Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » Kenya

Frontline Blog: Why Rob Crilly is moving on from Kenya

Judith Townend — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:17:45 +0000

Journalist Rob Crilly has been based in Kenya for five years and he’s decided it’s time for a change. In this post he takes an honest look at his work: has he started to run out of ideas?

“Every year there are warnings of famine in Ethiopia. Every two years there is drought in north-eastern Kenya. And Somalia is on a constant slide into the abyss. Eventually the wide-eyed reporter becomes tired and jaded. (I had always been cynical, but that’s a different story.) It’s a gradual process that takes place unnoticed over years.”

Full post at this link…

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ThisIsAfricaOnline: Africa’s digital generation

Judith Townend — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:03:30 +0000

A look at the ‘digital generation in Africa’, with reference to its changing media. For example, when publishers of the Kenyan Daily Nation, Nation Media Group, started using YouTube ‘within less than three months they had overtaken the BBC World Service in terms of views’.

Full story at this link…

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Daily Nation: Kibaki’s dialogue on media law is ‘welcome’

Judith Townend — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:23:35 +0000

Kenya’s Daily Nation welcomes President Kibaki’s intervention in the new media laws. The ‘media fraternity welcomes President Kibaki’s intervention in the ongoing dispute over the Kenya Communication (Amendment) Act 2008,’ the newspaper comments.

“The President initially ignored entreaties by the industry not to assent to legislation that would curtail media freedom. But it appears wiser counsel has prevailed.”

Full story...

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Journalism in Africa: Kenyan editors reject ‘draconian’ communications bill

Dennis Itumbi — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:55:51 +0000

Kenyan editors are demanding the government withdraws a bill from parliament that could give the state powers to raid media houses and seize broadcasting equipments at will.

Editors have described the Kenya Communications Amendment Bill 2008, also known as the ICT bill, as draconian and oppressive to a media that has previously successfully fought against the introduction of such an act.

Last year media practitioners took to the streets protesting the Media Bill 2007, which looked to force journalists to disclose their sources.

When first tabled, journalists sought the removal of sections that would bar cross-ownership of media – a move seen as an attempt to close down the nation’s largest media houses, The Nation and The Standard, which both own a broadcasting and print outlet.

David Makali, chairman of the country’s Editors Guild, has questioned why the government has hurried to enact the laws, arguing that it should concentrate on the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill that has been going through parliament for the last four years.

The Freedom of Information Bill seeks to replace the existing Official Secrets Act and improve access to public information by the public.

“Why is the government obsessed about controlling the media and seeking power to get into media houses at will, instead of freeing the ground for us to access information. What is the priority: punish media houses or inform the nation?” asked Makali.

Hannington Gaya, chairman of the Media Owners Association (MOA), said if passed into law, the repercussions of the bill, which mainly targets broadcasters, could be ‘even more dangerous’ than those from the Media Bill.

“This bill is illegal, immoral and unconstitutional. Through this bill, the information and communications minister and his internal security counterpart are working together to frustrate the freedom of press,” claimed media consultant and politician, Tony Gachoka.

According to Gachoka, the bill is meant to justify acts like the infamous raid on the Standard Group.

In March 2006, the then internal security minister, John Michuki, ordered a police raid on the Standard Group, resulting in a loss of millions of shillings.

In an unprecedented attack on the media, around 30 heavily armed and hooded police from the elite Kanga squad, ostensibly formed to fight armed and dangerous criminals, descended on the Standard’s offices at midnight, beating up employees, breaking doors, stealing employees’ mobile phones, removing CCTV cameras and carting away 20 computers.

Police officers later took broadcaster KTN TV off air for about 13 hours and disabled the Standard’s printing plant, setting light to thousands of copies of the day’s edition as it rolled off the presses.

In a phone interview information and communications minister Samuel Poghisio said the bill seeks to harmonise law and policy in the ICT industry, which is the fastest growing industry in Kenya.

The bill will be tabled in its current form, said Poghisio, adding that any further amendments will be done according to the vibrancy of the industry and that editors should await the passage of the laws in parliament to raise their issues.

“If they do not revise those issues we will seek redress in court,” responded Makali.

