PETERSEN

LAST week, I published a letter from Petersen Zagaze alias Mukubesa ?Mundia taking on journalists accusing them of not supporting the?entertainment industry.?The singer lamented the negative criticism from scribes, while suggesting that they will remain poor as a result of writing negatives on the industry.
The artiste went on with his banter claiming that Zambian journalists will always be under paid because of being critical of the entertainment industry.?The Munyaule singer gave an example of Kenya’s Willy Tuva as one of the journalist who has made it because of promoting and writing positive on the Kenyan industry.
This week I have decided to respond to Petersen Zagaze in my capacity as an entertainment writer.?Firstly, let me congratulate the 28-year-old singer who married Rose at a colourful wedding ceremony in Lusaka last weekend, that’s the way to go!?Secondly, my response to the letter is as follows;?Writers are professional people with expertise in different areas that include music, entertainment, sports, tourism, leisure, politics and other topical issues.?Entertainment writers have expertise in that area by researching on the industries around the world and observing the local ones.
These writers are not dictated by what the industry players say or do but rather by what they (writers) observe, hence the writing based on what has been observed.
If the observations are impressive, so will be the writing but if there is nothing good to write home about then negative criticism is inevitable.?The example of Willy Tuva that Petersen gave is a joke for lack of a better term.
Just like Innocent Kalaluka, a presenter from ZNBC and creator of Born and Bred and Smooth Talk, Tuva is just a presenter whose shows on radio and television in Kenya have proved to be popular.
The presenter uses his popular shows to promote artists and other entertainers who are worth the airtime.?It is not every Jim and Jack that will feature on Willy Tuva’s shows but rather those that are promising and their products good enough to be aired.
There was a report online alleging that Tuva was asking female artistes for sexual favours in order for them to feature on his programmes.?Because of the popularity of his shows and a good number of listenership, advertisers have come on board to advertise; hence his financial fortunes.
The journalism profession might not be as good paying as other white collar jobs out there but I have so far never heard anyone of my beloved professionals complaining to musicians that they are underpaid, nonetheless to Petersen himself.
Musicians don’t pay our bills and as such we shall not be blackmailed by the likes of musicians like Petersen to write good about them even if they do wrong things or put up a below par performance.
When good things happen we all rejoice but when wrong things happen we criticise and hope to see good at the end. When we criticise, it is not that we are jealousy or we are haters but simply trying to see that Zambia does something good that we can all be happy about than promoting mediocre.?When the nation scores a first we all rejoice regardless of the differences but when something is wrong we tend to worry and see where we are getting it wrong.
If one takes a look at weekend entertainment papers, one will observe that most of the news or write ups are positive. One wonders why Petersen would want to attack the noble profession of journalism which has dedicated a substantial amount of space on both electronic and print media.
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