The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has called on media players to remain united in advocating for their safety, especially during the electioneering period.
MCK chief executive David Omwoyo said that journalists need to work together towards promoting media freedom and asked journalists to be ‘each others’ keeper’, since they are also human rights defenders.
“As human rights defenders, you should be your brother’s keeper because nobody will tell your story better than yourselves. Should there be a threat or attack on colleagues, you have a responsibility to demand for better treatment and action,” Omwoyo said.
Omwoyo said at a human rights and access to information training jointly organised with Katiba Institute in Kajiado at the weekend.
Early February, the National Council of Churches in Kenya called on the media to amplify messages that promote peace and cohesion ahead and after the August general election.
NCCK further reiterated, as stakeholders, its commitment in ensuring IEBC conducts credible and transparent elections.
The media has been a critical part of the Kenyan election process.
During the election process the media is always at the forefront of presenting different opinions – leading newspapers, television and radio stations all presenting different views.
In 2017, one criticism that came through was that sections of radio, especially local language stations, were very often parochial.
Some played extremely partisan politics that was more aligned to local audiences than to national interests.
The Kenyan media has struggled with the burden of being accused of fuelling post-election violence in 2007 and 2008.
For example it was accused of failing to moderate hate messages and of passing on messages that incited violence.
TV stations were accused of showing violent messages that led to retaliation between members of different communities.
Given these experiences, this time round the media is at the forefront to emphasise messages of peace throughout the electioneering period.
This was evident if you compared coverage provided by the international media with the Kenyan media. While international media has alluded to imminent violence and showed images of isolated instances – before and after the polls closed – the Kenyan media has been more careful.