The media is a powerful tool of communication that if misused the damage can be of a huge magnitude or even unable to be reversed as it involves creation of perception which is hard to turn depending on the topic.
Experiencing the lesson is NTV’s Dan Mwangi who has been forced to apologise after using a gesture on air that was offensive to the Ethiopian Airline involved in a crush which has claimed 157 lives with majority being Kenyans.
“I would never intentionally trivialize death or even injury; it is simply not my person, heart or intention,” he stated on his Twitter page.
“I offer my unreserved apology to all the families, friends and all others I unintentionally offended,” he added further stating that in their skew towards the graphics/simulation,while trying to paint a fairly tangible picture;it came across as something else.
The offensive incident happened as the news anchor was narrating how the crash happened using animated graphics.
When he got to the explosion part, Mwangi made a gesture as if trying to ward off the smoke from the supposed wreckage.
The video went viral on social media and Kenyans did not take it lightly, calling out the journalist for inappropriately making fun of such an incident.