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Journalism in Africa: New broadcast laws will let sleeping politicians lie

Dennis Itumbi — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:44:44 +0000

New control measures to guide live coverage of the house proposed by the Kenyan parliament have come in for immediate criticism from the Journalists Association of Kenya (JAK).

Legislators are proposing specific rules through a revised set of standing orders (rules that govern procedures of the Kenyan parliament) which include guidance on camera angles and a singular controlled signal from a proposed Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit (PBU).

Martin Gitau, the secretary general of the JAK, described the move as ‘yet another control measure by parliament’.

“It is okay to guide the media on how to effectively cover parliament but to require that all media rely on a singular signal from a parliamentary body and that specific camera shots be used when televising or filming is parliamentary dictatorship,” he said.

Gitau further described the move as ‘an assault on the freedom of the press’: “We are not in the public relations business, we will not cover parliament as if it is a favour. We must be allowed to focus our camera where there is a tilt. We cannot be guided on how to cover parliament.”

The bill proposes that ‘group shots and cut-aways may be taken for purposes of showing reaction to issues on the floor but not to embarrass individual members of parliament’. The media has previously shown MPs sleeping on the floor of the house, causing a public uproar.

To enforce the new rules parliament proposes the formation of a House Broadcasting Committee that will hand out penalties for breaching the guidelines.

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Journalism in Africa: Rwandan journalists protest new law; Kenya’s media voted most trustworthy institution

Dennis Itumbi — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:58:14 +0000

Rwanda

Rwandan journalists have officially petitioned their upper parliament to shoot down a stringent media law that would force journalists to reveal their sources.

The proposed law would criminalize any story on cabinet proceedings, internal memos and documents in public institutions.

Under the legislation, anyone starting a newspaper would be required to pay $20,000 (£12,500) and 10 times more to begin a radio or TV station.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, Gasper Safari, president of the Rwanda Journalists Association, said the new laws were a death sentence to investigative journalism.

“How will investigative journalism survive? It is a rope and we are just being asked to practice journalism and the hangman will pull the rug under your feet,” he said.

Safari explained how his organisation had initially written a protest letter to the lower house of parliament, but it was ignored.

“We will explore other methods in dealing with the upper house. People cannot be allowed to shout they support press freedom while deep down they do not support the existence of the media,” he said.

Kenya

The media is the most trusted institution in Kenya – and the country’s electoral commission (ECK) the least, according to a recent survey by Gallup International affiliates Steadman Research.

The quarterly poll found that 80 per cent of Kenyans trusted the media – exactly the same number that found the ECK the most dishonest.

Fortunes for the media and the ECK have been on a downward trend since the violence surrounding last year’s disputed presidential election, but the media has regained some ground in the last two months after two major commissions backed by both the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) returned a not guilty verdict on most of the media.

“Kenyans are saying that their last hope is with the media, their trust for institutions is at an all time low, but they have their thumbs up for journalists,” Tom Wolf, a lead researcher at Steadman, told a press conference in Nairobi.

The media was placed ahead of Kenya’s President, Prime Minister and parliament by the survey.

“We are not very happy to be ahead of all other institutions. It means we have a duty to assist them in getting to the highest level of trust, but our work is easier since we have the trust of our readers and viewers,” said Martin Gitau, general secretary of the Journalist Association of Kenya (JAK).

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Journalism in Africa: Vice president urges local journalists to formalise union

Dennis Itumbi — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:02:24 +0000

Kenyan vice president Kalonzo Musyoka has urged local journalists to set up a professional body, to manage training and advance the practice of reporting in the country.

Speaking at at an evening cocktail party hosted by journalists in the capital Nairobi last week, Musyoka argued that formalizing the existing Journalist Association of Kenya (JAK) would be a great step towards opening up opportunities for journalists.

The vice president said such an association could be handed powers to develop a modern code of conduct for journalists and provide mentors for new journalists.

Musyoka suggested that a formalised JAK could also run a database of freelance and international correspondents working in the country. Unless changes are made, he added, Kenya’s fast-growing public relations industry will overshadow the journalism sector.

“Many journalists just get into the media and do not know their way. We need a professional association that can identify people and guide them along. A professional body will help journalists in Kenya get international exchanges, scholarships and open up the profession to better standards,” argued Musyoka.

