Germany to empower Media Council ahead of 2012 general election
Journalists at work. In Kenya, grammatical errors seem to predominate in the English language media. I still remember a stinging internal memo that I received one day in March 1982. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Gemany will beef up Media Council of Kenya’s capacity to monitor the conduct of the local media ahead of next year's general election.
Germany's State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development Hans-Jurgen Beerfeltz accused Kenya's media of "contributing to the perpetration of the 2008 post- election violence" thus need for monitoring.
Speaking at the fourth Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany, Mr Beerfeltz said Kenyan media took sides in the power struggles that gripped the country after the controversial elections that saw President Mwai Kibaki sworn in for a second term.
"We will help the Kenyan media council to introduce a media monitoring system in the country.
This program will be co-ordinated by BMZ (Germany's agency for economic co-operation and development)," said Mr Beerfeltz.
The conduct of the Kenyan media during the country's 2008 post - election violence came to focus at the world media forum on Monday.
Radio show host Joshua Sang is among the six Kenyans charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the post-election violence that claimed 1,133 lives.
Mr Sang is accused by ICC for using his radio show to broadcast codes that were used to mobilise militia groups in Rift Valley.
Mr Sang has since, through his lawyer Katwa Kigen, told ICC's Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova that he will call at least 15 witnesses in his defence.
The theme for this year's Global Media Forum is "Human Rights in A Globalized World: Challenges for The Media."
Justus Nyang'aya, director of the Kenyan office of Amnesty International, will on Tuesday make a presentation at the forum on forced evictions carried out by local authorities in Kenya's poor neighbourhoods.
