Prime
Nadduli’s pained face and ‘medals’ of 5 little coffins
Author: Odoobo C. Bichachi is the Nation Media Group (NMG)-Uganda public editor. PHOTO/FILE.
What you need to know:
- That mug-shot of a grieving Mzee Nadduli with pain written all over his face is iconic from a photographic or artistic perspective. It spoke more than a thousand words! Little wonder that it has been shared several times over on social media and shall remain in cyberspace forever. Should it have been shared – or taken at all?
Social media this week has been awash with a photograph of veteran NRM politician, bush war fighter and former minister without portfolio, Hajj Abdul Nadduli, taken at the funeral of his son Jakana Nadduli whose death has kicked up a storm on account of events preceding it.
That mug-shot of a grieving Mzee Nadduli with pain written all over his face is iconic from a photographic or artistic perspective. It spoke more than a thousand words! Little wonder that it has been shared several times over on social media and shall remain in cyberspace forever. Should it have been shared – or taken at all?
Well, for Mzee Nadduli and members of his family, this photo is a moment to forget, a moment that should never have been! It is perhaps one of the most painful moments in his life, one of his most vulnerable moments, almost a down and out moment!
The Daily Monitor cartoonist picked this photo and gave it a cartoon touch. Thus beyond the emotions captured in the facial expression, the cartoon added badges, “awards” or “medals” in the shape of five miniature coffins; four on the breast and one dangling from his hand that is touching his chin and cheeks in grief.
The five miniature coffins represent the five sons he has now lost to political conflict – four earlier during the NRA/M bush in 1980s and now this one in the NUP vs NRM political contest – 2022.
The cartoon was brought to my attention by a Daily Monitor reader who said: “I didn’t like the taste of this cartoon. What do you think?”
Well, the cartoon was not published in any of the NMG-Uganda platforms but on the personal blog of the cartoonist. My response to the reader shall therefore be confined to sharing the relevant provision in the NMG Social Media Policy which states thus:
“Social media and blogging: Personal online activity can generate irreparable harm for the Group particularly when journalists are unable to reconcile their private self with their public self. In general, journalists should not do anything online – in personal blogs, tweets, social networking groups, etc. – that would damage our reputation for impartiality and independence. They should maintain professionalism even within their private space.”
Be that as it may, my personal perspective on cartoons of this nature (grounded in journalism ethics) is that while cartoonists, perhaps more than any other journalists, enjoy wide discretion on what they can lampoon or not, three areas are most difficult – if not impossible to humour. They are death, illness and misfortune. Any attempt almost always leaves a sour taste.
As to the photograph, social media is an unregulated platform where “netizens” engage for various reasons, are of disparate understanding, exposure, intentions, etc, and many times are driven by morbid curiosity – “an interest in or curiosity about unpleasant things, especially death.”
Online interface is therefore largely a matter of personal ethos. My rule of thumb is whether what I share, especially in moments of grief and tragedy, minimises pain or adds to the agony of the affected.
So before you share a photo of a grieving mother, a pained father or distraught sibling at their lowest moment, try to reflect on what impact this could have on the affected in the immediate and long term, not just the “likes” and retweets you will get or points you will score.
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HAVE YOUR SAY
Prof Timothy Wangusa: This is to register my genuine appreciation of your regular column in Daily Monitor on Fridays. I am an avid reader of all opinion columns in Monitor. And they are fabulous stuff! Your own column goes beyond being just infotainment – “it is info-edu-tainment”!
In your article last Friday (“Media business needs vote from your pocket or govt”, October 14), I was in full agreement about the need for “the editorial sieve” in the current sea of information all over the internet.
Ivan Muhame (Sheema): Refer to your article “Misuse of computer vs misuse of the Computer Misuse Act?” (Daily Monitor, October 21). How is it a big question? Focus must only be on what is relevant; that is “the right to offend” and “the right not to be insulted”. Thank you!
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