Tag Archives: New York Times

Defending Nairobi

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The New York Times has a story on the security situation in Nairobi. In the interest of full disclosure, Nairobi is my home town. I was there this summer and would like to point out – just for the record – that although Nairobi may not be the safest place in the world, it is not the most dangerous city in the world either. The city has 4 million people, give or take. Income inequality is off the charts. The city’s economy cannot provide enough jobs for its youth, most of whom do not spend enough time in school and therefore resort to petty theft to earn a living. This summer there was a wave of kidnappings. Some were by real criminals. At least one that got exposed was by a young woman trying to get money from her father by pretending that she was kidnapped.The Nairobi city council is run by a bunch of clowns.

I agree with Gettleman that the incidence of crime in Nairobi is way too high. That said, Nairobi is not Jo’burg or Kabul. It is still very much a live-able city – as evidenced by the many NGOs and UN agencies that have set up shop in there.

can we please end the nonsensical sensationalism

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“He stood in front of a burned-out vegetable market, wielding a rusty machete and wearing blue toenail polish.” Gettleman, The New York Times.

I am a regular reader of articles by Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times. I read his articles because most of the time they are the only coherent on the ground reporting that come out of places like the remote parts of Eastern DRC and East Africa in general.

But I have a slight problem with Mr. Gettleman. I have noticed a consistent pattern in his reporting that is kind of disturbing. He seems to always be willing to go out of his way to over-dramatize whatever he is reporting about. For instance, the above details – the “blue toenail polish” and what not – do not belong in the pages of the New Yorks Times but on some creative writing novel. When we read reports on soldiers from elsewhere, we never hear about their tattoos or body piercings or anything. I therefore get a bit disturbed when I see a consistent pattern on Mr. Gettleman’s part to portray combatants in African conflicts as somewhat other-worldly.

The other day I watched a video for  a class in which the same gentleman had the guts to say that the era of Belgian colonization represented “more prosperous times” for the Congo. What does he mean? Who are his editors? Does he know what the Belgians did to the Congo? I am sure he does. He must be a smart man to have been able to rise to the position of bureau chief. So this was either a slip or a deliberate attempt to hype the problems facing the DRC.

Do not get me wrong. I am not trying to advocate for restrictions on reporting. I am all for free press. But I also think that the press has a responsibility and a duty to desist from consistently portraying a particular group of people as irrational and crazy. Unfortunately, I feel that most of Mr. Gettleman’s pieces have had this rather distasteful feel to them.