THE social media was on Friday awash with debate following a teasing headline which our sister paper, The Daily Times, had carried at the back page.
Following the fall of Issa Hayatou from Confederation of African Football (Caf) Presidency post, The Daily Times had the back page story titled ‘end of an error.’ There was huge debate across different social medial platforms including whatsapp and facebook.
Some felt it was a mistake to have error on the headline whereas others mocked Times editors to have gone to sleep after failing to differentiate error for an era. Another section backed the headline. One of the critics questioned how the Daily Times allowed the headline.
“But these are primary school kids’ mistakes not worthy of an established newspaper like The Daily Times. Yes “Era” and “Error” do sound similar but the meaning is not the same and will never be the same. Where was the Editor?” wrote Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Transfer Marching System Manager, Casper Jangale. Another one responded that there was need to lead the content before crucifying the Times.
“If you read the story, you will note [notice] that the story describes Issa era as having made the most loved sport in the world stagnant, his era was an error. Then you will have a meaning on why the heading has indicated error not era,” he stated.
Another female official chipped in saying Hayatou was an error at Caf and for African football. “Ma headline awa ama opinion wa [some of the headlines are based on opinions,” another one remarked.
However, journalist Kandani Ngwira, said anyone questioning The Daily Times back page headline was an enemy of eclecticism, metaphor, creativity, subtlety, novelty and the general suave and sophistication of sensationalism. “In short, The Daily Times has a better headline today.
So if you are daft and can’t understand a simple metaphor, don’t create problems for others. Just shove it. I could not find a more apt word or phrase to use. Do you have one? ,” he said. Another well known figure in football circles [name withheld] said there was a transitional problem at the Times.
“The problem(s) is The Daily Times transition from those straight forward dumb headlines to these fresh beautiful ones. They should also try to be consistent, I guess this is the second after Paul Banda’s headline,” he said.
Times Group Sports Editor, Peter Kanjere, said as a news organization, Times, treasure feedback such as the one which the paper received over the back page headline in Friday’s edition of the paper.
“The headline generated debate. It is interesting that some felt we meant to write era and not error. Some argued that we should have explained more in the story about what the headline was trying to communicate. “The headline summed up the end of Hayatou’s error-strewn reign. From suspicious handling of broadcasting rights, clinging to power for 29 years when he could not offer anything new, focusing only on North and West Africa football, failing to arrest age cheating, rendering continental club competition a privilege of the rich clubs, allowing Afcon finals to lose their spark, and indeed being part of Sepp Blatter’s best-to-be forgotten legacy. All this sums up Hayatou’s reign,” he said. Kanjere added that, however, make no mistake about it.
“The story was not about chronicling Hayatou’s cocktail of errors, but summing up the end of the errors. So the there was no need to explain the headline,” he said. He added that conservative newspapers in the United Kingdom have published such headlines before. “Sports journalism has evolved. We too need to move with times. This is why we are Times. We are here do justice to a readership that demands creative and analytical sports reporting.
In the era of the social media, newspapers have a responsibility to give readers value for money, the reason to read a story about an event that happened yesterday. “That is the direction we have taken. Expect more of such catchy headlines and fancy designs. Of course we expect more debate. This is the way to go. Malawi sports journalism cannot have its own standards. Sports journalism standards are universal,” he said.
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