DEFENDING FRANK MUTUBILA
….Norma Kapata Siame says attack on Frank Mutubila, Unfair and Unjustified.
Degrees, Chongololo Accents and Definitions: A Response to Dr Ruwe
Dr Field Ruwe sets out to prove that Frank Mutubila is neither a broadcaster nor a journalist but only a “presenter.” In local lingo, maybe what one might call a glorified Chola-boy of the media industry.
The argument is neat, academic, and confidently delivered. It is also unnecessarily rigid.
The piece hinges on one central idea: without a degree in broadcasting, one cannot properly be called a broadcaster. By that logic, half of Africa’s pioneering media figures would need their titles revoked retroactively. Broadcasting did not begin in lecture halls. It began in studios.
Ironically, the example of Larry King complicates the argument. King had no degree in broadcasting either, yet history comfortably refers to him as a legendary broadcaster. If decades behind a microphone, interviewing presidents and shaping public discourse do not qualify one as a broadcaster, what exactly does? a framed certificate?
The distinction between presenter and broadcaster may be correct in theory, but in practice, the media world is gloriously untidy. Presenters often research, script, interview, moderate, and influence national conversation.
For Me, as a two-ngwee journalist from Evelyn Hone College, that sounds like broadcasting.
The critique also strays into commentary about accents and personality. But since when did vocal style determine professional classification? If adopting a British tone disqualifies one from broadcasting, then half the Commonwealth is in trouble.
Experience matters. Fifty plus years on radio and television is not a hobby. It is a career. Titles in media are earned as much by impact and longevity as by academic qualification.
In the end, this feels less like a clarification of terms and more like a gatekeeping exercise. Broadcasting is a craft before it is a credential.
And if surviving five decades on air does not make one a veteran broadcaster, then perhaps we need a new dictionary and not a new degree.
SOURCE: EMV
Great piece
The writer is contradicting himself. Either he didn’t read Field Ruwe’s article or he simply did not comprehend it, probably one of the chaps masquerading as Jonaulists.
Ruwe just stated facts , take or leave it, that is the way it is.
In the practice of law, facts are very important and constitute evidence to prove or disprove a case. So, we must appreciate facts presented by Field Ruwe to learn the differences and not assume things with ignorance.
We will now refer to KK and other leaders who served in the 1st Republic as party cadres because they were not university graduates. I think Field and Maureen are being petty and in a ignorant. Did the first university lecturers have degrees? From which university? What degree did the prolific inventor ever, Thomas Edison, have? What about Steve Jobs and other college dropouts who have invented the systems we are using now? We should learn to respect each other and the contribution others have made in their lives.
You can read the law and all constitutions, understand them and interpret to
others on the streets. That doesnt make you a lawyer. Frank mutubila never attended school to qualify him as a journalist, broadcaster or other . He presented and remained a presenter. He worked in the media industry, in broadcasting, even rising to marketing boss at ZNBC… LOL !!! All that experience is never enough to qualify him to a Journalist or broadcaster. Please get back to school for that. Field Ruwe is very right. Those who lack are always quick to get in using other ways. No please. Its school first. Mukwita is a Journalist . Mukwita and Mwamba are not foreign service officers, not qualified diplomats . Frank mutubila is not a qualified diplomat. The three just love masquarading as ambassdors. They only served as as ambassadors but all the three are not qualified to continue masqerading as ambassadors. The other one who has been pretending all his life is Richard sakala, the guy who runs the nation newspaper. All he did is 21 days of attending/participating in a hands on training for journalists. Basi kwapwa, to this day sakala has been standing as a journalist. This is a fact and a court case in 1996 brought everything out. Sakala knows fred membe brought this fact out in court.
So stop supporting people who pretend to be what they have never achieved academically.
Ruwe just put out academic facts not opinions, good luck f mutubila, may be he advanced his academics, otherwise he isn’t what he and his fellows think he is, sorry.
Its not an attack on Frank but merely a clarification.