Kakamega, 06 May, 2021 / 6:23 pm (ACI Africa).
A Catholic Bishop in Kenya has challenged journalists in the East African nation to engage in evidence-based reporting, cautioning against armchair journalism.
Bishop Joseph Obanyi who was presiding over Holy Mass Thursday, May 6 to mark, in advance, the 2021 World Day of Communications said that the theme of the May 16 event, “come and See”, invites journalists to encounter the people in their respective situations before reporting about them.
“Communicators are invited to hit the streets. Go out and discover. Take your cameras, take your pen and your paper and go to the situation of the people and write from what you see and experience,” Bishop Obanyi said during the Holy Mass at Joseph’s Cathedral of Kakamega Diocese.
The Bishop who is the Chairman of the Commission for Social Communication of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) added, “The challenge that awaits all of us is to communicate by meeting people, not to remain in the newsroom. Communication is about encountering people.”
“Let us go out and encounter the people in their sufferings, joys and sorrows, celebrations of life and faith, then we shall be authentic and have reached what God wants for us. Let us go, let us see and let us share Jesus Christ in our communication,” the Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Kakamega Diocese who doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of Bungoma Diocese appealed.
