When Even Reading a Paragraph is Asking Too Much from A Reporter

Recently the Oxford Business Group (OBG) published its inaugural Business Barometer: Kenya CEO Survey 2018 (see report here). I attended the launch event and participated in the deliberations.
Let me quote the first paragraph of the Report:

"While numerous factors have contributed to Kenya's declining GDP expansion rate, one of the main reasons is the slowdown in private sector credit growth as a result of the interest rates cap introduced in 2016. In the inaugural OBG  Business Barometer: Kenya CEO Survey 2018, 89% of the CEOs say than the newly imposed interest rates cap has made it more difficult or much more difficult to access credit".

It is in plain English!

But this is what Wainaina Wambu of The Standard read (or was told to read):

" Kenya's chief executives give rate cap the thumbs up".

And here is his distortion:

"A sizeable majority (89 per cent) of respondents said the decision to cap interest rates at four percentage points above the Central Bank Rate had improved the cost of borrowing, but had made borrowing more difficult"

This cannot be laziness. It is a case of a reporter (may be a newspaper editor) falling in love with a bad idea and not letting any facts come in between him and his love for the bad idea.

What a pity! It is perfectly understandable to be entitled with your own opinion . But to imagine that you are entitled to your own facts is simply crazy!