An open letter on Media Accuracy-Julie Gichuru

Julie Gichuru Fanpage

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An open letter on Media Accuracy:
Ref: Sunday Nation Lifestyle Magazine, July 20th, pg 5

I appreciate that the Sunday Nation Lifestyle Magazine decided to do a piece on me however I am concerned at the distortion of the first question in the article. Thankfully, due to my experience with print media, I always opt to conduct interviews on email to avoid any inaccuracies. My caution was certainly in order as illustrated by this incident.

Truth be told, it would have been a lovely piece if the writer had avoided the temptation to omit critical facts and to distort and falsify the first question, coming up with the narrative that I quit law school to study journalism. Two small problems: I did not quit law school and I did not study journalism.

I highlight this because it is a frightening example of what can go wrong so easily with media. The answers were all there. But somehow it wasn't exciting enough and the narrative was changed.

I am lucky that I have a voice that is amplified due to my presence in the media, but what happens to so many who don't?

Frightening stuff.

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Sunday Nation Lifestyle Interview with Julie Gichuru titled "I quit law school to become a journalist" (which happen to be words that I never uttered)

The actual question & answer:
Qtn 25. From the records, at a tender age of 10, you wanted to be a criminal lawyer, what happened?
I studied law and found that in principle I disagreed with most of the laws on Evidence. I felt they were skewed and inequitable. I had a greater love and passion for commercial law. It was unexpected but I adapted.

The amended & published question & answer that appeared as question 1 and the focus of the interview:
Q: Did you always want to be a journalist?
I studied law and found that in principle I disagreed with most of the laws on evidence. I felt they were skewed and inequitable. So I dropped out to pursue a degree in journalism.

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In an earlier question The issue of educational background had already been addressed:

Qtn 11. What do you consider as the biggest career decision you ever have made?
I have made several big career decisions and each of them proved to be a huge factor in my growth both in career and also on knowledge.
The first was to move from my initial career path… I studied Law and then did an MBA with a focus on World Trade Law and International Business, but I ended up in media.

Dear Nation Media Group,

What remedy do we have in situations like this?