Go by the script to deter VIP security breaches
By PD columnist, October 7, 2022The media covering President Willam Ruto’s visit to Nyeri this past week were at it again. During the public event, the cameras moved from the president to a woman who had broken through the security cordon and was seeking to make her way to the main dais.
It was said that she had a message she wanted to pass directly to the president. But the security would not let her.
Instead, she was wrestled to the ground as she sought to raise her voice above the din. The event was being covered live.
Slightly over a fortnight back, a similar incident occurred in Nakuru. This time it was a man who had broken through the security barricade to reach the president.
Again, the cameras veered to him in an event that was being covered live.
That such breaches to the security of the Head of State should take place in public should be worrying enough, but that is for the people knowledgeable on security issues to investigate and manage. They should, however, find a way to minimise the appearance that it is easy to breach security details.
The impact of the media highlighting such side events should be of concern. Is the media aiding these breaches by covering them live?
Is the president aiding the media to cover them by commenting on these incidents?
Media frames and delivers to the public what is probable and possible. If a desperate citizen captures the attention of the president and another desperate citizen elsewhere sees it, then it raises their hope that it is an alternative route they can equally apply to have their own concerns attended to by the president.
Thus, another member of the public will seek an opportunity to do the same, and the cycle will continue. What, however, is the information value of covering the side incident?
The first is that it is possible to break through the security defence and reach the president. This is not to say that the president should be inaccessible. But there are channels through which the president can be accessed.
The second issue is the desperate situation that many Kenyans live in and the failure of the existing channels to deal with the existential challenges that citizens face. The president can’t individually attend to the many needs of the community. There must, however, be mechanisms through which those needs may be attended to. It is obvious then that these mechanisms either are not working, or some people prefer alternative approaches.
For now, let us focus on the media and whether such incidental side shows should become the subject of attention. What value does airing these side shows add to the story of the day that the media is relaying?
What would happen if what initially appeared as a sideshow escalates into something that is more life-threatening? What would the media have subjected the public to?
To aid the media in their coverage, public figures should, in the first place, ignore side incidents that are not part of the day’s proceedings. Speakers on the podium do well to ignore skirmishes in the crowd unless those skirmishes are planned as part of the show.
It is important to keep to the script and handlers of VIPs should brief them that communication functions should be left to professionals. Also, the public figures should stick to the script, as should the media cameras.
There is a greater threat to national security and the potential of raising public anxiety when the media cover crowd activity that was not part of the plan. When those on the podium reference these side shows, then they force the media to provide context by directing their cameras to the sideshow. So public figures should ignore these events even as their handlers attend to them away from the camera.
The media do matter and what they cover matters to the public. This should be confined only to events that have consequences.
— The writer is the dean, School of Communication, Daystar University