Instances Where The Mainstream Media Has Blatantly Infringed On Copyright Laws And Disregarded Blogs
Journalism world over requires that one respects the work of the other by not infringing on the copyright laws among many others that govern the conduct and practice of journalism. It is by these guidelines and basic rules that great egalitarianisms, press freedom, concord, harmony and unity have been fostered in developed worlds, while third world countries still suffer from internal dissension and struggles to remain relevant.
Ghafla! Kenya has for a long time remained the best and most trusted entertainment site in Kenya, despite external forces that aim at dwindling efforts made by dedicated and down-to-earth crew to bring Kenyans and the world up-to-date with happenings in the world.
And because we live in a society that values money at the expense of power, this perhaps explains why we always triumph when it comes to matters exposing, informing, educating and entertaining the masses. Someone is already pooh-poohing at this because at some point we hit them below their belts.
Now that is not the point I am driving home. The blogosphere is an endangered entity especially after some forces felt they are being given a run for their money. Things have changed today and the world cannot walk around with their TV screens or radio sets to listen to the mainstream media. I am not bashing and quashing the mainstream media, nah! In fact this is the only media that has been in place since time immemorial even before anyone thought of the internet and the social media.
Blogs and the social media came up the other day but believe it they are pinching some people so hard that strategies have been devised to make them look bad and gutter press before the masses. While some want to look good and holy before the world, blogs have been left to fight their own battles after someone tainted their images in the public domain.
This is what I mean for the slow learners like me…oh now you know something about me (just kidding).
We expose stories. We bring you up to date with what many will struggle to tell you. We are always the first to reveal to you what others would dread to reveal because they fear facing the consequences. We dig deep amid some difficulties to tell you what you did not know about society. We are always in the forefront to let the public know what the country is harbouring.
But what do we get? Antipathy, bashing, copyright infringement. Now you are left wondering who and how someone has infringed on our copyright. I will let you know by using this three instances:
Kevin Provoke
One: You probably are aware of the Producer Kevin Provoke Story where he had been accused of soliciting for sexual favours from female artistes before he helped them record and produce their songs. That was an exclusive story done by Ghafla! Kenya. I mean exclusively. I remember vividly like it was yesterday how a fellow writer Sue Watiri struggled to unearth the truth behind the allegations after one of Provoke’s victims revealed the ordeal female artistes were undergoing in the hands of the producer. After the story, Provoke stormed our offices baying for Sue’s blood, claiming that Sue had defamed him. When he finally realized that we had all the evidence, he was all over begging us to pull down the story. But because we are not gutter press as Vera Sidika and her battalion think, we told him the story was staying up. He left dejected and rushed to clear his name elsewhere. An established media house goes on to do the story after reading it from us and shamelessly puts it up without crediting Ghafla Kenya. And they call us misinformed writers when we go for their necks.
Two: Ghafla Kenya exclusively exposed socialite Vera Sidika just a week ago how she is a prostitute masquerading as a socialite (read here). Remember it was Ghafla who built Vera Sidika when she was just a simple village girl. Vera was exposed exclusively by Ghafla Kenya on how she hawks her goodies for colossal sums of money, clearly engaging in prostitution activities. What happened after that expose? Larry Madowo goes on to bring Vera’s issue on his The Trend show without even a mention of Ghafla! Kenya in his show! What would it cost Larry Madowo if he mentions Ghafla in his show? Haya ni madharau.
Vera Sidika
Three: After KTN’s Dennis Onsarigo revealed of a Chinese Restaurant denying black Kenyans access to its facilities after 5 pm, Ghafla Kenya went deep and dug exclusive information about the restaurant. It was an exclusive story that Ghafla broke for the first time and Dennis Onsarigo was greatly credited for breaking the silence together with his colleague Geoffrey Mosoku. What is trending now? The story is all over the main stream media without a mention of Ghafla Kenya anywhere. Hujumaa…
There are many more instances depicting how our work as bloggers is just used without crediting us, making us look like we are just here to create enmity with the public.
Ghafla has a policy: always credit the source of your story if it is not your story. That we do almost daily. We get stories from these media house and we always credit them. Why not follow the simple regulations?
I will stop here for now but blogs, just like any other media houses, need respect. In the near future, they will be the talk in town. You know how influential we are.
Journalism needs mutual respect. And that is what we are advocating for.
