Writer: Odoobo C. Bichachi. PHOTO/COURTESY
I devote this column to “Readers Have Their Say”; sharing their direct feedback and I am answering directly for the benefit of other readers that may have similar questions running in their minds. Here we go:-
Isaac Iretai: Unlike your online subscribers, I feel cheated whenever I buy a physical copy of your newspaper and find an incomplete story that directs readers to find the complete version online. Shouldn’t buying a physical copy enable me to access the full online versions of the incomplete stories? Or should we abandon buying print editions completely in favour of online subscriptions?
Public Editor: First, every story published or broadcast should as much as possible be complete in the sense of carrying all the essential information as well as answering the questions that arise in the readers’ minds. It should answer the 5Ws and H.
Second, space in the printed newspaper is finite so there is only so much that can be carried in the 40 pages or so divided between straight news, business news, features, opinions/commentary, sports, entertainment, etc. The practice therefore is to sometimes reference readers to the online version of the story that has not been heavily edited to fit the available space on the page. Space on the internet is more or less infinite.
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George Mabweijano: Although I always do the Sudoku puzzle, I usually don’t bother to look at the instructions, since I take it for granted that I know them. However, today I did glance at the instructions for Sudoku No. 255 (Saturday Monitor of August 24th, 2024), and I realised that the instructions given are misleading, and in fact, incorrect. I have looked at past Saturday editions, and I notice that the same incorrect instructions are repeated.
The grid which you normally publish on Saturdays is not 16 x 16, but rather, 12 x 12. Furthermore, it is not divided into 16 (4x4) boxes, but rather, 12 (4x3) boxes. Please check and make this correction going forward.
Public Editor: Thank you again for the eagle eye and the feedback. This error was likely caused by a change in the Sudoku published without changing the instructions template. It is highly regrettable. The responsible editors have been alerted and the instructions shall be reworked.
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Barasa Erineo: Reading today’s Daily Monitor, there is an extremely alarmist story portraying a serious outbreak of a disease similar to Mpox, incidentally in Busia District, Lumino Sub-county (see, “Panic as man succumbs to suspected Mpox in Busia” – August 26).
In the sensational story are name and picture of the grave of a recently deceased person (long known to have been HIV positive but had refused to take drugs) as the first victim of this Mpox outbreak.
I think in Uganda there should be rules on how serious medical epidemics should be covered instead of being left in the hands of excited storyteller newsmen who can cause mayhem in the pursuit of sale of their sensational stories! How come nobody in Budibya village has been quarantined?
These stories are going to keep away many people from the affected area thus affecting livelihoods. Daily Monitor should be sensitive to the effects of such stories...and must get health authorities to confirm some issues before publication. Chicken pox and scabies are not the deadly monkey pox!
And to health authorities; we need medical spokesmen/women on such epidemics. We have local radios that can be used instead of newspapers that are read the whole country and abroad. With such news, do not be surprised when flying out of the country to be retained at the airport or refused to embark at the next destination because you visited Busia in the last 14 days! Do we deserve this?
Public Editor: NMG Editorial Policy Guidelines state that “Public awareness is an essential ingredient for national mobilisation. In that regard, we support society’s efforts to deal with national disasters such as floods, drought, famine, outbreaks of epidemics like HIV/Aids and other forms of humanitarian crises.”
However, in doing so, reporters and editors must exercise great responsibility so as not to create false alarm. This may include holding the story until more facts are established. Yes, this story could have been done better and Ministry of Health should have been brought in before publishing the local health workers views that may not be definitive. The editors were alerted and are working backwards to confirm and clarify the story.
Send your feedback/complaints to [email protected] or call/text on +256 776 500725.