Questions raised over state of Kenyan media

As the world marks Press Freedom Day, the realities of the Kenyan media and slightest possibility of enjoying this freedom is far from being realised.

So far, there have been 24 cases of intimidation and harassment of journalists, 14 for speaking and writing corruption-related articles.

One of the cases was last year’s wanton assault of Citizen TV cameraman Reuben Ogachi and NTV’s Nehemiah Okwemba in Malindi for supposedly covering a negative story on Galana Kulalu project.

Eight months later, print journalists John Ngirachu (Daily Nation) and Alphonce Shiundu (The Standard) were summoned at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to record statements after their stories on allegation of misappropriation of funds at the Interior Ministry featured in their respectful newspapers.

Despite the current state of the Kenyan media, Editors Guild Chair Linus Kaikai said that Kenyan media’s resolve to ‘tell the story’ would not be shaken by acts of intimidation.

“The Kenyan media is unbreakable, it survived the Kanu regime and will survive the return of Kanu or its equivalent,” he said in his speech at the event to celebrate World Press Freedom Day.

“These events should serve as a reminder to the media that old habits die hard and freedom of the press remains a journey and not a destination. It is also a reminder that political powers will always test the limits.”

Some of the issues that have been raised regarding media conduct however have been the disregard to the ethics and standards of responsible journalism, the growth of FM stations owned by political leaders and broadcasting of inciting messages uttered by politicians as well as employment of untrained and underpaid reporters who can be compromised and exploited.

According to Media Council of Kenya CEO Haron Mwangi, such issues have led to an unbalanced and irresponsible media that has no regard to family ethics.

“They employ comedians with limited understanding of the role of the media as a cultural institution and they broadcast things that are only fit for red light districts. They are highly commercialised and have no regard of the impact of their content.”

Media Owners Association chair Hannington Gaya in his speech stated that: “The ethical and professional standards of journalism must be designed by practitioners, not politicians, because they don’t know what media ethics is.”

Even as the media moves to put in place self-regulatory measures, it is of keen interest to Kenyans that the government trusts it to practice responsible reporting that would inform and educate Kenyans while at the same time pointing at the evils in and out of government, without compromising on peaceful coexistence.