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Raila right to call off Star boycott

Raila was wrong to support the boycott of the Star (which has now been cancelled) but right to criticise the censure of six TV stations for covering Monday's 'mass action'.

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by The Star

Leader24 March 2023 - 15:41
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In Summary


• Opposition leader Raila Odinga has called off the Azimio boycott of the Star

• CAK has censured six Kenya TV stations for their coverage on Monday's 'mass action'

Raila Odinga reading The Star Newspaper

Raila Odinga has called off the Azimio boycott of the Star newspaper.

This is the right decision because the boycott was always unfair - the Star was always impartial in its coverage of the 2022 election and the recent mass action.

Of course, there have some opinion columns critical of Azimio but Raila has always been a great defender of civil liberties, including press freedom.

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Raila says Azimio will now send its complaint about bias at the Star to the Media Council (which incidentally condemned the boycott call along with the Editors Guild). The Star looks forward to seeing the detailed complaint to the  Media Council and is confident that it can rebut any charges of bias.

Meanwhile, Raila also criticised Ezra Chiloba, the Director General of the Communication Authority of Kenya, for censuring six Kenyan TV stations for their coverage of Monday's 'mass action' which allegedly could cause panic. Here he was right.

It was ironic since the CAK has not complained about Al Jazeera and other International TV stations showing footage in Kenya of riots and demonstrations in France and Israel. 

The Kenya TV stations have done nothing wrong and should continue covering the demos.

Quote of the day: "Nothing is inevitable until it happens."

A. J. P. Taylor
The English historian was born on March 25, 1906

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