Media Observer January-April 2011

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The Media Observer January-April 2011

The Media Council of Kenya is an independent national institution established by the Media Act 2007 as the leading institution in the regulation of media and in the conduct and discipline of journalists.

Vision A professional and free media accountable to the public.

Mission To safeguard media freedom, enhance professionalism and arbitrate media disputes.

Functions Mediate or arbitrate in disputes between the government and the media, between the public and the media and intra-media.

Promote and protect freedom and independence of the media.

Promote high professional standards amongst journalists.

Enhance professional collaboration among media practitioners.

Promote ethical standards among journalists and in the media.

Ensure the protection of the rights and privileges of journalists in the performance of their duties.

Advise the government or the relevant authority on matters pertaining to professional, education and the training of journalists and other media practitioners.

Make recommendations on the employment criteria for journalists.

Uphold and maintain the ethics and discipline of journalists.

Compile and maintain a register of journalists, media practitioners, media enterprises and such other related registers.

Conduct an annual review of the performance and the general public opinion of the media, and publish the results.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

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What’s inside

5 NEWS ROUND-UP

Council’s New Chairman Wants Better Training for Journalists 5 Regional Integration: East African Scribes Honoured 6 East African Journalists Petitioned to Embrace Responsibility 7 Media Urged to Prioritise Climate Change 8 Media Council Moves to Address Vulgarity 10

INSIDE THE MEDIA COUNCIL

Former MCK Boss Proud of Achievements Former Media Council Board Members Feted New Staff at the Media Council

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Bridging Information Gap for Pastoralists

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NEWS UPDATE COVER STORY

Kibaki Nomination’s Challenge to Journalistic Professionalism 16 Let Ethics and Professionalism Reign in Journalism 21 The Sorry State of Media Ethics in Kenya 23 Sovereignity of the Independence of the Media 26 Keeping the Media Under Scrutiny 29

PRESS FREEDOM

Safeguarding Freedom of the Press

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Defamation and Political Reputation

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Media Legislation and Regulation: The German Experience

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New Media for the Kenyan Journalist

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Media Training Everywhere, But Who is Talking Quality?

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PRESS LAW

GLOBAL MEDIA REGULATION

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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TRAINING 3

The Media Observer January-April 2011

EDITORIAL Ag. Executive Director Zalpha Amulega

EDITORIAL TEAM Editorial Board Mr Joseph Odindo Mr Mitch Odero Dr Levi Obonyo Ms Martha Mbugguss Mr Otsieno Namwaya Editor Jerry Abuga Editorial Coordinator Jerry Abuga Contributors Jerry Abuga Eric Ngaira Ruth Kwamboka Ahmed Kassim Christabel Telewa Kamau Maichuhie Isabel Rodde Tom Olang’ Joe Kadhi Philip Ochieng’ Ephraim Muchemi Wambui Gitau Design and Layout Imagemate imagemate@fastmail.net The views expressed in articles

Kenyan Media Needs to Uphold Journalistic Ethics T

hat the Kenyan media is among the most vibrant in Africa and indeed in the developing world is not in doubt. Kenyans have been accorded unparalleled access to both print and broadcast media. It is common knowledge that effectual media play crucial roles in the development and democratic processes of any country, Kenya included. Moreover, the media plays a similar role in promoting good governance as well as setting the agenda on a number of issues.

The Kenyan press has moved strides towards attaining independence, thanks to the now wider democratic space and a new constitution that guarantees the freedom and independence of electronic, print and all other types of media. In exercising its role of informing, educating, entertaining as well as highlighting matters of public interest, the Kenyan media has been excellent, save for instances where public and moral tastes have been compromised. In many instances offensive print and broadcast content have distressed the public as most of them often clash with religious and family values held highly by many Kenyans.

As the body in charge of promoting ethical standards among journalists and the media in Kenya, the Media Council of Kenya has noted with concern the blatant contravention of a number of articles in the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya as entrenched in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007. The Code governs the conduct and practice of all media practitioners in the country.

As with other ethical codes, there is a perennial concern that the standards of journalism are being ignored by media practitioners, especially with regards to cultural and political issues among others. Several Articles in the Code have also been breached and have as such compromised journalism ethics and standards, hence affecting the work of the media and the public’s perception of the media. Although Kenya’s leading media houses have voluntarily adopted and attempted to uphold the common standards of journalism ethics, adherence and general quality varies considerably. The professionalism, reliability and public accountability of a news organisation are three of its most valuable assets. A media house earns and maintains a strong reputation, in part, through a consistent implementation of ethical standards, which influence its position with the public and within the industry. It is therefore incumbent upon the various media houses to uphold the Code as they seek to remain steadfast in the competitive market.

published in this publication are

This edition of the Media Observer lays special emphasis on the need for the Kenyan media to uphold its independence while promoting objectivity through necessarily reflect those of the responsible journalism. Enjoy reading the last edition of the Media Observer in its Media Council of Kenya. The Media current format as we look forward to a new look starting July. those of the writers and do not

Editor

Observer is a publication of the

Media Council of Kenya published Copyright: Media Council of Kenya, P. O. Box 43132, 00100 Nairobi. Tel: 2737058/ 2725032. Mobile: 0727735252 info@mediacouncil.or.ke, www.mediacouncil.or.ke, quarterly with assistance Nairobi Baptist Church Court Unit 3, off Ngong Road. from Ford Foundation.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Council’s New Chairman Wants Better Training for Journalists CHRISTABEL TELEWA

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he new chairman of the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) Dr Levi Obonyo has called upon the media industry to set higher standards for training journalists and ensure compliance with them as a way to prepare the profession to serve society better under the new constitution.

He told Kenya Today early February that the new constitution, under Article 34(5c), has mandated Parliament to enact legislation that provides for the establishment of a body, which shall, among other things, set media standards and regulate and monitor compliance with those standards.

“Media standards should include qualifications for people to be admitted to practice as journalists, and this is where training is crucial when setting such standards,” Dr Obonyo said.

The chairman is optimistic that the Kenyan media will operate in a vibrant and free environment once all the existing regulatory and structural legislations are aligned to the new constitution. He believes that the Council has what it takes to make the media industry vibrant and in tune with changing social, economic, political and legislative environment.

Dr Obonyo, a holder of a doctorate degree in Communications from

Temple University, USA, takes office at a time when the industry is in the process of reviewing its regulatory laws and structures to be in line with provisions of the new constitution. Dr Obonyo, who took over from Mr Wachira Waruru, the Managing Director of Royal Media Services, is from the academia and is passionate about quality training of journalists and media freedom.

“We cannot begin to hold the media responsible when we know that the practitioners are not qualified for the job. That’s why I insist that journalists should be well trained before we proceed to assign them duties for which we can hold them responsible,” he said. As a way forward, Dr Obonyo said he will convene a stakeholders’ meeting to deliberate upon the proposed Media Bill 2010, which seeks to establish an independent body to set media standards, regulate and monitor compliance with these standards.

He also said that the Council is in the process of reviewing the curriculum of middle level colleges of journalism and plans to develop a document that training institutions can borrow from. “The template will not be imposed on every training institution, but it will be one that colleges can borrow from, adopt and modify to suit their needs. We should bear in mind that the Council’s mandate includes regulating training in

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New chairman of the Media Council of Kenya Dr Levi Obonyo.

(Photo by Kenya Today) journalism,” the chairman said.

Dr Obonyo, who is also the head of the Department of Communications at Daystar University, reiterates that proper training of journalists is important in upholding professional ethics.

“We will lay a lot of emphasis on training because this is the only way the media can develop and grow in tandem with the requirements of the new constitutional dispensation and ensure responsibility in the expanded media space and enhanced freedoms. In doing this, we recognise that the Media Act defines a journalist and takes into account the academic qualifications required of a journalist.”

(This article was published in the Kenya Today newspaper 7-13 February 2011 issue.)

The Media Observer January-April 2011

NEWS ROUND-UP

Regional Integration: East African Scribes Honoured JERRY ABUGA

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ournalists who have excelled in reporting on the East African Community integration were honoured during the fourth East African Media Summit held in Nairobi between March 14 and 15.

The winners of the inaugural East African Community (EAC) - East African Business Council (EABC) East Africa Media Awards were announced by the (EABC) and the EAC Secretariat on Monday, March 14, at a Gala Dinner held at Hilton Hotel.

At the awards ceremony, East African journalists were awarded in three categories namely: the Umoja Award honouring best reporter on EAC integration; the EABC Chairman’s Award honouring the best business reporter and the Green Award honouring the best reporter on environmental issues. George Omondi from Business Daily (Kenya) was declared the overall winner and took home the EAC Secretary Generals Award. He also clinched the EABC Chairman’s Award after emerging the best business reporter. The EAC Secretary General’s Award was sponsored by Coca Cola East and Central Africa. The Ugandan duo of Dorothy Nakaweesi and Walter Wafula from Daily Monitor won the TradeMark East Africa –sponsored Umoja Award, edging The East African’s Charles Kazooba and Jamhuri Mwavyombo from British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Swahili Service (Tanzania).

Winners show off their awards: From left Ms Barbara Namisango of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and winner of EAC Green Award, Daily Monitor‘s Walter Wafula (Umoja Award joint winner), George Omondi (overall and EABC chairman Award winner) and Dorothy Nakaweesi of Daily Monitor (joint Umoja Award winner).(Photo by EAC) Barbara Namisango from Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) was declared the EAC Green Award winner for her exemplary reporting in environmental matters.

Her compatriot Edwin Nuwagaba from Daily Monitor (Uganda) and Wanjohi Kabukuru from New African (Kenya) had been nominated as finalists for the award.

The Kenyan Minister for East African Community Prof. Helen Sambili represented the Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the event that was attended by the EAC Council of Ministers’ chairperson and Burundian Minister in charge of EAC Affairs Ms Hafsa Mossi and the EAC Secretary General Juma Mwapachu. In his speech, Raila termed the media as the “mover and shaker of public agenda in the region” and encouraged the Fourth Estate to tell the story of the integration process, including the achievements and the hurdles it faces. “This is more so because of the place of the media in shaping public opinion. The mass media

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is instrumental in the formation of elite and public opinion, which is crucial for political legitimisation of the EAC integration process.

Therefore, it can never be overemphasised that the public perception of the EAC integration as at now and in the future is and will largely be dependent on the way the media report stories of a regional nature”, said Raila.

“The media must warn us about the teething problems in the EAC integration process and why they must be addressed and at the same time, be at the frontline in providing useful and helpful information on trade and business opportunities”, he said.

Also present were the Kenya Private Sector Alliance chair Mr Patrick Obath, Athi River Mining Company CEO Pradeep Paunrana who presented the EABC Chairman’s Award sponsored by East African Cement Producers Association, TradeMark East Africa CEO Frank Matsaert who presented the Umoja Award and Coca Cola East and Central Africa Corporate Affairs and

NEWS ROUND-UP Communications Director Norah Odwesso who presented the EAC Secretary General Award (overall prize) sponsored by Coca Cola East and Central Africa.

The finalists were chosen by a panel of judges who included Dr George Lugalambi, Head of Department of Mass Communication and Journalism at Makerere University, Uganda, Ms Joyce Mhaville, Managing Director of ITV from Tanzania, Mr Arthur Asiimwe, Chairman of Media High Council of Rwanda and Mr Jared Obuya, Secretary General of Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ).

The Awards attracted a total of 88 entries and drew participation from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

The judges’ comments during the awards echoed similar sentiments made during the last CNN / Multichoice African Journalist of the Year as well as the Diageo Business Reporting Awards, where they emphasised on balanced stories that engaged easily with sources and readers.While accepting the award, the overall winner, Omondi, decried the minimal involvement of the media in the integration process, saying full integration will only be attained if the population is well informed.

“As the Fourth Estate, the media appears to be the dormant organ as far as the campaign to unite the five EAC countries goes. There is genuine fear that less involvement of the media is denying ordinary citizens the check and balance or independent scrutiny of the gives-and-takes of the integration process. Negotiations on the process should be open in nature with tradeoffs being done transparently and made accessible to ordinary citizens”, said the Nation Media Group writer.

East African Journalists Urged to Embrace Responsibility JERRY ABUGA

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he East African media has been urged to support the integration of the East African Community. Participants at the fourth East African Media Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya between March 14 and 15, 2011 called upon the media to objectively report on the integration of the regional economic block.

The two-day meeting that ran under the theme: Claiming the Next Decade - An EAC Agenda was organised by the East African Community Secretariat in collaboration with the East African Business Council (EABC) and brought together over 200 policy makers, media owners, chief executive officers of media houses, media executives, publishers and editors in East Africa to discuss the role of the media in the regional integration process.

The Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka who launched the conference challenged media owners to establish outlets across the East African Community in order to deepen EAC integration.

He said ordinary citizens in the respective member states needed an interactive medium. While acknowledging the influence of editorial policies on coverage, the VP challenged media houses in the region to allocate more space to EAC issues in order to enhance public awareness. Mr

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Musyoka was flanked by Kenyan EAC minister Prof Hellen Sambili, outgoing EAC secretary general Juma Mwapachu and the East African Council of Ministers chairperson Hafsa Mossi.

A member of the EABC Board Mr Patrick Obath underscored the crucial role of the media in the integration of the 130 millionmember body. He commended the member states for creating an enabling environment for media to express itself freely.

“We are witnessing a greater sense of freedom of speech and greater degree of professionalism

The Kenyan Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka addressing the fourth East African Media Summit. (Photo by EAC) in journalism because of the conducive environment in East Africa,” Mr Obath said.

“The media has been instrumental in the unpackaging and

The Media Observer January-April 2011

NEWS ROUND-UP dissemination of information on the progress of integration in the region. The media has unrivalled power to spearhead the process and hence should continue highlighting opportunities existing within the member countries”, he said.

Mr Obath challenged journalists to exercise their freedom while they continue upholding fairness, accuracy and professionalism. He at the same time urged the media to highlight impediments to the realisation of the EAC agenda, saying that but negative reporting could dent the integration spirit.

The Kenyan information minister Samuel Phogisio who closed the meeting called for responsibility by the media, saying successful integration greatly depended on their involvement. “The media must be accountable on how it reports about the various issues around the integration of the East African community. The media should not compromise journalistic principles as they undertake their duties”, he said. The minister advised the media to translate the freedom accorded to it to enhance information sharing among the member states.