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Journalism in Africa: Kenyan news organisations cleared of fuelling post-election violence

Dennis Itumbi — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:39:46 +0000

A report from Africa’s Independent Review Commission (IREC), which was set up to investigate last year’s disputed presidential elections in Kenya, has cleared the country’s media of professional malpractice in its coverage of the election results, and blamed the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) and politicians of delaying results at grassroots level.

The commission, which has trashed claims of rigging and alteration of presidential results at the National Tally Centre – the main complaint of the opposition, also dismissed concerns over the media’s role in the post-election violence raised by international observers, including the European Union, as overly reliant on hearsay.

IREC – headed by retired South African Judge Johann Kriegler – recommended that the media should be fed results electronically to increase speed and that a secure line of transmitting results from village polling stations to the headquarters be developed with an access password for all media houses.

“The media was under pressure to relay results, politicians and the electoral commission of Kenya delayed the numbers, the media had no choice but to report what they had, you cannot blame the beast if you have not fed it,” reads the report.

However, the report did find fault with vernacular media stations for fuelling tension after the announcement of the election results and called for a review of employment policies in media houses. “Only professionals should be employed,” it said.

“How can you blame the media when politicians forced their way into the press centre and took over the role of the ECK at a time when there was[sic] information gaps?” asked the 117-page report.

Within the next 15 days another report on the media’s handling of the elections is expected to be presented to President Mwai Kibaki and former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was chief mediator in the post-election crisis.

The report is expected to name, shame and recommend crucial steps that politicians, the media and the ECK should take to avoid a repeat of such violence in future.

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Journalism in Africa: Computer Aid International launches technology award scheme for Kenyan journalists

Dennis Itumbi — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:18:24 +0000

Computer Aid International has launched an aggressive strategy aimed at phasing out notebooks for newsgathering in Kenya by launching an initiative that will see journalists in the region equipped with state of the art laptops and desktop computers.

In partnership with Computers f or Schools Kenya (CFSK) and the Journalist Association of Kenya (JAK), the organization has set up an awards scheme for reporters, cartoonists, photographers, bloggers, editors and freelance contributors, who can win computers, internet connections, mobile phones and even digital cameras.

Entries to the awards will be open for the next three months and the winners announced in November.

The organization is also offering free computer training for journalists at their premises.

Tom Musili, CEO of the organization, told a press conference in Nairobi that information and communications technology (ICT) was the best option for development, and asked journalists to submit development-related stories to compete for the prizes.

“We will reward everyone who writes about ICT and development be it in sports, features, news, politics or cartoons,” said Musili.

Backing the scheme, JAK said it would stick to its mandate to ensure professionalism in the media through sourcing for scholarships and awards.

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Journalism in Africa: Kenyan radio stations criticised in human rights report

Laura Oliver — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:26:51 +0000

Dennis Itumbi reports from Kenya for Journalism.co.uk on developments in the country’s media:

Three independent Kenyan radio stations have been named and shamed for fueling the post-election violence in the country last year in a human rights report.

The preliminary report ‘A Human Rights Account of Kenya’s Post-2007 Election Violence’, compiled by the government-funded but independent Kenya National Human Rights Commission, claims individual journalists and the radio stations incited and urged listeners to arm themselves and attack members of rival communities.

KASS FM, which broadcasts in the Kalenjin area, was accused by the report of ‘being highly biased and using inflammatory language in its broadcasts and programming.’

The report quotes one of its top journalists telling his audience in Swahili (a widely spoken dialect in East Africa)’ tokeni vita imetokea’, which loosely translates to ‘leave your houses, war has begun’. According to further notes in the report, the journalist went on to urge youths to ‘arm themselves’.

A preacher at the station – identified only as Rev Kosgey – is also named in the report for organizing a meeting to evict members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe from the Rift Valley region long before the elections.

Other stations mentioned include Inooro, owned by Royal Media Services – a high-flying independent media company, which owns the bulk of vernacular stations in the country, and religious broadcaster Radio Injili, based in Eldoret. Inooro was particularly blamed for organising revenge attacks in Kenya’s central province.

The report argued that the ‘media failed in the announcement of results, since they aired reports without a background context and historical voting patterns’.

The report comes at a time when the Kenyan media is sharply in focus over its role in the 2007 elections.

The pressure is so high that a commission has been set up to investigate the media’s coverage of the disputed presidential election results.

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