daniel chigunwe
RAPPER Stunner was in a good mood yesterday after he was acquitted in the latest case which has seen him being dragged to court.
We reported at the beginning of the month that Stunner was nabbed at Mbare Magistrate’s court due to a civil imprisonment warrant of arrest.
However, yesterday, the singer reported that he had been acquitted by the same court.
He did not stop there but, in his moment of joy, he decided to drag us into his social media posts.
“This is the story Zim Celebs or H-Metro will not tell you today or tomorrow but they will run with any negative thing they think they have on Stunner,” he posted.
“I’m thankful to everyone that stood by me, especially Mtombeni and Associates (his lawyers).”
Stunner even posted his picture, in a suit, in the company of his lawyer, as he feasted on the moment of being acquitted.
We understand all that but what just surprised us was his decision to drag our name into the conversation on his social media handles in the wake of his acquittal.
Somehow, he lied that we had no interest in his case simply because it was a positive one in which he has been acquitted in his latest brush with the law.
We had interest in the case and we were going to report his acquittal because that is what our ethics call for – to be fair to the individuals we cover.
The ethics tell us that we have to cover a court story from when it starts to when it ends and we don’t really care whether the subject of our coverage is convicted or not.
That is not our job.
Our job is to cover the court proceedings and tell our readers what would have happened.
Our job is to tell our readers that Stunner has been arrested, on the occasions that he is nabbed, as was the case with our story at the beginning of the month.
Stunner should know that his big profile comes at a cost and when he does something foolish, there are some consequences that come with that.
And, because he is a figure of public interest, it means that we will report about his arrest the way we will report when he receives a gong as the Artist of the Year.
We don’t go out to deliberately try and tarnish the images of our celebrities.
Given a choice, we would rather be covering success stories like Stunner releasing a song, which captures the imagination of the country, instead of the rapper’s battles in court.
But, Stunner has to change and become someone who is just committed to building on the foundation which he built when his music was doing all the talking. He is a fine artist, no doubt about that, and he can do more as a musician.
We actually like Stunner as a musician but that doesn’t blind us from our role to ensure that we also cover his life because he is a figure of public interest.
Online Reporter