At the media summit, leading media experts and owners made presentations that were amplified by seasoned panelists on regional integration, media and trade related issues. Four critical topics that were discussed included: EAC - An Agenda For the Next Decade; Is the Common Mwananchi benefiting from the EAC Integration?; The Role of the Media in Setting and Delivering the EAC Agenda for the Next Decade; and The Strategic Drivers for achieving the EAC Common Market.

Media Petitioned to Prioritise Climate Change JERRY ABUGA

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enyan media houses have been urged to take the lead in dissemination of information on climate change.

Stakeholders have asked the media to utilise its role in the

saying enhanced efforts are needed to address the effects of climate change on the socioeconomic stratum. He said sound policies and political will should be adopted in order to protect

society to push the climate change agenda forward. These were sentiments at a Media Owners Association meeting held in Nairobi on February 22.

The meeting on the “Role of the Media in facilitating Adaptation to Climate Change in Kenya” was convened by the Africa Adaptation Programme (AAP) that seeks to create awareness and facilitate the un-packaging of the different aspects of climate change in Africa.

natural resources from extinction.

“Much of Kenya was covered with green vegetation, but that is no longer the case as deforestation has gone higher”, he said. He, however, commended efforts by the government and various stakeholders in addressing climate change, but called for enhanced political will.

The Chairman of the Media Council of Kenya Dr Levi Obonyo decried the soaring levels of environmental degradation,

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Dr Obonyo urged media houses to pay additional attention to climate change issues, saying setting up of climate desks will be the first step towards ensuring adequate information on the environment is available to the public. “Just like there are specialised desks

NEWS ROUND-UP in media houses in charge of news, business and sports among others, every media house should have a desk dedicated to climate change”, he said. He commended media outlets that have allocated space and airtime to environmental matters, saying their efforts will greatly contribute to environmental awareness.

The Media Council chair also called for quality training of journalists, with special emphasis on different areas of specialisation.

He said collaborations between institutions training journalists with research bodies will enhance the capacities of journalists.

The Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Ali Mohammed said the enormous effects of climate change cannot be handled by a single actor

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effects of climate change besides identifying opportunities for intervention.

The Deputy Chief of Mission of the Japanese embassy in Kenya Yoichiro Yamada said his government is committed to addressing climate change in developing countries, saying it has immensely contributed to the low levels of development.

“The Japanese government has allocated funds to address the negative effects of climate change besides supporting infrastructural development”, he said.

He underscored the important role of the media in creating awareness on climate change, saying the media shapes the minds of Kenyans and can hence help in addressing the phenomenon.

“I urge the Kenyan media to balance their coverage of issues,

The Japanese government has allocated funds to address the negative effects of climate change besides supporting infrastructural development

and said only concerted efforts of all stakeholders will reduce its negative impact on the population.

“Climate change affects all securities of life, including lifestyles of all humanity. Its implications cut across the socio-economic divide and greatly affect the pillar of sustainable development and hence the need to collectively address its effects”, said Mohammed. The PS said that despite global efforts to address the effects of climate change, lack of awareness at the grassroots was still an obstacle to combat the negative effects of climate change.

He challenged the media to utilise various avenues to highlight the

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while putting much emphasis on development issues and tone down on reporting on politics as it is doing currently”.

Journalists at the meeting called for more training on climate change and environmental matters, which most termed as ‘’jargon’’. They cited lack of adequate knowledge on climate matters as some of the impediments to comprehensive coverage of climate change and related issues.

At the meeting, two vehicles were donated to the Ministry of Environment and Mineral

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Resources by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to increase its capacity in driving initiatives targeting mitigation of climate change.

Under its $92 million programme “Supporting Integrated and Comprehensive Approaches to Climate Change Adaptation in Africa” supported by the Government of Japan, UNDP will assist 21 countries across the African continent in incorporating climate change risks and opportunities into national development processes to secure development gains under a changing climate. The project is being implemented by UNDP with the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources, in its official role as the coordinator of all climate change matters in Kenya. Other partners in the project include the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

UNDP together with the Media Council of Kenya will train journalists on the effects of climate change and its subsequent impact on the country. This will in turn enable communities that have been affected as a result of climate change to adapt, protect and sustain their livelihoods.

The journalists will gain an opportunity to undertake climate change adaptation training to sensitise and humanise the impact of climate change at the grassroots and share knowledge on tangible solutions. Outstanding journalist reportage of these revolving issues will be recognised in an award ceremony slated in the course of the year.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

NEWS ROUND-UP

Media Council Moves to Address Vulgarity JERRY ABUGA

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n its bid to promote ethical standards among journalists and in the media, the Media Council of Kenya faulted a local media house over obscene pictures that were published in one of its publications. A story carried

by Radio Africa’s Star Newspaper on March 8, 2011, drew the Council fury after it was found to have breached several Articles of the Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya. The Council held a press conference in Nairobi where it expressed dismay at the contravention of the Code by the newspaper. The Council chairman Dr Levi Obonyo said a story carried by the newspaper offended “common decency and family values”.

for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya as entrenched in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007. Consequently, MCK will refer this case to the Complaints Commission for further action”, said Dr Obonyo who addressed the media in the company of the board members who included chairman of the Public Information and Ethics Committee of the Council Mr Peter Mutie and board member Ezekiel Mutua.

The story titled: Police move to stop sex party at Muliro Gardens elicited public outcry with several callers expressing their disapproval in correspondence with the Council. The article had two photographs, one showing a man and a woman in a compromising position on a bench at Kakamega’s Muliro Gardens. It also had a photo of two policemen allegedly condoning the immoral acts.

The statement released by the Council added that the story contravened the following articles in the Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya as stipulated in the Media Act 2007:

“As the body in charge of promoting ethical standards among journalists and the media in Kenya, we are highly concerned with the appearance of blatant contravention of a number of articles in the Code Conduct

“We note that this story upset the general public, with many terming it disgusting, morally misleading and published in bad taste. It obviously affects the work of the media and the public’s perception of the media”, he added.

Article 9. Obscenity, Taste and Tone in Reporting The publication of the pictures, especially the second one, was in bad taste. Publishing of abhorrent photos as is clearly indicated in the Code should only be to satisfy public interest. The second picture does not serve any public interest and only goes to arouse unnecessary curiosity. As stipulated in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007, journalists should avoid publishing obscene,

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vulgar or offensive material unless such material contains a news value which is necessary in the public interest.

Article 23. Editor’s Responsibility The article in the Code of Conduct requires that an editor should assume responsibility for all content published in a newspaper.

The pictures published were in bad taste and the editor should not have allowed them in the publication.

“The Media Council of Kenya urges all journalists to present news with integrity and decency and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news. They should use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalise events”, said Dr Obonyo.

In its defence, however, the Star newspaper justified the move saying the story was published to provoke debate amongst Kenyans besides providing information. It vehemently absolved itself from blame, saying it published the story for the good of the public, adding that another larger photo showing two policemen chatting with the couple exposed the complicity of the police force in immoral acts. “Why is this tolerated by the police? Why does it upset people if it is exposed in a non-explicit photo? What are the risks of HIV/ AIDS transmission?

Should we ignore it? These are the questions that we should debate instead of just screaming it is wrong”, the newspaper said in its editorial in response to the Council’s statement.

INSIDE THE MEDIA COUNCIL

Former MCK Boss Proud of Achievements CHRISTABEL TELEWA

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ong-serving former Executive Director of the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) Ms Esther Kamweru, is proud of MCK’s success since its establishment in 2004. Ms Kamweru says she has been particularly pleased with the establishment of the Complaints Commission which has so far handled more than 100 cases. Other achievements of MCK include setting up structures that meet the Council’s mandate, carrying out training in peace and development journalism as well as elections reporting.

Ms Kamweru says the Council became a credible body after difficulties in its establishment and getting it into full operation. As the first MCK Executive Director, Ms Kamweru, established the Council almost single-handedly but was later joined by another official, a feat she says was a tall order considering its mandate. She says among the teething problems the Council faced included seeking an appropriate location to set up office, convincing Kenyans of the media’s capacity for self-regulation and lack of funds. Esther says her tenure at MCK saw the media undergo major changes, from a small and largely Governmentrestricted sector to a bigger and freer industry.

Liberalisation This was the consequence of the liberation of the airwaves in the 1990s that allowed the establishment of private radio and television stations. The rapid growth of the sector has also come with its challenges, including ethical concerns particularly in broadcast sector where growth has been more robust.

As a result, MCK has received a growing number of complaints on violations of media rules and ethics from members of the public, politicians and other affected parties. Such concerns are handled by the Complaints Commission.

Related to the growth of the industry is the mushrooming of institutions offering media training that has raised questions on the quality of training the numerous colleges are offering. MCK under Kamweru had been seeking to streamline training of journalist by ensuring training institutions and curriculum are credible. “Many people have complained about the training in middle level training institutions,” Ms Kamweru says, adding that MCK has brought together proprietors of the colleges to decide on the way forward.

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Immediate former Executive Director of the Media Council of Kenya Ms Esther Kamweru (Photo

by Jerry Abuga) Some of the suggestions include a common examination and curriculum and MCK has drafted four courses on print, broadcast, digital media and video production. The Council has also drafted standards for middlelevel colleges. “I think standards are important because they give criteria of what is expected of mid-level colleges. These include

The Media Observer January-April 2011

INSIDE THE MEDIA COUNCIL teacher-student ratio and college governance and structure.

mainstream media, has also mentored many current journalists.

Ms Kamweru says many changes in the industry occurred during her tenure, including technological development to ensure news gathering and processing becomes easier and faster.

As a mother working late into the night, her experience has been challenging in some ways. “But if someone is professionally up to it, it’s fine.” The fact that there were not many women during her time was instrumental and made her work be recognised.

Professional The industry has also become more professional, as evidenced by media products. The sector has also become more gender balanced, with more women joining the profession as their number rival that of men. Women are also no longer confined to the so-called “soft desks” such as features. The rapid growth of the electronic media has ensured faster and instantaneous news production.

“Instant news is now available in the electronic media or the internet and mobile phones,” she says.

This has proved a challenge to the print media which has been forced to be innovative, and are often involved in analysing and providing backgrounds to news items to survive in the business, she says.

Ms Kamweru is taking a break from active journalism, although she still involved in other aspects of the profession such as teaching.

The music-loving administrator plays the piano in her church and at home for the family. She is a practising Catholic. She says her favourite destination is Nepal where she visited last October and was impressed by the unique and scenery topography.

Ms Kamweru, who was the first female Managing Editor in Kenya’s

Some of her greatest achievements include being part of the team that founded the Sunday Standard where she became the second managing editor that carried the Now Magazine, a pioneer lifestyle insert.

She says the idea for the magazine was born of the feeling that the main newspapers did not cater for the needs of women and youth. She says she has no regrets for spending most of her working years in the media.

“If I were given a chance to do it again, I would still be in media and not change anything.” She says journalists should strive to be as professional as possible if they hope to make a mark. “I believe journalists have a great opportunity to change the country for the better.”

(This article was published in the Kenya Today February 7 - 13, 2011 issue)

Former Media Council Board Members Feted JERRY ABUGA

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ormer Media Council of Kenya and Complaints Commission members were honoured at a farewell dinner held in a Nairobi hotel. The first chairman of the statutory Media Council of Kenya Wachira Waruru and a number of former Council members were given the send off on April 1.

They were awarded certificates and commemorative plagues at the dinner attended by current Council Board members led by the chairman Dr Levi Obonyo. Besides Mr Waruru, those feted were

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former Vice Chairperson Susan Kasera, former Council member and Chairperson of the Finance and Administration Committee Ms Neema Wamai , members Mr David Ochami, Mr Hanningtone Gaya and former Complaints Commission Chairman Ken Nyaundi. The founding Executive Director of the Media Council of Kenya Esther Kamweru was also honoured at the event.

In his speech, Mr Waruru commended the Council for its good work as the Kenyan media watchdog, saying a lot has

INSIDE THE MEDIA COUNCIL been achieved within the short period since the body became statutory.

He called for enhanced monitoring of the Kenyan media in light of recent socio-political developments, saying the Fourth Estate needs to embrace responsible reporting. “The Media Council should keep a keen eye on any breaches of the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism so as to ensure that only the best content is consumed by the public”.

He also raised alarm over the risks that have come with social media and mobile telephony and urged the Council to sensitise the public on the new media platforms. “The Media Council should establish a function that will address the rapidly growing new media so as to ensure that only beneficial content is obtained for enhanced development. I am particularly concerned that children are accessing content that is not fit for them due to unchecked use of modern technology”, he said.

Also in attendance were the Vice Chairperson Ms Sarah Nkatha, members of the Council’s Training and Accreditation Committee and the Council staff. The chair of the Training and Accreditation Committee Dr Wambui Kiai who is also the Director of the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism, was present as were members William Oloo Janak (Kenya Correspondents Association) and Kiprono Kittonyi, chairman of Radio Africa. A member of the Complaints Commission Prof Murej Mak’Ochieng was also in attendance.

New Staff at the Media Council

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n a bid to implement its 20102013 strategic plan, the Media Council of Kenya has recruited new staff to help execute its mandate. One of the key aspects of the plan was to employ more staff while at the same time develope the current capacity.

The new development has seen the Council create new positions in a bid to fulfil its mandate with the highest degree of professionalism.

In the new appointments

Mrs Jane Kipkemei Kiyai becomes the Procurement Officer. She has wide experience in Procurement and Supply Chain Management, having previously worked at Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (TARDA) and Cotton Development Authority (CODA). Mrs Kiyai is a holder of a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Management Option) from Catholic University of Eastern Africa and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS) (UK) and a member of Kenya Institute of Supply Management (KISM). She is

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currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Procurement and Logistics at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)

Ruth Kwamboka Muturi has been appointed the Media Monitoring and Training Supervisor and she will be in charge of the Media Monitoring Unit at the Council and spearhead the journalists’ and Council staff training. She has over five years experience in Public Relations having worked at the Office of Public Communication - Kenya Government Spokesman’s Office as well as in private practise.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication degree from Daystar University and a Diploma in Public Relations Management from the Kenya Institute of Management.

Erick Ngaira is the Complaints Officer at the Council. He will

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INSIDE THE MEDIA COUNCIL be the link with the Complaints Commission and will review, process and forward received Complaints to the Commission.

Prior to joining the Council as legal intern in 2010 Ngaira worked as a legal assistant. He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Catholic University of Eastern Africa as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practise from Kenya School of Law.

Jerry Abuga has joined the Council as the Communications and Information Officer. He will communicate the work and impact of the Media Council, its programmes, events and activities to internal and external audiences.

