On Saturday, a terrible and heartbreaking tragedy unfolded in Kano, north-west Nigeria. A man lost his wife and six children in what can only be described as one of the most brutal and disturbing incidents in recent memory.
Assailants reportedly broke into the residence of Haruna Bashir in the Dorayi Charanchi area and carried out a gruesome attack that claimed the lives of his entire immediate family.
The pain of such a loss is beyond words. It is the kind of grief that completely shatters a human being.
As the news spread, many Nigerians were still struggling to come to terms with the horror. But alongside the shock came another troubling sight. Journalists and social media content creators crowded around the grieving father, asking questions, recording videos, and pushing microphones into his face. One cannot help but ask: is this really the right time?
Is a man who has just lost his entire family in such a brutal manner truly in the right state of mind to grant interviews? Is he emotionally stable enough to relive such trauma in front of cameras? Kayya mon onon boo! Haba, don Allah.
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Grief does not follow a script. In moments of extreme loss, people are often in shock. They may speak without fully understanding what they are saying. Some appear calm only because their minds are overwhelmed and struggling to process reality.
Turning such raw pain, immediately after an inhuman incident, into content, views, or headlines is not Journalism. It is insensitivity.
This is where emotional intelligence must guide our work as Journalists and content creators. Reporting tragedy is part of the job, yes, but how we report it matters just as much as what we report.
Being professional means knowing when to step back. It means allowing people the dignity to grieve in peace. It means getting facts from authorities, relatives, and neighbours instead of forcing survivors to reopen fresh wounds. Above all, it means remembering that the people in our stories are not just sources.They are human beings.
In the age of social media, the rush for exclusive footage and viral content has made it easy to forget basic compassion. But no number of likes, shares, or views is worth deepening someone’s trauma.
We must do better.
Let us tell these stories with care. Let us choose words that heal rather than harm. Let us remember that behind every tragic headline is a real person whose life has been torn apart.
May Allah forgive the departed souls and grant them Aljannah Firdaus, and may He give Haruna Bashir the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss. And may we, as media practitioners and storytellers, never lose our humanity in the pursuit of a story.
Ya’u Siuto Gembu writes from Abuja
