This week, the world celebrated the international day in support of media freedom.
The day is marked on May 3, every year in recognition of the Fourth Estate and journalists from all walks of life in different parts of the world.
This year’s theme was “Information as a Public Good”. It is a campaign to ensure information shared by media houses has a positive impact on the people and improves the livelihoods of communities. The theme seeks to change the approach where media is driven by financial or political gains to one that is public good-driven.
Media freedom in Kenya is guaranteed by the Constitution.
Article 34 (1) in the Bill of Rights provides that “freedom and independence of electronic, print and all other types of media is guaranteed”.
Article 34 (2) goes further to guarantee independence of the media by providing that “the State shall not exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium or penalise any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination”.
However, for years, media freedom has been curtailed by state and non-state actors. Kenya is no stranger to broadcasters being shut down by the state. For example, as recently as 2018, various leading media stations were shut down for airing an opposition activity that was public.
The stations were accused of supporting the swearing-in of a “people’s president” when what they did was merely to air what was already in public. If indeed the government considered the event illegal, they should have stopped it from happening. Instead, they opted not do so and punish the media stations for airing it.
The media has also had its fair share of attack and threats from non-state actors. Kenyans are not new to journalists being attacked by institutions such as those from the private and even private persons when they carry out stories against them.
In 2019, a school in Machakos was closed down after students, allegedly taking the lead from their principal, attacked a media crew that had visited the institution to investigate a missing student.
Besides assaulting the journalists, the students also burnt a vehicle belonging to the media house. Subsequently, the principal was arrested as the journalists sought treatment.
Looking inwards, one of the biggest challenges of media freedom in Kenya today is independent ownership. Unfortunately, individuals with clear political connections today own most media houses. As a matter of fact, majority of the top Kenyan politicians have made deliberate steps to own media outlets to propagate their agendas.
Many are times when journalists refuse to carry stories that go against certain politicians. So serious has this problem become that recently, independent journalists under the banner of Crimes Journalists Association of Kenya launched the Shahidi News to cover stories that would not be given slots in conventional media houses.
The challenges of the media sector are not just to media houses but also to journalists themselves. Majority of them are underpaid and have to eke out a living as freelancers and “journalists for hire”.
While media houses rake in millions in profits, they do little to motivate and support the journalists who toil to get them the stories they sell. Lack of continued journalism education has also meant that the sector has been infiltrated by quacks, who are not qualified but still call themselves journalists. Licensing of journalists should be renewable every year upon meeting certain minimum standards.
Kenya’s media has come a long way since the 1980s of Mwakenya, where they were silenced on every occasion. With the opening up of the democratic space, the media is freer. Today, the country boasts of having some of the best journalists and media houses in Africa.
What is required now is to translate that strength for public good in line with this year’s theme.
The state must play its part in supporting independence of the sector. On the other hand, communities must encourage the media to address issues that affect the people and not merely do stories for financial or political gain.
