• According to the senate Majority leader, what he said about the media is the truth and it hurts.
• The remarks were met with criticism from a section of the media, who accused him of trying to interfere with freedom of the press.
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Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot has told off the media in his continued onslaught on the fifth estate.
According to the senate Majority leader, what he said about the media is the truth and it hurts.
"So what's NMG and RMS' point? That we should allow the cartels therein to thrive uninterrupted? Even as they drag the practice of journalism to its lowest ethical standards ever. Really!! Sometimes, the truth hurts but must still be said," he tweeted on Tuesday.
Cheruiyot had on Monday said that the media and banking sectors were run by cartels who would do anything to protect each other.
"President Willian Samoei Ruto will succeed in crushing every cartel in the country save for two that are extremely powerful. 1. KE Banks 2. KE Media Both are very powerful, influential, and synergise so well to protect each other's interests. For the public good, a way must be found," he said.
The remarks were met with criticism from a section of the media, who accused him of trying to interfere with freedom of the press.
A statement from the Editors Guild condemned his statement saying the senator's sentiments are a threat to media freedom.
"It is dumbfounding that the Senator sees the Media as a cartel rather than a catalyst of Kenya's democratic discourse without which, many politicians of his ilk would never have emerged to become anything worth quoting," Kenya Editors Guild president Churchill Otieno said.
"If we were to take his comments seriously, the Senator is saying that President William Ruto is keen to crush the media. We hope he is wrong and that the President and his government have no such designs."
Cheruiyot was reminded to approach the Media Complaints Commission with any competent claim and desist from undermining Kenya's democracy.
"It appears to be a well-choreographed scheme to profile a key pillar of Kenya's democracy and lead a lynch mob to try and cripple it," he said.