Front page leads to mixed feelings

Today (02/04/2014)’s front page of the Chronicle raised a mixture of feelings from the readers, a personal survey has revealed.

The lead had the headline “KIDNAP TOT FOUND ALIVE parents tell of their joy”. To the far fight as a fill was the story “SDA cracks over homosexuals” and to the bottom left, there was the story “Guard found naked, dead at Chemical factory.”

When analysing ethics however, much emphasis is placed on the lead story because it gives the paper weight on that day. The story was talking about the recovery of a kidnapped one year old baby, Wethembekile Dube who for three days had gone missing. This story is balanced as comments from the family, Finnishgale Mpofu the mother and Maphendla Dube the father were sought. Comments from the police were also sought and in all fairness, this time the paper got it right this time.

However, journalism is not all about balance and seeking all comments. It entails looking for stories of public interest.

“Such stories are of public interest to us the readers,” said Gogo Siju, a regular reader of the Chronicle.

Gogo Siju also said that people would always want to hear follow ups on stories that were once introduced.

“We want to hear the end result,” she said.

Other readers however said such stories should be left to the metros as they are not fit for a serious paper like the Chronicle.

“Long ago, the Chronicle used to do better than now. Today it is only drawing our attention away from the real issues like politics, economic issues and things like that,” said Gugulethu Moyo, another regular Chronicle reader.

According to research, journalism should bring to light issues of public interest, probing those in office and updating the public on serious issues, not party politics nor public relations. Social issues only become stories when they are of public interest.