He has over six years experience in Journalism, Communications and Public Relations having worked at Gurtong Trust Peace and Media Project, South Sudan, Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) and ActionAid International Kenya among others.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and Sociology from the University of Nairobi.

The Media Monitoring Unit has five new Media Monitors. Abraham

Kipkemoi Kisang has joined the Council as a Media Monitor. He has previous media monitoring experience from Peacenet Kenya, Kenya Community Development Assistance and Demarg Africa.

He holds an Advanced Diploma in Project Management and a Diploma in Social Work and Community Development. He is a final year Bachelor of Arts (Communication and Sociology) student at the University of Nairobi.

Mercy Njeri Munyiri has joined the Council as a Media Monitor.

She has previously worked as a Media Monitor at ReelForge Media Monitoring Company as well as at the Media Council of Kenya where she monitored the 2007 general elections coverage. Munyiri holds a Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the East African School of Journalism. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nairobi.

Ahmed Kassim Abdi has joined the Council as a Media Monitor.

He has previously worked with

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Wajir Community Radio as a an Assignment Editor as well as a member and contributor to Wajir Live Newsletter and Mizizi ya Haki , a publication of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC). He holds a Diploma in Journalism from International Correspondence School (ICS), London.

Immaculate Mwende has joined the Council as a Media Monitor.

Prior to joining the Council, Mwende worked as a Media Monitor at Synovate Group Africa and Oakland Media Services. She holds a Diploma in Journalism and Media Studies from the East African School of Media studies. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nairobi.

Gitonga Allennita Gakii has joined the Council as a Media Monitor. She has previously worked as a Media Monitor at Reelforge Media Monitoring Company. Gakii has also previously worked at the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) and at

NEWS UPDATE Citizen Television. She holds a Bachelor of Mass Communication (Electronic Media- Major) degree from Africa Nazarene University (ANU).

Bridging Information Gap for Pastoralists AHMED KASSIM

R Isabel Rodde has joined the Media Council of Kenya as an International Media Advisor on media monitoring and training.

Isabel is a journalist and media educator from Hannover, Germany. She has wide experience in journalism having previously worked as a journalist and media adviser in a number of media houses. She has also been a Senior lecturer and adviser on Broadcast Journalism in several universities She holds a Master of Arts degree in Cultural and Media Sciences as well as Special Training and Diploma in Broadcast Journalism and Video Editing.

Peter Wamatu Mwangi has joined the Council as a Driver. He has over 10 years driving experience, having worked at a number of organisations including Feed the Children Kenya, World Vision Kenya and Help A Child Africa.

esidents of the larger Wajir County in the arid North Eastern now have wider access to information as they seek to advance development, thanks to a local community radio. Wajir Community Radio (WCR) that hit the airwaves in 2009 and broadcasting on 90.9 FM transmits across the four constituencies in the larger Wajir district of Kenya namely: Wajir North, Wajir West, Wajir East and Wajir South. Covering a radius of 240 square kilometres, WCR is among the few channels of communication and entertainment for the local community.

The region has also been one of the most marginalised in the country since independence and is host to some of the poorest households. WCR seeks to boost development and raise living standards in one of Kenya’s most expansive and arid districts Broadcasting from Wajir, the remote town located 770 kilometres north east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the station has enabled the predominant Somali community to access information on among others pastoralism (the main economic activity), culture, religion, peace, development, conflict resolution as well as on political developments.

Construction of the premises commenced in 2007 with a Ksh.40 million funding from the World Bank, under facilitation of the Arid Lands Management Project’s (ALRMP) second phase . Setting up of the radio station was initiated by Wajir residents in 2005 when they sought assistance from ALRMP II to set up a radio station. Establishing the radio station, they said, would give the local community a voice through media and promote effective natural resource management. The community argued that being one of the largest districts in the country, it was difficult to disseminate

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important information or coordinate activities such as livestock marketing, health awareness, peace and conflict resolution and other activities that would accelerate development.

The radio station’s coordinator Nasser Harun says the station that broadcasts in the local Somali language as well as Swahili and English was established to bridge the information gap and provide an alternative source of information to monotonous government-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). “Wajir Community Radio is a platform where the pastoralists exchange information on a number of issues affecting their lives. It also acts as a medium for early warning , bearing in mind the vulnerability of this area to natural disasters”, he says.“The radio station has greatly impacted on the lives of the pastoralists, most of who are not covered by the mobile telephone networks. Additionally, the government and non-governmental organisations use the radio facility as a channel for early warning systems. It has also enabled the community to participate in government decision making like in district steering group meetings”, he adds.

The station has a lean staff comprising mainly of graduates from the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) and other recognised commercial colleges. It also offers practical training to volunteers and interns from universities and colleges.

The station’s programming that runs between 5.45 AM and 10PM includes an evening magazine program that touches on various social and economic activities of the community as well as a talk show involving a guest (Caweyska) among others.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY

Kibaki Nomination’s Challenge to Journalistic Professionalism JOE KADHI The Media Observer January-April 2011

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COVER STORY

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resident Mwai Kibaki’s withdrawal of four names he had nominated to top constitutional offices would not have been possible without a vibrant public debate that made him clearly see he had been misled on the entire issue. That debate, however, would not have been possible without the professional handling by the journalists of the sensitive subject that threatened to tear the country apart. The manner in which the media conducted the debate was the yardstick that measured the level of professionalism in journalism that has so far been assimilated by the practitioners.

This move by Kenya’s professional journalists went far beyond the role of the media which is habitually summarised in a monotonous cliché of informing, educating and entertaining. Whereas those three will always constitute the core value of journalism anywhere in the world, the profession is discovering other very vital roles of the media that are absolutely necessary for the very survival of democracy. These include, among others, the roles of critiquing every major activity in the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary as well as providing a platform for healthy public debates on those activities.

The three major ways of measuring professionalism in journalism entails a thorough examination of the nuts and bolts of handling a story; the adherence to ethical principles and the manner in which professional training is exhibited in the way practitioners handle any given story.

Saturday Nation of January 29th 2011, for example, warned that Kibaki had named new Chief Justice as ODM protested.

From the moment on 28th of January 2011 when President Mwai Kibaki made the nominations of Court of Appeal Judge Alnashir Ramazanadi Magani Visram to the position of the next Chief Justice to take over from Evan Gicheru; Professor Githu Muigai to the position of Attorney General to replace Amos Wako; lawyer Kioko Kilukumi to occupy the new position of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Corporation , William Kirwa, to be the proposed Controller of Budget, the media set alarm bells ringing throughout the country warning that a major battle of words was imminently on the horizon.

to exercise its new powerful role of vetting appointments of the Executive for competence, regional and gender equity and general suitability in process to reshape the country’s leadership.

In that Leader the paper obliquely warned that something horrible was likely to happen to the country as a result of Kibaki not consulting Raila for the new appointments.

This is the new journalism in Kenya that the country should be proud of because it formulates the basis for the establishment of a true Fourth Estate.

The Standard on Saturday of the same date did not beat about the bush. Its splash headline “Shock Nominations” revealed the paper’s immediate reaction to the Kibaki nomination. In an interpretative story just like the

The manner in which the media conducted the debate was the yardstick that measured the level of professionalism in journalism that has so far been assimilated by the practitioners.

Instead of engaging in reportorial conveyor-belt obsolete journalism that told readers only what the newsmakers said, the paper engaged in admirable interpretative journalism in the news pages which went ahead and told readers that the nominations threatened to divide the Government further and provoke a major fight in Parliament after ODM rejected them . Besides that the paper took an early stand on the issue in an editorial titled “Protest over new CJ was entirely avoidable”.

The Leader argued that it was now incumbent upon Parliament

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Saturday Nation’s, the paper told its readers that all was not well with the nominations. It said the timing of the appointments of the new Chief Justice(CJ), the Attorney General (AG) and Director of Public Prosecution(DPP) was calculated to convince the international community on Kenya’s commitment to judicial reforms.

The paper said it had been argued that the ICC should handle the case because the country lacked a credible Judiciary to dispense justice to victims of the 2007/2008 post-election violence. Tying Kibaki’s nominations to

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY the pending cases of the six suspects implicated in the 2007/2008 post-election violence (commonly known as the Ocampo Six) in the hard news story, probably made Sir Tom Hopkinson, the founder of the first school of Journalism in Kenya under the auspices of the International Press Institute and the Royal College, which is the predecessor of the University of Nairobi, turn in his grave.

He taught the first journalism class in Kenya, attended by yours truly about half a century ago, that facts and opinions must always be kept poles apart in journalism.

That belief, of course, was later challenged by scholars such as Gay Talese who introduced new journalism that encouraged interpretation of news in hard copy the way The Standard of January 29th 2011 did.

saying the PM was not consulted”.

The manner in which the four national dailies handled the Kibaki nomination from day one invited public debate because the journalists published the story about what had happened and then went ahead to tell their readers in the most direct manner possible that the new Constitution was violated. No sooner did the media hint at the unconstitutionality of the appointments than the whole country embarked on national debate conducted by obviously well trained journalists who handled the story. I say obviously well trained journalists because the sensitive story was handled by people who understood what their professional ethical principles on fairness and accuracy were all about.

The Star of the same date reported the Kibaki appointments in the hard news pages and then added in the form of interpretation that many observers had argued that the appointments should have been made on the recommendations of the Judicial Service Commission according to the new Constitution. The paper also clearly indicated that the President was supposed to consult the Prime Minister before making the announcement and if he did not do so “it may destabilise the coalition arrangement in the final run-up to the 2012 elections”.

Realising that the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism says that the fundamental objective of a journalist is to write a fair, accurate and an unbiased story on matters of public interest; and that it also says all sides of the story shall be reported, wherever possible; and that comments should be obtained from anyone who is mentioned in an unfavourable context, the debates that followed the Kibaki nominations were invariably balanced and telling the readers , viewers and listeners what both sides had to say about the issue before taking a firm stand in the editorial columns.

In its edition of the same date The People told its readers that the move by Kibaki took the country by surprise which “elicited protest from the Orange Democratic Movement with Raila confidant, Lands Minister James Orengo,

On the Sunday of January 30th 2011, for example, The Sunday Nation gave Raila Odinga the opportunity to say why he rejected Kibaki’s nominations in a splash story headed “Why I reject new CJ” and then gave a big space

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to State House sources that explained that Raila was not only consulted but he had suggested the name of Justice Riaga Omollo to be the next Chief Justice. This kind of balance can only come from mature journalism that has been crafted at the university level.

The paper went further to give its readers an in-depth analysis revealing the backgrounds of Kibaki’s candidates. Justice Visram, for example, had awarded former powerful minister Nicholas Biwott Sh. 30 million damages from Clay Limited and Dr. Ian West for defamation in a book, Dr Ian West’s Casebook. He had also awarded former Appeal Court Judge Richard Kwach, 5.5 million shillings as compensation in a libel case against the Standard Group. The paper did not need to go further to explain to the readers that Visram’s beliefs in free expression were wanting.

Facts spoke for themselves. This is mature journalism that is only acquired through good training. It was conspicuous in the coverage of the Kibaki nominations.

As far as Kibaki’s candidate for the position of Director of Public Prosecution, Kioko Kilukumi, was concerned, the paper revealed that he had been suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto’s lawyer in fraud charges facing him.

Whether he was going to be an unbiased DPP or not, the reader was left to decide for himself. Githu Muigai’s impressive credentials were also analysed for the readers to decide independently.

The fact that there were a number of MPs who had questioned the nomination of William Kirwa for the powerful post of Controller of Budget was also highlighted by

COVER STORY the paper. It drew the attention of its readers to the fact that the nominee had pending questions before Parliament and was therefore not suitable for nomination. At the time of the publication Mr Kirwa had unanswered questions before the House Committee on Agriculture on issues involving his tenure at Agricultural Development Corporation.

That issue of the Sunday Nation was among the first newspapers to call on the principals, in a Leader headed “Big Two must close ranks, open dialogue”, to end the crisis.

The Leader said Kibaki and Raila needed to go back to the spirit of early months of 2008 when members of both parties united to pass legislation required to facilitate reforms in the transitional period of the grand coalition.

It added: “If instead, they choose to continue down the path of constant infighting and point-scoring with an eye on the battle for succession, the nation will be the poorer.”

story titled “It’s null and void”; and in the inside pages analytical stories were done professionally with a Leader warning that “Coalition row could jolt dreams of new era”. The manner in which the two national papers treated the Kibaki-Raila tug-of-war on the nominations was a welcome departure from past treatment of news that encouraged a form of ping-pong arguments to boost circulation figures.

If serious disagreements between top Kenyan leaders took place, the inevitability of reporting the sad incidents led to the publications of what amounted to stories on conflict. But rather than taking sides, like used to happen in the past, the papers this time remained neutral and pointed out the dangers of disunity to the leaders.

Again this was an exhibition of deep understanding of the ethical principle of independence which I discuss on another page of this publication.

All efforts by journalists to make the principals see the futility of disagreements over the Kibaki nominations fell on deaf ears among some politicians, particularly those in the PNU who, by January 31, were preparing for a bitter confrontation in the National Assembly.

On that same day The Standard on Sunday gave the PM an opportunity to react to the Kibaki appointments through their splash

All efforts by journalists to make the principals see the futility of disagreements over the Kibaki nominations fell on deaf ears among some politicians, particularly those in the PNU who,

by January 31, were preparing for a bitter confrontation in the National Assembly. According to The Standard of that date Raila

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was calling for negotiation with the President. In an inside story by Peter Opiyo the Prime Minister was optimistic that the controversial nominations of the four individuals to key national positions would be solved amicably.

Though the paper had yet another editorial urging the principals to make Kenya bigger than parties, it had to splash a story, titled “Kibaki answers Raila” , from Internal Security Minister, George Saitoti, and Defence Minister and Yusuf Haji, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the President confirming that there indeed had been consultations between the two principals.

What was significant about the story is that it emanated from the Presidential Press Unit which meant Kibaki knew about it.

Realising that the principals were not moved by the editorial stand taken by the Fourth Estate, The Star decided to invite prominent people to express views on the dangers posed by the unwise nominations. On January 31, for example, the paper gave Prof Yash Pal Ghai a full page to explain to its readers why Kibaki had erred by making the vital appointment without following the requirements of the new Constitution. Prof Ghai argued that there had been a serious violation of the new Constitution on the part of the President.

