Letter from Baltimore 5

IF you saw your friend got shaved, goes a Swahili saying, put water on your head and ready for your turn. On the afternoon of Wednesday June 25, plans to purge The Baltimore Sun newsroom of about a quarter of the staff was announced.

I was a witness to one of the saddest episodes in the US print media brought to its knees by falling circulation numbers and falling revenue from advertisements. Cut-throat competition from the Internet is blamed for the bad state of things.
I thought forward of things in Kenya. Would I be there long enough in the newsroom to see a replay of this? Should I ready myself for the onslaught from the Internet?

Steady growth over the last three years has transformed a once mediocre, average and low-paying sector into one of the best professions in the country. The Press in Kenya is more free, robust and assertive than before. This has translated to growth in readership numbers and advertising revenue.

Things have taken a turn for worse in the US; dwindling revenue sources spells doom for the Fourth Estate.
In Kenya like the rest of the Third World, with the Internet and mobile telephony taking a grip on the population, the writing is on the wall.
That won’t be soon, but certainly not long enough, probably 10-15 years.
On Wednesday, talk by the publisher, Mr Tim Ryan about halting a nosedive in the company’s revenue earnings could not cool down the journalists who are fiercely loyal to their trade.

The Community Room crackled with tension as we took our seats and Mr Tim Franklin, the editor set out to announce the bad news. Thereafter, he invited questions.
“Who will speak for the voiceless? Asked one employee poignantly.

I saw a tear drop from one of them. I was sorry. I had a lump in my throat. I couldn’t help but share the grief, the anger, and the bitterness.
“I have worked my … off all these years for the company and now I am given two weeks to make a decision about a place that I have spent my whole life?” said another.
The management has given the employees two weeks to take the buy-outs, which if the numbers are low, will be followed by layoffs.

And it was with a heavy heart that I accepted the inevitable. My diligent, patient and caring, Mr Harry Merritt told me that he was taking the buyouts. That he may not see me through to the end of my fellowship troubled me. Nothing quite prepared me for that despite his constant assurances that all will be well even if he is gone.

My friend Robert Little finally left for Iraq last week. He will be back in a week’s time.
Quite truly as predicted, Poynter rocked, literally. I got the experience, the skills and the techniques I needed. It was so much fun and at the end I wished we were there longer than a week.
If you never came out to play soccer in the blowing breeze from the sea that last night, you missed real fun. It was good to be together again.

Frolicking in the sandy beaches at Tampa was refreshing after three months trying to find our way around the world’s most complicated, social, economic and political society. It couldn't be better than that for me.

In the office, just like before, I have done stories and they have been published. Therefore so far, so good. I am a better writer. My writing is crisp, balanced, sharp and objective.

I see things in different light. My worldview has changed, expanded. I have a different judgment about certain prejudices that I held before.
I wrote a story on the killer malaria and believe you I have been invited to give a talk at the Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday next week on the role of media in disease control in Africa and America.

That aside, I cannot deny the feeling of looking forward to the end of the program next month. That soothing, comforting feeling of home, sweet home excites.

Yet despite that, I know that my sojourn here still has a lot more to offer and I look forward to all that it can offer. I plan to visit New York, Washington DC and just get into a bus and tour Baltimore for the fun of it.
The first impressions of the city as old, rusty and falling apart city have changed with the numerous visits inside the town as I went around to do my assignments.

Fewer activities are planned for the remainder of the program. I am starting to change gears. I hate to see my graph take a dip once I arrive in Nairobi as predicted by Prof Gary Weaver. It is inevitable, but I want to limit the shock as much as possible.

A month and three weeks to go and the summer heat is unrelenting. The other day I went for a walk-about in Baltimore. As I lumbered up Lombard Street I rued taking the walk. It being near the sea, Baltimore experiences hot, humid summer. But that is better than the cold Spring that we found in March.