A former NTV reporter has put KTN’s Linda Oguttu on the spot over the anchor’s recent move to introduce her baby girl live on air on her return to TV.
Albert Gachiri reckons that the ravishing Linda, wasted precious time trying to show her baby to the world. On his blog, Journalism Dry Cleaner, the renowned journalist described motherhood as a private affair that most people are not interested in.
Here’s what he had to say:
The experience of motherhood is very special, to many women. A newly-born baby is a source of so much joy and cause for celebration. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to share the good news with all and sundry. But…at the prime(st) of time…in a live news broadcast…on national TV? That’s far from taking it too far. It’s nearer to near-self-interest.
The questions to ask are very simple. Was it in the public’s interest, to dedicate the time before the actual dissemination of the day’s main news, to laboriously let Kenyans know why a certain news presenter has been missing from the airwaves?
And was it of urgent necessity to then delve into the whys and wherefores of maternal throes and thrills, or the balancing of careers and family life, for women in the media?
How justified is it, to similarly splash pictorial snippets of one’s private life, in a very public sphere, while regaling the audience with very personal accounts of what motherhood means to one particular individual, who other than being a public figure by virtue of the occupation, had nothing remarkably close to constituting part of the day’s news agenda?
Yes. Words cannot even adequately express the motherhood phenomenon. The fact that it’s extraordinary can hardly be disputed.
But though it may be miraculous and differentially special, to every individual involved, one thing will always remain constant:
It is not, and forever will not be the first time for it to happen!
This piece of good news as is, I beg to move, is not newsworthy.