By inviting experts such as Prof Ghai to analyse the nature of the legal intricacies involved in the Kibaki- Raila disagreements, journalists accepted the fact that the legalese in the entire debate needed experts to put into the lay people’s language for the people to understand. Indeed

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY the message went across to the people who fully participated in the debate through the letters to the editor. The manner in which the letters were selected, edited and published by all the four English language national newspapers was in keeping with the ethical demands of the Code.

Throughout the coverage of the Kibaki nominations story journalists were faced with a number of professional challenges on how to get to the gist of the story without violating any of the 25 ethical principles. The debate was dangerously turning into an ethnic confrontation. This was witnessed when politicians ganged up in and outside Parliament along both party and ethnic groups. The challenge to journalists became the professional ability to expose the truth, however unpalatable, in a manner that did not succumb to inflaming tribal passion or accentuating the strained relations between communities.

The ethical principle the journalists had to obey concerned the coverage of ethnic, religious and sectarian conflict. For all practical purposes the politicians had turned the Kibaki nominations into an ethnic conflict. Public meetings were organised in various counties in Central Kenya and parts of the Rift Valley where the inflammatory language used bordered on ethnic incitement.

Journalists had to remember that their Code says news, views or comments on ethnic, religious or sectarian dispute should be published or broadcast after proper verification of facts and presented with due caution and restraint in a manner which is conducive to the creation of an atmosphere congenial to national

harmony, amity and peace.

Needless to say the ability to do this most effectively depends on whether the professional journalists underwent proper training.

The reporters who covered the inflammatory speeches handed their stories to sub editors who had to exercise the same caution when editing the stories and writing headlines for them.

The entire exercise took place under the supervision of editors whose knowledge of the ethical principle challenged had to be put into practice swiftly and under extremely stringent deadlines. The outcome was for all to see. There were no provocative or alarming headlines for the stories.

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Besides that the news reports and commentaries written on the nominations did not inflame the passions, aggravate the tension or accentuate the strained relations between PNU and ODM or the communities concerned. Equally so, articles or broadcasts with the potential to exacerbate communal trouble were indeed avoided just as the Code calls for. In the final analysis journalists managed to cover the sensitive stories on the nominations as they walked tall as true professionals who publish without fear of favour. joekadhi@yahoo.com Joe Kadhi is a lecturer at the United States International University

COVER STORY

Let Ethics and Professionalism Reign in Journalism KAMAU MAICHUHIE

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very profession has set standards of professional practice which are normally precise rules internal to members of that particular profession. The standards serve as a guide to selfregulation which all members are expected to adhere to. In Kenya, the standards are contained in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007 where the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism is entrenched.

A French philosopher Erick Weil defines ‘ethics’ as values and principles that are recognised as determining right from wrong, good from evil, that which is noble, good from bad, to be done or not to be done. Other scholars have gone ahead to classify ethics into three categories. The first in the category is the ethics of duty or deontological ethics propagated by another philosopher Immanuel Kant. He asserts that one has a duty to do what is right like saying the truth. He also says that it is a moral law that obliges one to do only those things that one will be willing to have everyone do as a matter of universal law. According to him, as a media professional truth must always be one’s pillar.

The second type under the category is the ethics of final ends or teleological ethics advocated

by Italian philosopher, humanist and writer Nicolo Machiavelli.

The third type is the situational ethics which refers to ethics of specific acts. It says each ethical

When we talk of ethics we cannot forget “The Golden Mean “ a theory that was championed

by Greek philosopher Aristotle .Golden mean requires that where one is faced with extreme positions in a situation one sets a middle ground. That is, a rational and moral position somewhere in between and not necessary in the middle .At times journalists, editors and even media owners are faced with extreme positions and usually have to make tough options of whether to publish or broadcast certain news stories and information. According to Aristotle they should sit at the

situation is unique and must be judged entirely on its own merit.

What the school of thought is putting across is that journalists are at times faced with ethical challenges in different settings and will always employ ethics as the situation demands.

middle so as to avoid being seen as biased or being against the subjects involved. It is therefore the responsibility of media practitioners to always weigh and follow the conscience to tell every story as it is under the guidance of the accepted ethical principles.

This school of thought believes in almost that the end justifies the means. This in journalism can mean that as a journalist who conveys news or information to the people it really doesn’t matter which means one uses to get the respective news be it through deception, bribery or act of passion among others. Machiavelli says that what makes an act ethical is not the act itself but the consequences or outcome of the act.

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The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY the story, picture or language one is about to write, publish and broadcast is in the interest of the public. Stories that will harm, mislead or offend the audience due to their unethical aspects should be avoided at all cost.

Media Council of Kenya Chairman Dr Levy Obonyo (centre) addresses a past press conference on ethics accompanied by the Public Information and Ethics Committee Chairman Mr. Peter Mutie (right) and Board Member Mr. Ezakiel Mutua (left).

Complaints have been rife in recent days from the public, the target audience of the media, about some unethical goofs by some media outlets. Some media houses have been accused of publishing obscene and indecent pictures in their newspapers and magazines besides perpetuating some vulgar talk shows .The Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya clearly prohibits the publishing and broadcasting of obscene pictures and vulgar or offensive language and materials unless they contain news values that are of public interest. It is worth noting that many shows and publications that grapple with ethical challenges mostly target the youth and the educated. It is therefore the duty of the media to recognise that it is very powerful and that it wields immense influence over the population, a majority of whom take most media content as the gospel truth.

The media must in this regard rise to the occasion and fully uphold ethics and professionalism which is paramount to the cultivation of national morality. The youth are known for experimenting and being easily influenced by the media. It would therefore be suicidal and very unethical for the

media to appear to be promoting sexism through publishing or airing of abhorrent pictures in the same vein as endorsing hate speech through quoting and airing persons making derogatory remarks based on ethnicity, race or religion. The repercussions of this would be too grave to contemplate at times like this when the country is engulfed in the HIV/AIDS menace and is highly polarised along ethnic lines. Pictures and language that are indecent and which cannot pass without a complaint must not be allowed to see the light of the day. It would be prudent to ‘kill’ them. A noble cause for the media will be to be more cautious and responsible in the process of dissemination of news and entertainment to the audience. The media’s action in entirety should always be in the public interest.

It is paramount that the media knows that as communicators in this context, they are bound by what in journalism is referred as communicator’s loyalties. The first loyalty that the media should have is to the public or the audience.

Journalists and editors must always know that the person who they should worry much about at first is the consumer of the media messages, the audience. It is always vital to ask oneself whether

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The other communicator’s value that is crucial for the reporters and editors to observe is their loyalty to fellow collegues.They have a responsibility to other communicators by ensuring they carry out their duties in a manner that makes them become highly esteemed by the public. As professionals they should conduct their assignments and themselves in accordance with the stipulated guidelines of ethics, principles and values because if they don’t they cause a blanket generalisation of all their colleagues in the profession. It is only through this that they can ensure the name of the Fourth Estate remains in the public’s good books.

Though journalists are also bound by loyalty to their employers and the subjects as well, it is good for them to always know that the person who they owe the greatest responsibility is the media message consumer. As the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya stipulates, journalists and other media personnel should present news and programmes with integrity and decency through avoiding unethical malpractices and temptations that will always face them. The respect, dignity and intelligence of the audience must always be upheld. maichuhie96@yahoo.com Maichuhie is a Communication Student at Daystar University.

COVER STORY

The Sorry State of Media Ethics in Kenya TOM OLANG’

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hat media texts should promote decency within the society is not in doubt. From time immemorial, the traditional role of the media has been to inform, educate and to an extent, entertain. However, it appears a section of the Kenyan media has abrogated this noble responsibility and assigned itself the dubious task of provoking the public with sexually explicit content. Indecent exposure in magazines and weekend pullouts has become the rule rather than the exception.

Moreover, hate speech seems to litter almost every call-in programme in vernacular FM radio stations.

The broadcast media is not spared either. There is an overt attempt to evoke the so-called ‘sex appeal’ by news anchors, especially female ones. Their male counterparts would labour to cut a macho image and throw in some machismo, pausing and gesticulating at convenient points for effect. Whether the sex-appeal displayed by anchors in the mainstream broadcasters like NTV, KTN and Citizen is a newfound ‘house style’, blind aping from Western media or audience demand is a question of conjecture. So what does the latter phenomenon portend for media training, trainers and trainees? A casual talk with communication graduates would reveal that sex

appeal is not part of the curricular of media training institutions, at least not in Africa where decency is still largely a cherished ideal despite the influence of western culture. Thus, the trend can only emanate from the media houses themselves.

There is emerging a serious conflict between media ethics taught in media schools and the reality in the field. In their book, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, Clifford Christians, et al, aver that two different mindsets are involved in press ethics. That while “the study of ethics requires deliberation, careful distinctions and extended discussions, the newsroom tends to emphasise toughness and the ability to make quick decisions in the face of daily crises.” The rule of thumb is that entertainment writers and producers have to value skepticism, fierce independence, and, well, hot blood, so to speak.

The authors recommend that “for the teaching of ethics to be worthwhile, the critical capacity must emerge in which reasoning processes remain paramount.”

The latter scenario then begs the question: Is the journalist’s moral duty owed to his/her media house or to the audience? In the face of aggressive competition and in a bid to make a quick buck by attempting to improve

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ratings through the practice of yellow journalism(biased opinion masquerading as objective fact), most Kenyan media houses have lately thrown caution to the winds as far as ethics is concerned.

Kenya is currently boasting of relative media freedom in the region, thanks to the gains made in ensuring increased democratic space in all facets of the economy.

Yet the reality is that an untamed media is still a powder keg in Kenya. A case in point is a story that appeared in the The Star newspaper of Tuesday, March 8, 2011. The story was about couples engaging in sexual acts at a public recreational facility in Kakamega town in Western Kenya. What made it offensive and in breach of ethical considerations was that it had a picture of a couple having sex on a bamboo bench in broad daylight! The volley of reactions that followed the publication of the story, spearheaded by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), the local media watchdog, was not surprising at all. MCK has since referred the case to its Complaints Commission. The MCK chair Dr Levi Obonyo, expressed his apprehension at the contravention of the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya as enshrined in the Media Act 2007.

The Second Schedule of the Act enforces stringent measures on Obscenity, Taste

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY and Tone in reporting. Section 9 (a, b) says: “In general, journalists should avoid publishing obscene, vulgar or offensive material unless such material contains a news value which is necessary in the public interest. In the same vein, publication of photographs showing mutilated bodies, bloody incidents and abhorrent scenes should be avoided unless the publication or broadcast of such photographs will serve the public interest.”

they hire any Tom, Dick and Harry who has a smattering of English to gather and process news. The idea, he says is to maximise profits by hiring cheap and disposable labour; this explains the high staff turnover and ‘nomadism’ in the local media scene. Previous reports have indicated that most journalists in the country are not trained.

Graduah says such scribes are not able to draw the line between what is ethical or otherwise since their sense of judgment is warped.

The Star story clearly lacked integrity and was a mockery of audience Kenya is intelligence. On currently integrity, Article 3 of the Second Schedule boasting of of the Media Act relative media says: “Journalists should present news freedom in with integrity and the region, decency, avoiding real or perceived thanks to the conflicts of interest, gains made and respect the dignity and in ensuring intelligence of the increased audience as well as the subject of news.” democratic

“Our media content should reflect the moral values that we hold as a society.

We are borrowing so much from the West. As Africans, what we watch on television matter but in the West sexually explicit content is not a big deal. Obscenity becomes a normal thing when we publish such content; illegality becomes legal,” says Graduah.

space in all Indeed, all media Othello Graduah, texts encase a a Communication facets of the theme which must lecturer at Daystar economy. incorporate ethical University, says considerations. the media owners Therefore, media in Kenya stand professionals should have the accused of breeding mediocrity presence of mind and integrity and unethical practices in to judge whether the said theme journalism. He says the media is socially acceptable enough to houses go for cheap labour and appeal to media outlets and the hire apprentices and quacks to audience they reach, whether process news. Such rookie scribes targeted or by default. will hardly demand competitive remuneration as they are at the Meanwhile, many people in key mercy of their paymasters. The management positions in the media moguls are allegedly Kenyan media are not trained reluctant to invest in a sound journalists. A trained journalist human resource base; instead The Media Observer January-April 2011

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or media manager would easily detect what is morally sound as ethics will inform his/her decisions.

Hypercommercialisation of the media is reigning supreme. It has unfortunately led to the erosion of the overall moral fabric that hitherto held the African society of yore together. So much so that today’s media enterprises are oscillating between supporting the status quo and global capitalism.

Again, they have perfected a high affinity for blurring the dividing line between news and entertainment.

Yet media owners tend to value people of action; those who produce volumes of work and beat crazy deadlines in record time amidst intense pressure.

Even advertising and public relations personnel are expected to be competitive, aggressive and enterprising. Morals aside, any Kenyan smooth talker with half the latter ‘qualities’ may bluff his way into the newsroom and masquerade as a journalist, especially in the FM radio stations.

This unfortunate scenario is a major ethical dilemma facing the practice of journalism in Kenya today. Even with the Media Act 2007 fully entrenched; a journalist is still loosely defined, leading to further infiltration of the noble trade by quacks.

The First Schedule of the Act defines a ‘journalist’ as any person who holds a diploma or degree in mass communication from a recognised institution of higher learning and recognised as such by MCK. Well and good. However, perhaps in fear of rendering the bulk of local journalists jobless, the Act adds the rider that “any other person who was practicing as a journalist immediately before the commencement of this Act …and earns a living from the practice

COVER STORY of journalism, or any person who habitually engages in the practice of journalism” may continue posing as one! The latter clause has eroded the fundamental professional gains and sanity that the Act ought to have brought into the trade. Consequently, all the quacks that have littered the trade over the years are still safe and sound, albeit practicing what they know best: bad press and muck racking!

Granted, journalists have an obligation to their respective audience, clients, colleagues and media houses. Even then, they have a moral duty and a higher calling to society as their corporate social responsibility.

They should embrace and promote such classical virtues

Conclusion of the matter Clifford Christians, et al, note that if media ethics is to reclaim its glory, the gap between daily media practice and the serious consideration of ethics must be bridged. Since education and information are the pillars upon which a just and free society rests, the media should employ restraint and sobriety while disseminating information since contemporary cultural climate demands so.

