Media in Kenya: A “tolerance for impunity”?
Democracy dies in darkness, so where is Kenya headed after the TV shutdown?
After defying government warnings and broadcasting live from the venue of the contentious “swearing-in” of opposition leader Raila Odinga, KTN News of the Standard Group, NTV of the Nation Media Group and Citizen TV, and the Kikuyu-language Inooro TV of Royal Media Services were forced off air on 30 January 2018.
Most saw this as a major setback to the country’s democratic space, of which we have always been proud. As a result, mass media enthusiasts and civil society organisations sparked a national conversation about the importance of media freedom in Kenya. What long-term implications would the shutdown have? What is the way forward? How can this be prevented from happening again?
All these and more questions were addressed at an event organized by the Political Leadership and Governance Programme (PLGP) Alumni Network in Daystar University, Nairobi titled “The Changing Media Landscape of Kenya”.
Victor Bwire of the Media Council of Kenya, Henry Maina of Article 19, Hassan Kulundu of the Kenya Editors’ Guild, Catherine Gicheru of Code for Kenya and Daystar University’s Dean of Communication Professor Levi Obonyo were part of the panel that tackled the big issues, moderated by Capital FM Associate News Editor, Olive Burrows.
“We cannot have a democracy without vibrant media,” said Prof Obonyo. This was a running thread throughout the discussion. Media in Kenya were encouraged to pushback whenever incursion of their space has occurred such as it was during the shutdown.
Maina questioned the assumption that access to information has always been seen to threaten national security. “This is not true. The media simply refused to be a lapdog and the government feared they would do what they were supposed to do — report the truth,” he said.
However, the media is not entirely free of blame. “Other than condemning it, no journalist has followed up on media shut down. We are not engaging enough. Journalists are not interested in media things. Let’s get interested,” said Bwire. Gicheru agreed that the media has become lax. “Why is the media surprised [by the shutdown]? The media has not presented itself as a champion of freedom,” she said.
Main a weighed in saying that media in Kenya is successful with about 3,200 accredited journalists in the country, but the assessment is flawed. “We fair slightly well compared to our neighbours, Uganda and Tanzania but what plagues us is a tolerance to impunity,” he said.
The media needs to re-align itself with the changing times — especially the digital revolution. “There are opportunities for journalists coming up every day such as fact-checking,” said Gicheru. “The media needs to build on its ecosystem. The business of journalism has changed, but the good, investigative journalism hasn’t. In fact, it matters now more than ever.”
Bwire affirmed that “journalism is not for the faint-hearted — it is all about following the public interest”.
As for the future of the industry, it is not as dark as has been the common mantra. “I’ve been reading about the fish in Lake Victoria have been headed to depletion for the last 20 years, yet it has never come to pass. Similarly, legacy media is not going anywhere,” affirmed Bwire.
“There is no way social media will replace journalism. Technology is not a replacement of journalism, rather, it is just a new way to deliver the news,” said Gicheru.
Smaller media entities are also building a niche for themselves as whistleblowers following public interest stories. amaBhungane, a South African non-profit developing investigative journalism in the public interest, were the ones to break the story on the #GuptaLeaks. “We need to start thinking about crowdfunding and newsroom collaborations as the new frontier,” said Gicheru.
Kulundu spoke on behalf of the editors. “If you want a friendly media, either buy out the Editors or kick them out, which is what we are seeing right now,” he said. The main function of the media is to hold power to account. “This is not new. We have had this war. The only hope is for journalists to remain tough and continue to analyze the goings-on in our communities.”
