpoma Earth Satellite.

Francis Omara: I am based in Bweyale, Kiryandongo and sell newspapers. I have severally written to you requesting for supply of copies of Daily Monitor  so I sell to my clients to whom I supply other newspapers. I have not got any response to date! Why should this busy township of Bweyale have no Daily Monitor newspapers?  I never did anything wrong to your company [Monitor] even during the period I worked briefly as a reporter for Daily Monitor. Supply newspapers to me daily; I am ready to pay for it upfront. Thank you sir!

Public Editor: Thank you Francis for reaching out again. I have shared your requests with the circulation department and will do so again so that the supply issue is resolved and you are linked with the area general agent.

Send your feedback/complaints to [email protected] or call/text on +256 776 500725.