But is the self-regulation that the local media currently clamours for tenable? Nay, says, Sister Dr Agnes Lando, a senior Ethics and Communication lecturer at Daystar University.” They cannot self-regulate because they can’t exercise responsibility. It’s as if

The Star story, she added, was not newsworthy and bordered on invasion of privacy. Dr Lando recommends that MCK should not only crack the whip on rogue journalism but especially sensitise the public on its existence. as loyalty to citizens, objectivity, independence and the promotion of good governance. Otherwise, printing pictures of nude women and copulating couples is not morally defensible. In such cases, a journalist’s loyalty to society warrants preeminence; certainly not a section of society’s taste for trivia or cheap entertainment camouflaged as news!

Kenyan news is not news if it’s not sensational,” she says in reference to how the local media have ignored the fundamental basics of news. The Star story, she added, was not newsworthy and bordered on invasion of privacy.

Dr Lando recommends that MCK should not only crack the whip on rogue journalism but especially sensitise the public on its

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existence. “It has to communicate for its role to be known by the public; people think they are the police.” Lack of publicity aside, the scenario is compounded by the fact that the Kenyan media consumer is largely passive and hardly voice discontent with obscene or offensive media texts. The latter phenomenon threatens to render the Complaints Commission of the MCK a dormant outfit altogether.

It is high time journalism is given the respect that it deserves before it loses audience respect. Perhaps the situation would be better if the MCK reinforced the following stringent measures: • Make it more challenging for people to join the profession, just as the Law Society of Kenya has done with the legal fraternity.

• Insist on actually accrediting all journalists (some media houses are still doing in-house accreditation).

• Insist on genuinely qualified/ trained people working in the media to rid the country of ‘ambulance chasers’ who demand favours from news sources who have vested interests in stories.

• Ensure that all accredited journalists have the right skills to discharge their duties in a professional manner as prescribed in the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya. olangtom@yahoo.com Tom Olang’ is a postgraduate Communication student at Daystar University where he specialises in Media Studies.

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COVER STORY

Sovereignity of the Independence of the Media JOE KADHI

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his is the most controversial ethical principle in the journalism profession. Media proprietors in the capitalistic world do not like it. It tends to obstruct what they consider to be their right to interfere with editorial decision making process. In this country it took quite some time before it was included in the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya. When the Code was first published in Kenya in 2001, the ethical principle of Independence did not appear anywhere in the list of 23 first principles.

Independence never appeared in the list in the second edition of the Code published in 2002, neither did it appear when the Code was reprinted in 2004.

Very much like the word “ethics” itself, independence has always disturbed British proprietors who seem to have quite an influence in their former British dominions, territories and colonies like Kenya.

Those influenced by the British take the first meaning of the word ethics as defined by most English dictionaries, including the Collins English Dictionary, as the philosophical study of the moral value of human conduct and of the rules and principles that ought to govern it. Sticking to that definition of ethics as a “moral philosophy” they avoid using the word to describe journalistic ethics which they prefer to call a Code of

Practice.

For some strange reasons the second meaning of the word ethics as it is found in the Collins English dictionary as a social, religious, or civil code of behaviour considered correct, especially that of a particular group, profession or individual is totally ignored by British media proprietors who actually own the Code in the UK.

for journalist does not contain the ethical principle of Independence.

In Kenya it was not until when the ethical principles were revised, just before the Media Council of Kenya become statutory that Independence officially became part of the ethical principles.

There is little wonder, therefore, that in Kenya we officially, very much like the British, refer to the journalistic ethics as the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism. Yet in every institution of higher learning where scholars study journalism, journalistic ethics are recognised as much as other ethics in professions like medicine and law. If medical ethics exist in the profession of medicine and legal ethics exist in the profession of law, there is no reason why journalistic ethics should not exist in the profession of journalism.

The Kenyan Code says journalists should defend the independence of all journalists from those seeking influence or control over news content. It says journalists should gather and report news without fear or favour, and vigorously resist undue influence from any outside forces, including advertisers, sources, story subjects, powerful individuals and special interest groups. The issue of gathering news professionally is extremely sensitive to Kenyan journalists.

Many are times when news editors send reporters and photographers to cover stories with very little news values simply because the source of the news concerned is invariably a powerful individual.

After all thousands of books have been written on the subject of journalistic ethics and there are countless scholars in many parts of the world studying the subject. Bearing that in mind I discuss Independence as a journalistic ethical principle, semantic arguments about the word ethics notwithstanding. Until today the British Code of Practice

It is not beyond imagination that unprincipled news editors can be, and very often probably are, influenced by some powerful outside sources. Powerful individuals in Kenya are so used to publicity that it has now become debatable whether there can be any news in Kenya without them. Prominence as a news value may be professionally very

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COVER STORY important, but it is still arguable whether prominence alone should dominate every front page day in and day out without considering mixing it with other news values such as timeliness, proximity, consequences or impact and human interest. When prominent people dominate the news through the professional choice of editors there is absolutely nothing wrong; but when they become the centre of publicity in whatever they do because they control the editors’ ability to choose what is news, something is drastically wrong with not only the profession of journalism itself but some fundamental human right issues. Professionally it is the qualified journalists who should determine what is news and not the newsmakers no matter how important they are.

if they are there at all, are so properly covered and kept away from the inquisitive eye of the investigative journalists because the advertisers have an indirect way of determining what is news – the threat to withdraw that ad.

The first generation human rights demand that everyone should enjoy freedom of expression; but that freedom, it is constantly becoming clearer everyday, depends entirely on freedom of information, if it is to be meaningful at all. Yet the right of the people to know becomes seriously curtailed when the news makers determine what is and what is not news.

Whenever that happens powerful news makers will always make sure that all the news that is not favourable to them does not see the light of the day.

Kenyan journalists, like their professional cousins all other the world, are controlled by their sixth senses to scoop one another. But when one scoop is exposed, all the predators jump on it and the subject dominates all the front pages and all the news bulletins.

One such story was the recent sale of human genitals stolen from dead bodies in mortuaries. In a situation like that journalists in Kenya compete to get all sorts of angles of the story and before the subject is exhausted it controls the journalists rather than journalists controlling it. That is what the Code means when it says that journalists should not let the news subject have undue influence on the professionals.

Given the Darwinian nature of the profession it becomes very difficult to determine when a subject has been exhausted. Sometimes the best ways of determining that is to look at the letters to the editor.

Given the fact that advertisers in Kenya are the buttered side of the journalistic bread, their power to determine what is news cannot be underestimated. For that reason the big advertisers in Kenya can never be subjected to the rigorous scrutiny that an ordinary individual has to go through.

The big advertisers’ skeletons,

In Kenya, news sources always try to influence journalists and particularly editors. Today negative stories about how journalists are bribed in order to cover stories are everywhere in every major industry which are said to give their public relation officers special funds to bribe journalists officially. Big industries in Kenya have special budgets for that and editors cannot pretend not to know this shameful fact. Until the matter is corrected journalism in Kenya will always have a problem with the journalistic ethic of independence.

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When letters of complaint begin to flow in, then it is time to change the subject.

Special interest groups in Kenya also interfere with the delicate job of editorial decision making process. When the country was deeply engaged in the “YES” and “NO” debate during the referendum, one of the most influential special interest groups was the Church. Evangelical churches had bought airtime in influential TV stations to present their biased views disguised as current affairs programmes.

Televangelists used their airtime bought as commercials to pretend to analyse and interpret the then proposed Constitution. Other professional bodies such as the LSK and FIDA are powerful opinion makers which must not be allowed to determine what news is.

The Code also advises journalists to resist those who would buy or politically influence news content or who would seek to intimidate those who gather and disseminate news. This type of influence became clear during the referendum for the new Constitution. Among the most vulnerable people to be bought by politicians are journalists. The trouble is that whenever a politician pays a journalist for a favour, that news spreads like fire in a very dry forest. When a journalist is known to the politicians to be on the take, he or she totally loses professional respect in all political circles.

This is a subject that needs to be looked at by all Media Industry Steering Committee (MISC) members through the Media Council to come up with a joint solution.

Professional journalists are also

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY advised by the Code to determine news content solely through editorial judgement and not the result of outside influence. When I joined the profession more than half a century ago the sole determinant of the news content was the editor who, for all practical purposes, was the demigod of the newsroom. With the professionalisation of journalism in Kenya, that has now become the responsibility of very well trained professionals who hold special meetings well before deadlines to determine the placement of every news item in any newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station.

Journalists are also advised by the Code to resist any self-interest or peer pressure that might erode journalistic duty and service to the public. Self-interest is a human characteristic every dedicated professional learns to control.

In journalism the temptation of blowing one’s own trumpet by giving oneself huge picture bylines must be systematically resisted because when it is not it becomes as conspicuous as a sore thumb.

Like all newsrooms in every part of the world, those in Kenya are subjected to peer pressure which can only be fought by an open professional debate on any issue during all important professional meetings to determine what news is.

According to the Code journalists must recognise that sponsorship of the news should not be used in any way to determine, restrict or manipulate content. A lot of news in Kenya is sponsored. In fact all news bulletins on television are sponsored; but as far as the tube is concerned there is no interference from the advertisers in determining what news is. However there has never been an occasion when the

sponsors have been involved in news negatively. Whenever that happens then the sponsorship of TV news would be subjected to very tight scrutiny by professional peers.

Last, but not least the Code urges journalists to refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgement and content inappropriately. This is probably the most difficult part of the Code.

Is there proprietorial interference in editorial decision making process? That is a very difficult question to answer and those who have the answer, meaning the editors, will always be very reluctant to tell the truth. Some of the proprietors in Kenya are themselves newsmakers. One of them is none other than the former President Daniel Toroitich arap Moi. In September last year he made news when he defended his political stand against the new Constitution. Speaking at Kilgoris where he was one of the people who congratulated David Rudisha, who had broken the 800 meters record twice in less than a week, the retired President said “I want it known that I never opposed this new law just to get cheap publicity but I had reasons for my action.”

According to his own newspaper The Standard of September 9 Moi said: “This new law has a lot of shortcomings which are not favourable to the ordinary citizens and leaders should not sit back and watch things done the wrong way.” Whereas the former President is entitled to his opinion it is strange that his paper The Sunday Standard of September 19 had an exclusive story on the front page titled “Fresh War Erupts over Control of Counties”.

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The story below that headline which was highly tendentious if not fictitious said: “As the country grapples with the thorny issue of implementation of the new Constitution, leaders in counties are embroiled in bitter squabbles that could derail the process.

Indeed counties – a creature of the new law— are staring at a nightmare barely a month after the new Constitution was promulgated”.

It so happens that the whole country believes the counties in Kenya are the best thing to have happened in the political development and enhancement of democracy in the country. The only ones who hold the contrary opinion and think of counties as “thorny” issue are The Standard and one of its most powerful owners, Daniel Moi. Everyone in the country believes that the declaration by various leaders to take over the governorship of the new counties is a democratic right of every Kenyans based on healthy acceptance of the new structure of governance. But The Standard calls the political interest of Kenyan leaders “bitter squabbles”.For some very strange reasons The Standard belief that the counties “are staring at a nightmare” seem to totally agree with the views of Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, the powerful owner of the paper. Is this a coincidence or proprietorial interference in editorial decision making process?

If it is the later then it goes against the Kenyan ethical principle of Independence. joekadhi@yahoo.com Joe Kadhi is a lecturer at the United States International University.

COVER STORY

Keeping the Media Under Scrutiny RUTH KWAMBOKA

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he Media Act 2007 places upon the Media Council of Kenya a number of responsibilities in setting standards within the Kenyan media industry. In a bid to accomplish its mandate of promoting media freedom and responsible journalism, the Council has established a fullfledged Media Monitoring Unit to keep track of the compliance of the Kenyan media with the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism as stipulated in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007 (Code).

With the partnership of the Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) the Media Monitoring Unit of the Media Council of Kenya has been in operation since January and has made tremendous progress despite challenges that most pioneer projects face during their implementation. Ours has been a learning process even as we embark on this unfamiliar and uncharted territory. Contrary to how most people view the word ‘monitoring’ ours is not to ‘police’ the media but to track media output and make an informed analysis on the status of the media with regards to adherence to the Code.

Analysing media output has been an interesting undertaking as well as an eye-opener; from checking

out headlines, watching stories and reading through different articles to trying to decipher the exact message a journalist is trying to send to their audience.

There have been aspects of good journalism and also instances where journalists have clearly breached the Code. In analysing media output, we have focused on all sections of the Kenyan media, including news, investigative pieces, radio shows, and features.

Moreover, the Article 24 on Advertisements that is contained in the Code compels us to expand our mandate further by looking at the various aspects of the various forms of advertising in the Kenyan media.

Throughout the monitoring period we have noted that every media has its special kind of breaches of the Code. The print media for instance mostly breaches the first article (Accuracy and Fairness). Some stories are usually done without reporting on both sides of the matter at hand. The unbalanced stories tend to leave the reader with lingering questions on what the unmentioned party’s (who is usually presented in bad light) side of the story is.

This is clearly against the first clause of the article which states: The fundamental objective of a journalist is to write a fair, accurate and an unbiased story on matters of public interest. All sides of the story shall be reported, wherever

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possible. Comments should be obtained from those mentioned in an unfavourable context. In certain cases while armed with the perception of wanting to stretch a story, a newspaper might not reach the party mentioned in an unfavourable context so as to provoke a response and right of reply in days to come.

This is however, unnecessary especially with stories that are continually unfolding. Not giving the mentioned parties an equal chance to give their account when a story breaks, is unfair and creates a perception of the party that would eventually affect them. The Article states: When stories fall short on accuracy and fairness, they should not be published. Journalists, while free to be partisan, should distinguish clearly in their reports comment, conjecture and fact.

The Media Monitoring Unit has also noticed a gradual trend where personal opinions find their way into hard news stories.

Not clearly labelling opinion and commentary is a breach of the Article on Integrity that has been noticed in both electronic and print media. It is fine for one to have an opinion but when that opinion finds its way into a story and is presented as a fact, then it becomes an issue of concern.

Profession-related issues that have been noticed, especially in print media, centre on

The Media Observer January-April 2011

COVER STORY such omissions as grammar, typographical errors and poor sentence structures. These have left many a reader questioning the attention given to stories before a publication goes to print. There are several cases of stories ending abruptly or mid-sentence leaving the reader in suspense. This is in breach of the Article on Editor’s Responsibilities which compels an editor to assume responsibility for all content, including advertisements, published in a newspaper.

In the course of our monitoring, television has been a lot easier to monitor since much thought and keenness is given to the production process. This can be attributed to the fact that news bulletins are aired after a day’s compilation that enable production teams to prepare adequately.

