*People's Titles and Local News Reporting

There are many local media reporting trespasses I can generally tolerate, but I am always uneasy when people's titles are unnecessarily and repeatedly referred to in the news. Take Mr. Bekele who may just be a civil engineer by profession but works as a CEO for a company and yet reported by the news as 'Engineer Bekele said this and that'. This is superflous because what's relevant and primary to most of us at first is to know that he is the CEO and what's said by him regading the issue at hand as an authoritative individual. Secondly, his being the CEO of the company is much higher and appropriate than his educational title. Thirdly, the word 'Engineer' is not a title like Dr., Prof., Mr., Miss, or Rev. (That's a thought for another piece of writing) Afterall, if the intention of the report is to communicate what the company he runs and what he says regarding the issue at hand, why do we redundantly refer to him as Engineer Bekele? In fact, it's irrelevant and even inappropriate in some cases to use them at all times. I know some countries prohibit using inappropriate titles (those who are required certifications to be called in their professional titles,like RN Registered Nurse, or else, those who don't practice their professions but work in another area cannot use their professional titles). Take the following excerpts we often hear in our local mainstream media reporting: 'Graphic Designer Eshete said...' 'Farmer Gebre accepted...' 'Dr. Engineer Semunigus affirmed...' ' Artist Kebede stated...'' Architect Senedu contemplated...' and so on. Who knows we may hear tomorrow 'Social Media Evangelist Belachew commanded...' 'Captain of Buzz Seble said...' or some other interesting ones:) even when it's not required to know about these people's titles, although what's important news is their stories. Don't take me wrong - I don't have anything against people's prefered titles, be it personal or professional. However, don't you think it's more journalistic professionalism to focus on the core matter of the reporting than the titles? Isn't it always wiser to learn from international reporters and reporting? Just to take a few examples in this regard, have we ever heard for example the current German Chancellor Angela Merkel (who is described by many as the defacto leader of the European Union, the most powerful woman in the world, and by many commentators as the leader of the Free World) as 'Dr. Merkel suggested...', although she's a PhD? Or the current Chinese leader, President Xi Jinping, as Dr. Xi Jinping, or Iran's President Hassan Rouhani as Dr. Rouhani, although both with respected PhDs? The answer for these questions is NEVER, or ONLY when their bios or educational careers are the main news element that are discussed. In a nutshell, I don't see why we should use unnecessary titles in our news reporting and I have become intolerant about it. As always, your feedbacks to this issue are welcome. Have a great week!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Visionary Reformer and His Hilarious Encounters with the Traditionalists!

Image
Menelik II was one of the beloved emperors Ethiopia has ever had. He unlocked the country’s door for technological advancement and brought about so many reforms of his time (but only at the sacrifice of harsh criticism and harm that was inflicted upon him). Among these fundamental improvements, the introduction of telephone was one that caused him much confrontation among his own conservative people, especially the clergymen. The humorous disputes that went on between this farsighted leader and those against his modern changes, and the incidents that took place as a result, are the center of today’s piece. According to the legendary Ethiopian journalist and prolific writer, P’awlos ňo ňo, who wrote As’e Menelik /Emperor Menelik/, and a popular historian and writer, Tekle Tsadik Mekuria’s, As’e Menelik Ϊna yə Ityop’ia andΪnet (Emperor Menelik and the Ethiopian Unity) the first ever land line telephone, also known as "plain old telephone” was installed in Menelik’s palace in
Read more

Silencing the Empty Viral Shriek in Unison

Image
Come up with any kind of bogus today, fill it with emotional and flamboyant language, attach a video clip to it and instantaneously post it to the multiple social media – I bet you, in no time, you would see millions of people reacting to it: some would even share it to another thousands and, by the end of the day, the whole world has consumed your empty viral shriek. Besides, the mainstream global news machinery would amplify your fabrication with some of their flashy archives adding more color to make it look genuine. The next day, to your dismay, you would hear government leaders and reps of international orgs unanimously pledging to take action against it, without even validating the sham. A weird but effective neocolonial scheme to confuse the world! Again in almost every news hour of the global media broadcast, the mainstream news deafeningly reverberates in our ears their pretentious verbosity,   such as   ‘inevitability of inter-dependences of humanity’; keeping intact shared
Read more

Becoming Victims of a Single Fictional Narrative (part 1)

I love my birthplace, Addis Ababa, my village, my town, and my country. How can I not? And I believe so do every Ethiopian. We all feel attached to the people, the culture, languages, the land, the weather, food, and all our belongings we grew up with. Ethiopia, as most African countries, is large and has many people living in the south, north, west, and east. Just to give you a pictorial comparison, the eastern part of Ethiopia alone is equivalent to the whole of France. As huge nation as we are, we have rich and diversified cultures, languages, and resources. Nevertheless, the generations were constantly told to believe a single fictional narrative about themselves – that they are “poor”, “uncivilized”, and “backwards” or “liquid” (a terminology the westerners coined to describe the third world, as opposed to theirs -“solid” countries:) And now we know that there's no such thing as ‘solid’ versus ‘liquid’ countries. In fact, we are all living in liquid times, thanks to COVID19 t
Read more