Media in Kenya needs to ‘Talk to our Souls’
Hacks/Hackers Nairobi members tackled the big question in journalism in Kenya: Has the media in Kenya failed? And can it rise from the ashes?
Well no. Not really. They haven’t failed. It’s more complicated than that.
Nationwide broadcasters 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 for a week (or more) on 30 January 2018, which precipitated a crisis in confidence within the media in general. It’s prompted much soul-searching in an the effort to re-identify their reason for being, and ensure solidarity in the face of government intervention in the freedom of the press.
Hacks/Hackers Nairobi (#HHNBO) joined in the national discussion, by convening a special panel event in Febnruary.
Guest speakers consisted of: Dr Wandia M. Njoya, pan-African writer and lecturer at Daystar University; Frankline Sunday, writer and journalist at Standard Media Group, Dr Nancy Booker; Assistant Professor of Communication and Multimedia Journalism at The Aga Khan University; and John-Allan Namu, an investigative journalist with Africa Uncensored. The discusssion was moderated by Owaahh, a creative writer and researcher.
What’s the actual problem in media in Kenya today?
Why did government feel that it could act with impunity, given that media freedom has been enshrined and respected for years?
The key problem identified by the panel was that media houses have weakened their own mandate by not focussing their audience enough. The trust and appreciated of viewers is a vital part of the compact that protect the journalist-as-representative of their views.
“The legacy media gets data and facts right; I wonder why they’re not capitalising on it and involving us the people who are listening. There’s no love for the citizens in their stories,” said Njoya.
Sunday added that it’s more than that. “It’s also the lack of learning from past mistakes and the structural change brought about by digital migration,” he said.
Address the people who the policy is affecting not who is implementing the policy.
“Citizens have become media generators and legacy media has not adapted to that change — we’ve dishonoured the relationship we have with the public. We’ve failed when it matters most,” Booker agreed.
Booker also brought up the issue of institutions of higher learning needing to change.
“The education system needs to change. Part of the disruption that is happening in the newsrooms should happen in the classrooms as well.”
Njoya agreed that universities are very ego-centric and are concerned with one’s qualifications rather than practical journalism experience when choosing lecturers.
The media in Kenya also doesn’t seem to know what to do with social media and how to adapt.
“You can’t eat shares, likes and retweets, so what do you do?” pointed out veteran journalist, Macharia Gaitho.
“The moniker that ‘Journalism is the first draft of history’ is no longer true,” Namu reminded us, so…
How can the media reconnect with the audience?
“Talk to our souls,” said Njoya. People connect with stories that they can relate with. Personal accounts of other ordinary people just like them. Njoya also recommended adding in character to the political space.
“We also need to take into account that young passionate journalists get into newsrooms needing someone holding their hand,” said Booker.
If not, they are likely to be sucked into the meaningless chase for breaking news and lose their thirst for deep-dive journalism. Investigative journalism is a calling which often won’t be supported financially by a newsroom. Mentors are vital to encourage reporters to dig deeper.
University curricula and teaching methods need to keep up with the changing media landscape in the country. Accepting the digital change and accepting its reality is the only way to prepare journalists for the newsroom in the current age.
The business of journalism also needs to be re-thought.
“There is no innovation happening right now when it comes to the business of journalism. We need a model that puts content first, not advertising. That’s not going to work anymore,” said Namu.
Fake news and the fight against is also drowning the legacy media as they try to keep up with debunking it. Njoya said this might just be a distraction.
“Media is not competing with fake news. That they think they are is a big problem. They should instead be reporting on possible laws that can be used to curb it instead,” she said.
Namu however encouraged that this period of incessant fake news is only for a time. “We’re in a state of flux. We’re always changing. Right now we’re in a time of fake news and tribal biases but overtime the pendulum will swing back. We need to forecast and build for that time,” he said.
Main takeaways
- The media in Kenya needs to consider putting up paywalls; this might lend them to being taken seriously and also enable them fund investigative pieces.
- The business of journalism needs a re-work. What’s the best way to leverage on social media?
- Research needs to be done into Kenyan media; data and facts need to be the steering wheel of any changes undertaken.
Keep an eye out for March’s Hacks/Hackers Nairobi meetup, and congratulations to the winner of the tweeting contest, George Kamau!
The worlds of hackers and journalists are coming together, as reporting goes digital and Internet companies become media empires.
Journalists call themselves “hacks,” someone who can churn out words in any situation. Hackers use the digital equivalent of duct tape to whip out code.
Hacker-journalists try and bridge the two worlds. Hacks/Hackers Africa aims to bring all these people together — those who are working to help people make sense of our world. It’s for hackers exploring technologies to filter and visualize information, and for journalists who use technology to find and tell stories. In the age of information overload and collapse of traditional business models for legacy media, their work has become even more crucial.
Code for Africa, is the continent’s largest Open Data and civic technology initiative, recognises this and is spearheading the establishment of a network of Hacks/Hackers chapters across Africa to help bring together pioneers for collaborative projects and new ventures.