However, in spite of the above achievements, professional shortfalls issues are still evident.

We have seen instances where commentaries end up carrying the opinion of the reporter as they sign off in a story. Additionally, stories unaccompanied by audio or playing wrong video clips seem a recurrent habit in certain stations.

Another Article that has been under constant breach, especially by radio stations is that on Obscenity, Taste and Tone in Reporting. Certain radio programmes advance the use of perverse language with abandon.

Productive topics that do not fall near sex and relationship issues tend to be distorted by heavilyaccentuated sexual outbursts.

In the same vein, the language used by certain presenters border on breaching the Article on Hate speech. There is need for radio show hosts to control their call in sessions and authoritatively

direct conversations. It is however, commendable that some radio hosts have been seen to be making efforts to take charge of their programmes and in guiding commentaries from callers, with some taking the extreme measures of disconnecting those making derogatory remarks.

In revisiting accuracy, certain radio and television stations are known to invite ‘experts’ on diverse issues. However, at the end of their shows, there are no disclaimers indicating that the views expressed belong to the individual and not the particular station.

When this is not done, some hosts risk falling prey to creating opinion leaders yet they are not qualified in any way to give advice especially on relationships (the most affected). There are radio hosts who have been noted to make the effort of taking charge and guiding commentaries from callers, with some taking the extreme measures of disconnecting those making derogatory remarks.

There is the aspect of audiences who have not shown proof of being qualified as authorities in certain topics being sought for comment as the ‘final word’, there is no disclaimer that indicates that theirs are personal opinions and not of a qualified person.

Otherwise hosts would fall prey to creating ‘opinion leaders’ yet they are not qualified in any way to give advice especially on relationships.

Another issue of concern is the treatment of children, especially victims of sexual abuse.

The Article on Protection of Children states: Children should not be identified in cases concerning sexual offences,

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whether as victims, witnesses or defendants. Except in matters of public interest, for example, cases of child abuse or abandonment, journalists should not normally interview or photograph children on subjects involving their personal welfare in the absence or without the consent, of a parent or other adult who is responsible for the children. Children should not be approached or photographed while at school and other formal institutions without the permission of school authorities has been widely breached by certain media outlets. There are instances where identities of children are not properly concealed. Media houses, especially television, need to be sensitive to such cases and protect the identity not only of the children concerned but also their relatives, community and the institutions they belong to.

Thought needs to be taken on the repercussions of not concealing the identities of those mentioned and their growth within the environments they live in.

There are however, instances of good journalism where journalists have taken responsibility of their work and output. There are journalists who have taken charge of call ins and avoided being the channels through which hate speech is propagated. There are journalists who take the initiative to apologise on behalf of their stations when an irregularity occurs. rmuturi@mediacouncil.or.ke Ruth Kwamboka is the Media Monitoring and Training Supervisor at the Media Council of Kenya.

PRESS FREEDOM

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iven the Third World’s technological backwardness, there can be only two alternatives on the question of ownership vis-a-vis freedom to publish - on the one hand, ownership by the state or the ruling party and, on the other, ownership by private indigenous individuals. Which of these alternatives can best promote and safeguard freedom of the Press?

Safeguarding Freedom of the Press PHILLIP OCHIENG

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To answer that question, let me begin by considering the position of an indigenous owner-editor of a series of news publications in Kenya, Hilary Ng’weno, concerning state or party ownership. In 1981, a parliamentary motion demanded that the ruling Kenya African Nation Union (KANU) party start its own newspaper. To which Ng’weno wrote as follows in his personal “Letter From the Publisher” column in The Weekly Review of November 6, 1981: “…KANU [Kenya’s ruling party of the time] used to have an organ of its own, PanAfrican, which was at one time edited by the late Pio Gama Pinto. “The newspaper died of all kinds of reasons, but probably the most important was that though it was a party organ, the party itself did not speak with one voice, and in its last days PanAfrican came to be seen as the voice of the party’s ideological left.

“By the time KANU’s left wing had been drummed out of positions of power (during 1966-1967)… and eventually forced to go into official opposition as the now defunct Kenya People’s Union , the party newspaper had ceased to exist…”

Though the most important cause of PanAfrican’s demise was a series of insuperable technical difficulties rather than absence of unison among the party leaders, let us suppose that intra-party

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PRESS FREEDOM conflict contributed to the collapse of that newspaper. To get to the bottom of what Ng’weno is trying to say in this oblique warning against the establishment of a party newspaper, it is appropriate to dwell at length on the immediate background. A detailed analysis of a particular controversy in 1981 involving the editor-in-chief of a private foreign-owned daily in Nairobi will show that the point Ng’weno is trying to make is quite legitimate.

If the editor of an independent organ can take such a sharply uncritical attitude towards a faction in the party led by an immensely powerful politician, as Githii did between 1980 and 1982, when he was the editorial boss of The Standard, then such an editor might prove appalling were he in charge of a state- or ruling-party newspaper. That is what Ng’weno seems to be saying.

On October 28, 1981, legislator Lawrence Sifuna moved a motion demanding that KANU, the ruling party, open its own newspaper to counter “the habit” by the “foreignowned media” of “slighting” certain political personages in Kenya. But, although members of parliament kept referring to foreign-owned newspapers in general, Kenya’s newspaper readers knew that The Standard was what had at that time incurred the MPs’ wrath. Support for Sifuna’s motion was near-total.

The MPs were in a huff about another editorial in the paper in which Githii had made a scathing attack on G. G. Kairuki, saying the latter had failed to discharge his responsibilities as minister in charge of internal security. Githii had lashed out: “Kariuki, whose title is that of

Minister of Internal Security, warned that this country has enemies and these enemies, mostly, go through leading personalities or newspapers … the implication here is that newspaper editors, reporters, photographers, feature writers and other workers are used by enemies of Kenya.

Here, alas! There was neither grace nor polish nor pleasing qualities; there were accusations and invectives; the abusive, violent attack in words generalised against an entire industry and an entire profession.

“As a minister of internal security then, what steps has Kariuki taken to take these alleged enemies of Kenya and their collaborators to court for seeking to destroy Kenya, and if he has not, has he not failed in his duty which he has solemnly so sworn to perform in ascendance with the constitution?...”

In normal circumstances, this assault on “GG” by another “GG” would have been quite justified. A minister in charge of intelligence making such a sweeping public condemnation of newspapers about their supposed collusion with ‘”enemies” of the state but without feeling the need to name those enemies or individual journalists employed by the “enemies” or engaged in such a conspiracy deserved nothing but the contempt which characterised Githii’s rejoinder.

But there is nothing ordinary -and this seems to be Ng’weno’s point -- about a circumstance in which only one journalist in a whole country, being the only one enjoying the protection of the then all-powerful constitutional minister, Charles Njonjo, can get away

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with a virulent attack on another cabinet minister as powerful in his own right as G.G. Kariuki was at that very same time. Indeed there is nothing ordinary in a state of affairs in which no journalist, except George Githii, could affront the very vice-president, then Mwai Kibaki, and other potentates, going so far as to invade their personalities, with absolute impunity.

In Kenya, between 1979 and 1982, only the editor of The Standard could do such things.

And everybody, every MP, knew that Githii dared insult Kibaki only because the vice president could not reach him where he hid in Njonjo’s wings. The fact that Githii – and Githii alone -- could write insolent stories on ministers and other high-powered politicians and civil servants, then, cannot be seen as an expression of freedom of the press in Kenya since such licence was extended to only one journalist. What miffed the parliamentarians even more was another editorial, four days later, in which Githii took another swipe at Kibaki, almost accusing him of treason. Such uncritical fealty to the ruling party’s most powerful faction might have completely stymied such a paper.

What sin had Kibaki committed this time? He had pointed out the truism that there is no yardstick with which to measure one’s loyalty to Nyayo, a popular reference to Moi and his “philosophy” of “love, peace and unity”. Shakespeare alludes to this truth when he declares in Macbeth: “There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” So totally had Duncan trusted Macbeth because so solemnly had the soldier

PRESS FREEDOM sworn fealty to the king; so poignant was the perfidy! Yet certain individuals in Kenya – notably Njonjo and Stanley Oloitipitip, then a cabinet minister – had formed the habit of exhorting the public to support this or that political hopeful in the local arena because the aspiring individual, they said, was ‘more loyal” to Nyayo than everybody else.

quite in character in its sophistry.

Said he: “At the most abstract and philosophical level, perhaps Mr Kibaki is logically correct to argue that no one is more Nyayo than the other”. The concept of nyayo here represents the formal idea of a father figure and the sum total of state is the father figure of all the people in the land -- those who obey the law and those who do not, the healthy and the sick, the young and the elderly, even the black sheep in the families, as well as the well behaved, are all his.

Referring to the frequency with which they made this claim, a wag once quipped that it was “Oloitypical” of them! Everybody in Kenya knew what Njonjo and “To the extent to which everyone the ebullient (and institutions) Maasai leader [sic] ultimately meant by these look to the Head What sin had utterances. The of State as their Kibaki committed individuals they protector, they were parading belong to him and this time? He had as the most loyal him to them….. it pointed out the were well-known is a good identity truism that there to be loyal, not so of a relationship much to Nyayo between the ruler is no yardstick as an idea, nor and the ruled …. In with which necessarily to the the case of our own man, Moi, who Head of State, he to measure was meant to speaks for forty-five one’s loyalty to personify the idea, tribes and several Nyayo, a popular but more to Njonjo races…. He is their and such of his father figure. And reference to lieutenants as the when they look Moi and his portly politician round for anybody and the boisterous who embodies “philosophy” of editor. Thus the sum total of “love, peace and Kenyans reacted all that is Kenya, unity”. with a knowing they find it in the wink when, just person of nyayo or two years later, his Excellency the Moi raised the President of Kenya, “traitor” issue in which Njonjo was Mr Daniel arap Moi…” publicly alleged to have all along been conspiring with certain rightThis 18th-century European old wing world forces to overthrow the hat – of a “contract” between Moi government and replace it with “the ruler and the lured” – Githii one led by Njonjo himself. had just acquired from a course in politics, philosophy and But back in 1981, Githii’s editorial economics at Oxford, England. reply to vice-president Kibaki was Githii simply found it impossible to

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resist both it and the “father-figure” which is the essence of JudeoChristianity. The fulsomeness of his bloated language was equaled only by its poverty of grammar.

And the interesting thing about this outpouring is that only the “well behaved” can - whatever anybody else’s prayer maybe - be considered as Nyayo followers.

Those who say there are no parameters for measuring loyalty are not well-behaved. Therefore, George Githii is the Nyayo disciple par excellence.

But, by saying that all the people of Kenya at that time identified Nyayo with Moi and with obeisance to both, either the editor was completely out of touch with the public mood or he was fooling about. In December, 1981, most Kenyans associated the Nyayo idea with the crimes which certain organs of the state were committing against society.

As the Cecil Miller judicial inquiry into Njonjo’s conduct was to be told two years later, these organs -- including the Criminal Investigations Department, the Attorney-General’s office and certain sections of the Judiciary -- were under Njonjo, first as attorney-general and then as minister in charge of justice. Those who knew the man to whom Githii was most loyal knew that if Moi was the Dona Gentilla, as Dante Alighieri puts it in The Divine Comedy, then Njonjo was the Dona Gentillissima.

In his editorial, Githii went on to inform us that adherence to Nyayo can be measured on the “concrete” level, saying: “At any time in the history of a nation, it is easy to define who the friends of an open society are,

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PRESS FREEDOM and who its enemies are. This may be done by means of [an] evaluated assessment of one’s non-commitment to, or nonobservance of, the rules of an open society.

“And it has to be observed that no one can be a crusader for a closed society and an open society at the same time. It’s either one or the other or one at a time.

Since nyayoism stands for an orderly, open society, for a society of equality of opportunity and for forty five tribes as equal sources of claims, among other noble ideas, there are concrete criteria to determine who are more nyayo followers than those who are against law and order.

“Those who perceive the country from the viewpoint of equality of the forty five tribes of Kenya and the several other races who have made their homes here are more nyayo followers than those who feel that the forty five tribes should be dominated by one tribe; or, a section of one tribe…”

smallest tribe or race getting away with the lion’s share, an individual belonging to the largest “tribe” or “race” having to make do with peanuts.

Or perhaps the shares are only relatively equal, each “tribe” or “race” bagging only such an amount of the cake as is commensurate with its demographical size. At least as theories go, the latter kind of “equal sources of claims” may be admitted, though the theorist tells us that only the former system is at work in our country. However, one thing is certain: all the “tribes” of Kenya and other parts of the Third World are equal only in their poverty. Insofar as all of them form a “race” -- the black race -- this race is deeply unequal to the two expatriate races in our country in economic, cultural and intellectual opportunities. Of course, the root cause of this inequality is to be found in colonialism.

Thus, says Githii, in the modern state system, there is a “noble ideal” called “equal sources of claims,” though, as yet, we fail to understand how it works in real life. Perhaps at the end of a set period of time, say one year, all the “forty five tribes and several races” march to the “father figure” in his sanctum sanctorum, a “claim” bowls in hand, ready to receive their “equal” shares of “the national cake”.

But, at the same time, no sincere politician or thinker has ever pretended that the imbalance has been righted. Given the demographic sizes of the two guest races (the brown and the white), they enjoy absolute privilege. The fact that a few individuals from the “tribes” which together form the black race enjoy as much privilege as do members of the white and brown races cannot be explained by the black individuals’ racial origin but only through their historico-material alliance with the expatriates.

He tells us that the shares are absolutely equal, every “tribe” or “race” getting exactly the same amount of the cake as every other “tribe” or “race”, in which case the shares are absolutely unequal, the

It is a class, not an ethnic, affinity, though, in general, the econocultural line coincides, most dangerously, with the race line. It is a most convenient coincidence.

It is what enables Githii to engage

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in the familiar obscurantism of speaking of equality only in terms of “tribes” and races, and not as an attribute of econo-social gradation transcending ethnic or gentile clusters.

Githii’s language problem notwithstanding, his meaning is, nevertheless, as clear as a fog! One’s commitment to nyayo can be measured “concretely” by an “evaluated assessment” – whatever that means -- of one’s commitment or noncommitment to “law and order” and to an “open society”. But since Githii himself has told us that law and order and an open society are what define nyayo, we end up with a remarkable tautology: one’s commitment to nyayo can be measured by one’s commitment to nyayo!

