Media has a way of creating giants before eventually cannibalizing on them and brings them down.
Many of the many politicians who hit the limelight with a bang are usually created by the media before the same media brings them down again.
In the media industry, appearing before TV screens or the microphone with the popular media outlets turns one to an overnight celebrity.
The following figures were created by the media and also brought down by the same media
Jacque Maribe
A few years ago, no one knew who Maribe was. She, however, became a celebrity the moment she started doing piece-to-camera.
The life of a TV newsreader made her a household name that even kids could recite her name.
But the same media that built her celebrity status is the same that is now broadcasting her downfall.
A TV station where she worked no longer refers to her as ‘our own Jacque Maribe’ but as murder suspect Jacque Maribe.
Jacque’s case reminds me of my campus Prof who used to tell us that the media and the government have one thing in common: sometimes they eat their own!
Esther Arunga
Esther Arunga was the perfect definition of a media sensation. She graced the screens with an authoritative voice and a good command of English.
With her law training, her sharp eyes penetrated politicians and asked tough questions.
The girl was so set and fit for takeoff that many male politicians eyed her like village morans waylay a girl who turns into teenage.
Then a bad boy stole her heart with impunity and her world crumbled.
The same media that she had used to enter into an instant giant started to feed on her. Nosy journalists started to dig on her shadowy moves with her lover.
So juicy were her stories that a media she worked for established a weekly tabloid to milk on her troubles.
Like the government, the media was eating its own!
Louis Otieno
Politicians were fighting to appear on his show. He was the talk of the town.
When he spoke on a political issue, the country listened. His word was like creed within political corridors.
He would migrate from one station to another as media bosses spoilt him with sweet offers.
But that was then; today he is a shadow of his former self.
The same media he worked in for many years said hapana tambua when he got dragged in a murder case.
The same media he used to run a political talk show in funded an investigative piece that insinuated he had something to do with the said murder.
In all ways, Prof must have been right; the media, just like the government, sometimes eats its own!
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