Yesterday Vijana FM received the following letter from Nick, the Sgolbew writer-gone-rogue:
You have been shown two perspectives from the Sgolbew project: An outside reader’s perspective and Nur’s. With this letter I seek to bring to light my perspective as a participant at Sgolbew.
I never doubted Nur’s integrity. She always proved the importance of reporting events in the world as accurately as possible to me and Rashidi. We had a great work ethic going and I very much enjoyed writing opinions about Nur’s articles.
Until the day that I wrote more opinions than Nur’s reports, I did not realize that I was pushing an agenda harmful to the Sgolbew project.
Opinions will never be perfectly acceptable to the person not making them. That is a fact in my view. Events that can be physically described can be confirmed by more than one person because they require observing physical actions, sounds and scenes. But emotions, sentiments and recommendations are more difficult to confirm across a group of people.
Yet, I believe those very opinions are what make news reporting interesting. For me, without an emotional stance on objective news reporting, it is difficult to bring the reports into the context of ones’ life as a citizen, a religious believer, an employee or a volunteer.
I still believe these things. And however much I respected Nur’s objectivity in our work, I thought it was my responsibility to our readers, Rashidi included, to “subjectify” her reports.
And so when we concluded that my opinion pieces would be controlled, I naturally resorted to spreading the opinions that were not published in Sgolbew elsewhere. On one hand I believed these opinions were supposed to be published anyway, and on the other hand I had more opinions flowing in from readers globally who wanted me to incorporate their views.
As a result, I got pulled into other projects outside of Sgolbew, though I tried to continue to write with Nur and Rashidi for as long as possible.
One of the bigger projects I was pulled into Nur has already mentioned; Regnis Nainitselap. As a matter of urgency, I was called into the project because an entire community of musicians’ lives had been put at risk because of one brave singer’s political and economic sentiments expressed through her lyrics. My writing could potentially change the situation, thus preserving music as an artform and livelihood that could help change things for the better.
Sgolbew hass been involved in similar movements in the past, but at the time, I found that I was adding more value to Regnis Nainitselap than Sgolbew. I had wanted Nur and even Rashidi to join operations at Regnis, but like me, they were staunch on their support for what they believed in.
I cannot blame Nur and Rashidi, nor do I want to. I still think of them with utmost respect and admiration. Similarly, I cannot and do not want to scrutinize the Sgolbew project, because our ideals were legendary and are extremely difficult to find in today’s media scene.
But I do want to scrutinize the society reading and commenting in the media, ie: You. Do you realize that it is because of you that projects like Sgolbew and Regnis Nainitselap come together and sadly it is also because of you that they crumble and fall?
People proficient in the media see themselves as responsible for projecting your voice into the public space. Why, you may ask? Because you would not be able to do it yourself unless you stepped into the mediasphere.
It is difficult for people in the media to efficiently choose which voices are worth projecting and which voices are worth taking a back seat. Think about it: Don’t you find it hard to read the news today? Don’t you get the feeling that there’s just too much happening? Don’t you find it difficult to filter through all the news headlines online or follow the picture and the news ticker at the bottom of the screen at the same time on television? Well, it’s the same for media professionals, except for them it’s unpublished, unadulterated reports and views coming in swarms for them to pick and choose from, all in an effort to project it right back to where it came from: You.
In short, you need to stop thinking that the media is something outside of your world. You are very much part of the media, just as people in the media feel they are part of you.
What now? Well, if this is new knowledge for you, the next time you comment to a newspaper or call into a radio station, be aware that what you say is just as important as what they put out. Don’t say any less, but say something that you think will help others learn something.
This letter is inspired by “Sgolbew Leaks: Information flow and secrecy” which was one participant’s perspective on Sgolbew. The independent writer of this letter is sharing his thoughts as another participant at Sgolbew. Sometimes he does not claim his thoughts to be facts; they other times he does. The difference is for you to notice. He would even say it is yours responsibility to notice.
Related links (chronological, most recently published at top):
- Mbwa wa Pavlov II
- Sgolbew Leaks: Information flow and secrecy
- Sgolbew : A story about newspapers and opinions
- Mbwa wa Pavlov I
Vijana FM thanks Nick for sending this in! Entries from others are always welcome; e-mail submit (at) vijana (dot) fm.