According to this luminous mist by the editor-in-chief, those who affirm, without offering a shred of evidence, the standpoint that there are “concrete” parameters with which to gauge loyalty to Nyayo are advocates of an open society and are “more Nyayo” and better exponents than Kibaki was.

But, as I say, by invoking the equality of “forty-five tribes and other races” of this country Githii is measuring swords with I-knownot whom, for Kibaki has never advocated any discrimination against any tribes, nationalities or races – at least, not aloud. If he has practised it on the quiet, I don’t know.

Has Githii (or Njonjo) done so?

No, not directly. But when Githii took over as chairman and editorial boss of the Standard in 1980, the company’s editorial rooms became a Kikuyu parish almost overnight. Of course,

PRESS FREEDOM this does not prove that it was conscious “tribalism”. Indeed, on publishing the names and headshots of his new team, Githii informed us that that they had been put together on a purely professional basis. The norms of fair play oblige me to give the editor the benefit of the doubt. But I must mention that at the time eyebrows were raised by the fact that all the names belonged to one ethnic community – Githii’s.

Njonjo, on the other hand, never tried to hide his great aversion to the idea of black people taking over the government departments which he dominated. In the 1984

“no one can be a crusader for a closed and an open society at the same time” or, for that matter, for or against tribalism and racism at the same time, to insist that there are rigid parameters for measuring Nyayo is quite clearly to be a crusader for a closed society. It is to advocate a monolithic way of interpreting national invocations.

It is to be an apostle in what Ernst Fischer calls “a hideous uniformity of minds”. On the other hand, to affirm that there are no such measures is, at least, to allow individual members of a society the opportunity for greater intellectual

But the evidence was hardly necessary against a man who had always claimed that the students produced by the Faculty of Law of the University of Nairobi were not worth a cent. Was this evidence necessary against a man who had said publicly that he would never fly in a plane being piloted by a black person? His thus was what may be called racism in reverse.

Miller Commission, Kenyans heard how he adamantly refused to Africanise the topmost echelons of all the legal organs of state.

creativity and inventiveness. It is to open up the avenue for more members to express and pursue their national goals freely and with greater mental vitality.

But the evidence was hardly necessary against a man who had always claimed that the students produced by the Faculty of Law of the University of Nairobi were not worth a cent. Was this evidence necessary against a man who had said publicly that he would never fly in a plane being piloted by a black person? His thus was what may be called racism in reverse.

That, then, is the background against which Sifuna’s motion in parliament calling for a party newspaper should be seen. This was not the first time that Githii had discoursed with such fawning towards the powerful. I have fully analysed his behaviour in an attempt to bring out his Aristotelian obeisance before authority.

So, while Githii is certainly right that

I wanted to show why it causes

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us to shudder at the mere thought of what such an editor would to the adversaries of his “father figure” were he in charge of a government or ruling party newspaper. This is what makes it possible for Ng’weno, in his position as the owner and editor of an indigenous group of publications, to argue not only against foreign ownership, but even more forcefully, against official ownership.

If a private paper can so grovel towards a potentate in the government and the ruling party, as the Standard did during Githii’s stewardship, then a state or ruling party newspaper under him can be expected to do much worse.

Yet, if this is what Ng’weno is trying to say, then it is, in fact, a bit too simplistic.

What happens in practice is far more colorful than this grey picture which emerges from the theory.

It all depends on the particular circumstance, on the kind of state or ruling party and on the personality of the head of state and the editor, as my experience in the three East African countries will show. My work in the Daily News (Tanzania), the Sunday Times (Uganda) and the Kenya Times –all official newspapers -- may show that you cannot really draw a rigid line between a party organ and an “independent” organ. We shall later examine the above position of Ng’weno’s vis-à-vis official newspapers. ochiengotani@gmail.com Phillip Ochieng, a retired newspaper editor, now serves as editorial training consultant of the weekly “Kenya Today”

The Media Observer January-April 2011

PRESS LAW

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efamation is a public communication that tends to injure the reputation of another. It includes both libel (written defamatory statements) and slander (oral utterances). The definition of defamation varies from jurisdiction to another, but there is common agreement that communication that is merely unflattering, annoying, irksome, embarrassing, or that hurts only the plaintiff’s feelings, is not actionable. People should be tough enough not to be injured by such statements, which would flood the courts if actionable.

In Kenya the reputation of the individual is protected by the Defamation Act and the Penal Code. The Defamation Act provides that any person whose reputation has been injured by a published statement may seek redress in the courts, and if he can satisfy the court that he has been defamed, he will be awarded an appropriate sum in money as compensation. The threshold for defamation is satisfied if the following preconditions are met:

Cartoon credit/ The NewsManual.net

1.That the words used are capable of being defamatory - either by lowering the claimant in the estimation of normal, right thinking people, exposing the claimant to hatred, contempt or ridicule or causing the claimant to be shunned or avoided.

Defamation and Political Reputation ERICK NGAIRA The Media Observer January-April 2011

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2. That the words refer to the claimant - even if not specifically named or even if reference is made through a fictional character.

3. That the words are published - publication in the legal sense meaning communication to at least one person other than the claimant

PRESS LAW The Penal Code on the other hand criminalises the publication of defamatory matter, and provides that any publication of defamatory matter concerning a person is unlawful. Unless the matter is true and it was for the public benefit that it should be published or it is privileged.

by the desire to increase profits by making outrageous and false allegations, can do untold harm, both by damaging the dignity and reputation of the person defamed but also by misleading the community. This therefore calls for careful balancing of press freedom and political reputation.

Jurisprudence in the law of defamation relating to public figures or political reputation has developed significantly from the early 90’s, when mentioning a political figure’s name unfavourably was considered undignifying, and breach of the person’s right to privacy not forgetting that it would be a costly

It has been argued that the boldest step in favour of press freedom at the expense of political reputation was taken by the United States Supreme Court in New York Times versus Sullivan, commonly referred to as Sullivan’s case where the court raised the standard of proof for public figures in defamation cases. The case established the

n Kenya the reputation of the individual is protected by the Defamation Act and the Penal Code. The Defamation Act provides that any person whose reputation has been injured by a published statement may seek redress in the courts, and if he can satisfy the court that he has been defamed, he will be awarded an appropriate sum in money as compensation. affair if not fatal to the media enterprise involved.

Naturally this poses a dilemma for the courts .The judiciary is alive to the fact that some politicians do not live blameless lives. They may be corrupt or oppressive or may adopt hypocritical stances, where their public voice is contradicted by their private actions. If they can shelter behind the protective shield of defamation law, this will clearly be damaging to the common good. But then again the courts are equally conscious of the power of the media, for good and for evil. A media enterprise, motivated by the desire to expose political wrongdoing, can do great good for society; whereas another media enterprise, driven

actual malice standard which has to be met before press reports about public officials or public figures can be considered to be defamatory. Unfortunately placing the burden of proof on public figures to show liability and “actual malice”, made it impossible in practice for public figures to sue successfully for defamation, even when there was a genuine claim for defamation. For this reason courts in other countries have refused to be persuaded or to adopt the reasoning and holding of Sullivan’s.

In Kenya, the case of Mwangi Kiunjuri –versus-Wangethi Mwangi and 2 others EKLR 2008 Ojwang J appeared to give support to New York Times. He observed

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that section 79 of the Constitution (now repealed) presupposes the existence of an effective and vibrant press. And that the press has its professional methods of work, and as it interplays so much with the private domain, and in relation to the pursuit and publication of information, the press must exercise much responsibility, and ensure it does not unreasonably injure private reputations as it seeks to inform the public at large. He further added that the Court could not encourage an approach to the law of defamation in a manner that unduly restricts the ventilation of ideas on public affairs; on prudence in conduct of public office; on financial integrity in public office; on planned and orderly management of public resources; on initiatives to curb corruption in public office.

Much as the court seemed persuaded by the holding in the Sullivan case, the court did not place the onus of proof of malice on the plaintiff as the holding in the New York case suggested, instead the court brought something different to the fore, a different defense, the defense of reasonableness or responsible journalism.

Considering that responsible journalism is epitomised by the Code of Conduct for the Practise of Journalism enshrined in the Second Schedule of the Media Act 2007, this would mean diligent observation of the Code will save media enterprises millions of shillings in damages. engaira@mediacouncil.or.ke Mr Erick Ngaira is the Complaints Officer at the Media Council of Kenya.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

GLOBAL MEDIA REGULATION Introduction Germany is located in Western and Central Europe. With more than 82 million inhabitants it is the most populous member state of the European Union, ranking 10th out of 169 countries in the Human Development Index 2010. From 1949 until 1990, as a result of the cold war, the country was divided into East and West Germany. Today, Germany is a federal parliamentary republic comprising sixteen states.

Germany has a long history of mass media with the first newspapers starting 400 years ago. From 1933 until 1945, the Third Reich regime used mass media as a tool of propaganda and dictatorship. In 1945 the media experienced a “zero-hour” and practically started anew. Today, nearly every household has at least one TV set; Germans spend nearly 200 minutes a day watching television. According to the Media Basis Data 2010, 70 percent of all Germans use online services.

Media legislation and regulation in the broadcasting sector

Media Legislation and Regulation:

The German Experience ISABEL RODDE The Media Observer January-April 2011

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Media freedom and freedom of expression are guaranteed in Germany by the Constitution (Grundgesetz, Article 5). Furthermore, specific media legislation is predominantly in the hands of the 16 states. This applies especially to broadcasting laws, which are elaborated as so-called interstate treaties (Rundfunkstaatsverträge).

Germany has a “dual system” of both public and commercial broadcasting.

The public service broadcaster is set up as an independent and non-commercial organisation, financed primarily by license fees. Commercial television is controlled by two media groups. However, the high degree of media concentration is causing increasing concern amongst stakeholders.

Supervisory councils are accorded eminence in both the public and

GLOBAL MEDIA REGULATION private broadcasting sector.

All broadcasting corporations are governed by an independent Broadcasting Council (Rundfunkrat), whose representatives are supposed to reflect the “socially relevant groups” of society. With the start of commercial broadcasting in the 1980s, all the states drafted media laws besides the already existing broadcasting laws. These laws specifically regulate the private electronic media, mainly by insisting that commercial radio and TV licences are handed out and by deciding what programs may be fed into cable systems. For this purpose, new supervisory bodies - so-called state media authorities (Landesmedienanstalten) - were created, each with their own council. They are responsible for seeing that commercial TV and radio broadcasters comply with basic programming principles and that regulation on advertising limitations or the protection of minors are observed.

Complaints against the broadcasting corporations may be brought before the members of the Broadcast Councils. All commercial television companies are obliged to employ a Commissioner for Youth Protection (Jugendschutzbeauftragter) who reports only to the company.

Regulation in the print sector The German press is characterised by a large number of publications.

In 2008, 354 newspapers were registered. The local and regional newspaper market is strong and important in Germany; there are only a few national newspapers.

The press is characterised by a high but decreasing dependency on advertising income and a significant degree of economic

concentration.

The German Press Council (Deutscher Presserat) was established in 1956 as a voluntary self-monitoring institution of the press. According to its statute, its duties are as follows: a) to determine irregularities in the press and to work towards clearing them up; b) to stand up for unhindered access to the sources of news; c) to give recommendations and guidelines for journalistic work; d) to stand against developments which could endanger free information and formation of opinions among the public; e) to investigate and decide on complaints about individual newspapers, magazines or press services and f) self-regulation of editorial data protection.

The German Press Council consists of an equal number of representatives from the two main German journalists’ organisations and the two main publishers’ organisations.

Their key task is to investigate and to decide on individual complaints about publications or happenings in the press. The 28-member plenary elects the two complaints committees: the general complaints committee with two chambers and eight members each and the complaints committee for editorial data protection with six members. The bodies are voluntarily staffed by publishers and journalists for a period of two years in office upon the appropriate proposal of the organisation. The chair of the bodies changes every two years among the four organisations.

Members of the general public

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may complain directly to the Council. If the Council supports the complaint, the respective newspaper is expected to publish the Council’s ruling. The decisions are taken on the basis of a press code which is regularly updated as per recent developments in journalism.

The press code defines respect for the truth, preservation of human dignity and accurate informing of the public as the overriding principles of the press.

The code consists of 16 sections, dealing for example with accurate research, professional secrecy, respect of privacy, clear distinction between editorial and commercial content and the condemnation of discriminatory and sensational reporting. It also provides additional detailed guidelines for each section.

In 2010, the Press Council received more than 1500 complaints.

The commissions dealt with a total of 81 complaints. They issued 15 public reprimands, 16 disapprovals and 18 advice notices. The majority of reprimands were issued because the rule of distinction between editorial text and advertisement was breached.

Other breaches of the press code concerned illegal product placement and intrusion into someone’s personal rights.

Outlook There has been an ongoing discussion about the effectiveness of the work of the Press Council in recent years. Journalists and independent media researchers have been complaining about a lack of transparency and a closedshop-attitude in regard to the activities of the Council. They claim that surreptitious

The Media Observer January-April 2011

GLOBAL MEDIA REGULATION advertising and the increasing influence of public relations content in editorial offices are not sufficiently addressed as serious issues.

The journalists’ organisation “Network for Investigative Journalism” (Netzwerk Recherche) has suggested developing a general code of journalism that should apply not only to the press, but also to private and public broadcasting media and the growing market of online-media.

According to “Netzwerk Recherche”, the Press Council should be replaced by a journalism council with representatives of journalists’ organisations, publishers’ organisations and private and public broadcasters sitting jointly on the board. All hearings should be open to the public; independent media experts and consumers should be allowed to contribute to the hearings. Moreover, the role of thorough research and the distinction between editorial and public relations content would need to be further specified in the code of journalism.

REFERENCES Kleinsteuber, H.-J., Thomass, B. Media Landscape: Germany http://www.ejc.net/media_landscape/article/ germany/ ARD The Broadcasting System http://www.ard.de/-/ id=161952/property=download/kvilfq/index.pdf German State Media Authorities Profile: The Media Authorities http://www.die-medienanstalten.de/home.html German Press Council Key Facts in English http://www. presserat.info/service/english/keyfacts-in-english.html

Accreditation of Journalists Accreditation is a yearly process undertaken to register all journalists practicing in Kenya. This process also facilitates the authentication of genuine journalists from the “quacks”.

One of its main aims is to improve professionalism among journalists as it ensures that all accredited journalists have the right skills to carry out their duties in a professional manner as accorded to by the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya.

In accordance to sections 4(k), 13(2), 19(1) and 36 of the Media Act 2007, the Media Council of Kenya, would like to inform all practicing journalists in Kenya that the Council is currently undertaking the Journalist Accreditation exercise for the year 2011.

Journalist means any person who holds a diploma or a degree in mass communication from a recognized institution of higher learning and is recognized as such by the Council, or any other person who was practising as a journalist immediately before the commencement of this Act or who holds such other qualifications as are recognized by the Council, and earns a living from the practice of journalism, or any person who habitually engages in the practice of journalism and is recognised as such by the Council.

Media Act 2007

German Press Council German Press Code http://www. presserat.info/uploads/media/Press_Code.pdf

Requirements for Accreditation

Network for Investigative Journalism Goals of “ netzwerk recherché” http://www.netzwerkrecherche.de/English

isabel@mediacouncil.or.ke Isabel Rodde is an International Media Advisor for Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) / Civil Peace Service and is currently based at the Media Council of Kenya offices in Nairobi. She has extensive experience as a journalist and as media lecturer.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

1. A letter from a journalist’s / media practitioner’s employer or 2. If a freelance journalist, one should bring a letter of reference from the organisation he or she corresponds for and a portfolio of work done. If need be, proof of professional training may be requested 3. A clear passport photograph on a white background In case of any queries, contact us at: accreditation@mediacouncil.or.ke

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (Continued from the last Issue)

Dissemination

Publishing one’s story doesn’t mean the cycle is over. As stated, earlier while using New Media one should consider themselves as a mini media house, hence the next step should be marketing.

You can publish all the stories you want but who will read them if you can’t market yourself? A prominent editor from the Daily Nation commented at a workshop on how he uses New Media such as Social Media to reach out to potential readers. He stated that within the first hour of advertising his article he already had many hits and several comments made about the article, and this was before the article was even published in the following day’s paper.

Use of New Media and Social Media for dissemination and advertising oneself can have a profound effect especially if the content is consistently of high standards. Use of avenues such as Social Media has the potential of creating Grapevine referrals which can go far and wide in the virtual world. This usually may result into increased readership and subscription to one’s New Media stations i.e. either Blogs, Webcasting Channels, Podcasts etc. The journalist can go a step further and institute a periodic Newsletter to subscribers.

New Media for the Kenyan Journalist Ephraim Muchemi

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Gadgets In terms of equipment, many portable devices are available for use and are simple to carry and use. These include digital camera, digital recorder, laptop and a mobile phone. But with the latter becoming more and more sophisticated, it is becoming much easier for journalists to

The Media Observer January-April 2011

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY operate due to the reduction in weight in carrying much equipment. A good example is the iPhone which in it are a recorder, camera, notepad and internet and many other applications which could be useful to the journalism field. Now with the introduction of the iPad, relevance of tool such as a laptop or a computer may be dimming.

It’s not only Apple products with these capabilities. Others include Blackberry, Samsung, and LG products. Some of these gadgets may seem expensive but the long term value from their use will surpass their cost.

Alternatively there are other competing gadgets that may offer near similar functionalities at a fairer price.

either be through a recording or paper trail especially if it is used for interviewing purposes. Skype for example allows for one to record a call (either video or audio). Same applies to Yahoo Messenger which allows archiving of chat messages.

2. Distinguish between Professional and Social use of New Media. If interested in using New Media for professional purposes then create different profiles which potential subscribers can gain access to without them having to access your personal information. A good example is journalists from CNN who usually add the organisations name to their profile name on Social Media networks so as to distinguish their professional from personal accounts.

Use of New Media and Social Media for dissemination and advertising oneself can have a profound effect especially if the content is consistently of high standards.

With the availability of gadgets which are practical in all ways from news gathering to dissemination, operating as a journalist seems to be highly simplified.

But from a different look, if incorporating New Media is not taken advantage of by the profession, citizen journalism will increase competition in an already competitive field.

Rules of using New Media for Journalism

3. Be responsible.

Publishing is publishing, no matter the media used to broadcast.

Recently a Senior Editor at CNN resigned after publishing a “controversial” tweet. It is due to this oversight by the editor that the irresponsible use of less than 140 characters was enough to send her packing besides having been with the media house for many years and was respected by the journalism community and the public.

1. Keep a record. This could

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Advantages of using New Media • One of the main advantages is the increased ownership of content with no or minimum editing from a third party.

The journalist’s point of view can be well projected without it being subjected to other party’s contribution.

• New Media can also be used as a medium for journalists to publish the stories which did not see the light of day in their respective media houses.

• If well established in the New Media environment a journalist can use this as a means for additional income by charging subscribers to access premium content and also sale of material e.g. photographs and stories. Some blogs have proved to be able to pull large readership that they have been able to attract sponsors and advertisers, case in point, The Huffington Post.

• Professional standards tend to improve since some of the mediums allow for feedback from consumers e.g. a published article in a blog may attract comments which may provide positive criticism, request for in depth look into the story or even contribute and suggest a new story. Since New Media rides on a ubiquitous medium called the internet it lengthens the journalists’ reach of operation e.g. you could be based in Garissa but interview a person of interest based in Japan through Skype. This in the end improves the quality of stories to be published.

• Increased Creativity. The ability to use a multimedia approach to a News story gives a journalist many options on

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY being creative.

• Use of New Media carries with it very low costs. Since most facilities offer free services, much of the charge is carried out by communication channel providers i.e. ISPs or Telephony companies.

• Above all, New Media does not require much skill to operate. And this also facilitates for easier and faster publishing and dissemination of stories.

New Media can be operated from simple devices as mobile phones from the Collection to Dissemination point.

In his article “20 Kenyan web and tech innovations worth watching”, Mark Kaigwa mentions some Fast Facts on Kenya: • Kenya has the 7th highest Facebook population in Africa with an estimated 760,000 users.

• The CIA Fact book reports that Kenya has a 85% literacy rate • There are an estimated 4 million Kenyans online of Kenya’s 40million population • Mobile internet subscribers stand at 1,98-million according to the Communications Commission of Kenya’s latest figures With these quoted facts and about an additional approximate 14 million mobile subscribers, isn’t this a clear indication that the Kenyan journalist has a wide playing field out of the traditional media channels? With Digital broadcasting switchover quickly approaching and the fibre optic cable being laid across the country and the 4 undersea fibre optic cables arriving into the country, the everyday Kenyan journalist’s potential is yet to be tested.

Characteristics of the Future Journalist Though I am advocating for New Media journalism I should make it clear that there are certain characteristics which shall define the future journalist and these include: • Dynamic • Open minded • Innovative • Analytical • Understand pros and cons.

Besides these characteristics the journalist should stick to the professional basic fundamentals which include: • Journalism ethics • Critical thinking and judgement • Critical reading, research and analysis • Professional reporting and writing skills To prove the viability of all the above, I have conducted much of reaserch for this story from my iPod Touch which has internet capability to access most of the above facilities. The interactions with the stated persons were via Twitter and email. This was done while at home, banking halls, reception areas and public vehicles among others and all it has cost me is time and battery charging. In fact most of my articles are generated and published from my iPod Touch.

If you aren’t with us already then it is with my hope that we shall be sharing notes on this topic soon after you have commenced. emuchemi@mediacouncil. or.ke http://easyefi.wordpress. com. Mr Muchemi is the ICT and Accreditation Officer at the Media Council of Kenya.

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The Media Observer January-April 2011

TRAINING

Media Training Everywhere, But Who is Talking Quality?

(Part II) WAMBUI GITAU

The Media Observer January-April 2011

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TRAINING

R

ecently, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology made it a requirement for all colleges to register with them. This is somehow, a big step towards quality media training in media schools, but the question lingers: Which ministry should be in charge of this; the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology or the Ministry for Information and Communication?

Apart from that, does the former check the facilities and if so, how efficient is the process, and as media training, are there any major facilities that must be present?

systems and can access products anytime, anywhere. Development of interactive media and cable technology has also increased interaction between people and various media houses, thus leading to citizen journalism. The big question, however, remains: What sets the media students apart? Can they stand out or are they getting a raw deal from their specific colleges?

Today, the internet plays a major role in our lives.

How are these young journalists prepared to use it as a medium?

Everything has gone online; TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, advertisements and blogs are all trying to send a message, but how many media schools can pride themselves in giving their students this current vital course, Online Media? Should this be a must for all media schools or will they stick to the fixed and accountable systems: Radio and TV?

The media in Kenya has highly evolved, the liberalisation of airwaves has led to multiplication of television and radio stations brought about by the enactment of the Kenya Information and Communications Act of 1998.

The media in Kenya has highly evolved, the liberalisation of airwaves has led to multiplication of television and radio stations brought about by the enactment of the Kenya Information and Communications Act of 1998. In the same vein, media training should also evolve as fast as the media does, but are they fast enough to catch up? Who is ensuring they do or will they lag behind?

Unlike the past when people had fixed systems and channels to enable them to access media products, modern day audiences have more dynamic channels and

While talking of quality media training, what really counts? Is it the facilities, that is the equipment, the studios or the library? What about the lecturers? Do they count? Who is ensuring that all media schools get qualified lecturers? Private institutions get

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to decide whom to hire unlike in government institutions, what qualifications should one possess?

Media houses in Kenya have also been investing in media schools, a good thing I might say, they have the basics, and excellent up to date technology in terms of equipment and studios and their students have easy access to them. One would say that their students are advantaged as they get their experience in real studios unlike those in other colleges who only get that experience during internship. An example is Radio Waumini which in 2008 established the new Christian radio training center, where it offers a 12- week upgrading course in journalism. However, there were limited spaces for all the potential students who could afford the course, leave alone those who could not raise the fees but had a strong desire to pursue the course.

What is their fate? Other media houses have followed suit, which leads to a question as to whether this is a new trend.

On February 2, 2011, the United States International University (USIU) in Nairobi, Kenya celebrated its 40th anniversary in style. A day to the event, a television documentary that was aired in local stations captured the attention of many owing to its nature; it was made by journalism students from the institution. Now, this is what quality media training should encompass; where one can easily echo the viewers’ thoughts.

Anyone would want to be part of this prestigious university, but then again not everyone can be accommodated. That aside, their journalism department as displayed was up to date; a good studio, internet access, cameras,

The Media Observer January-April 2011

TRAINING lectures and to top it all the new library. The question that remains is: Is this the perfect definition of quality training or is there more that should be incorporated in the curriculum? Paradoxically, is there a curriculum for media training?

What standards do they follow or does each institution create its own curriculum? Are some degrees more valid than others in terms of where one studied? How about the diplomas? Do some count more than others?

In a bid to improve the quality of hands on training developed media schools have real radio stations broadcasting from their institutions which are run by the students for the students.

Media training institutions such as Daystar University, USIU, Multimedia University and the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) among others have live radio broadcasts for the school and environs.

Others such as the East Africa Media Institute (EAMI) have made partnerships with institutions that would enable their students to access the same facilities. This has enabled their students to contribute to radio programmes in major radio stations such as the BBC as well as with Xreel Productions in 2009 to produce Breaking Point, the show that heralded a new era of quality programming and used a cast and crew drawn from the most talented individuals in Kenya’s media scene. Included in this group were several EAMI students who served in both a professional and internship capacities. The same institution has incorporated the internet in their training and curriculum and has adopted new media. Should every other college follow suit? Or are we about to

hear of one with a functioning TV station?

As media schools multiply each day, competition among themselves rises, colleges create affiliations with major universities if only to give status to their schools.

Partnerships with industry leaders both locally and internationally are being forged, with each college trying to be the best and override the rest, hopefully to bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and ideas to its students. They also do so with an intention of becoming active in projects and have exposure in the global media Industry. Is this the way to go? One thing is sure though, the media changes every day, training is bound to follow suit and colleges

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which are already on the rise wont stop at that, they will still increase just as media outlets increase. Will we at anytime have a curriculum for this? And who will ensure that internet training is incorporated in our institutions? The sad truth is that we still lag behind in training, yet we have some of the best media institutions. One wonders why that should be the case while we have some of the biggest media houses? My presumption is that our government should set standards or the media industry will set its own as it has already done. dockiegits@yahoo.com Ms Gitau is a freelance journalist.

Complaints Procedure Any person aggrieved by: - Any publication including online publications, or any conduct of a journalist, media enterprise or the Council; or Anything done against a journalist or media enterprise that limits or interferes with the Constitutionalfreedomofexpression ofsuchjournalistormediaenterprise, maymakeawrittencomplainttothe Council setting out the grounds for the complaint, nature of the injury ordamagesufferedandtheremedy sought.

Belowaretheproceduresacomplaint takes: 1. One may make a written complainttotheCouncilsetting out the grounds for the complaint, nature of the injury or damage suffered and the remedy sought.

2. Upon receipt of a complaint, the Council shall within 14 days from the date of receipt of the complaint, refer the complaint to the Complaints Commission for assessment to determine whether it is within the Commission jurisdiction.

3. The Commission may reject a complaint if it does not fall within the mandate of the Commission.

4. A person aggrieved by the decision of the Commission to

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

reject a complaint may apply for review of that decision within 28 days of notificationof the rejection.

Upon satisfaction that the complaint is within the commission’s jurisdiction, the Commission shall notify, in writing,thepartyagainstwhom a complaint has been made, within fourteen days of receipt thereof, stating the nature of the complaint, the breach, act or omission in question.

Thepersoncomplainedagainst (Respondent) is to reply within 14 days from date of notification.

The Secretariat shall, within 7 days of receipt of the response from the respondent, send the same to the complainant.

If the dispute is not resolved the Commission can either set up conciliation or mediation panel consisting of not less than three commissioners to hear the matter.

If the above panels fails to resolve the dispute which the Commission will form an Arbitration panel to hear the dispute.

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Remedies The Commission may: • Dismiss such complaint; • Order an offending party to publish an apology and correction in such manner as the Council may specify; • Issue a public reprimand of the journalist or media enterprise involved; • Recommend to the Council suspension or removal from the register of the journalist involved; • Order return, repair, or replacement of any equipment; • Make any directive and declaration on freedom of expression; • Give any other order or directive as it deems necessary.

The Commission shall communicate its decision to the parties concerned within 14 days from the time the decision is made.

Appeal A person can appeal to the Council againstadecisionoftheCommission within 14 days from the date of the decision.

If a person is not satisfied with the decision of the Council, they can appeal to the High Court within 21 days.

The Media Observer January-April 2011

The Media Observer January-April 2011

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