State should consult with stakeholders to make rules that support media industry

An attendant in Kasturi supermarket in Nyeri disconnects a digital decoder from a TV to watch news on a local channel on September 29, 2014. The Media Owners Association says the interpretation of what constitutes local content should include news and commentaries, advertising, and productions done in and/or edited in Kenya. PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • MOA supports the constitutionally guaranteed regulation process that is consultative and aims to protect and promote the growth of local investment.
  • The MOA and other stakeholders in the media have not been involved in any discussions that led to the formulation of the code.
  • This regulation should be withdrawn as it amounts to the government trying to dictate how media owners should run their businesses.

The Media Owners Association (MOA) is not opposed to regulation that facilitates the growth and independence of the industry.

We support the constitutionally guaranteed regulation process that is consultative and aims to protect and promote the growth of local investment.

MOA is, therefore, surprised and concerned that the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), in disregard of this spirit, has issued a programming code for free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters.

The code has guidelines on how the FTA television and radio stations should plan their work, schedule their programmes and advertisements, and run their commercial businesses.

While we appreciate the importance of the programming codes to create order and protect the public against potential excesses, best practice everywhere is to involve media owners in the discussions that produce such codes.

The effect of the programming code will be interference in the free operation of the media enterprises and costly and unnecessary submission of programmes for review.

The MOA and other stakeholders in the media have not been involved in any discussions that led to the formulation of the code.

Hence, we reject the programming code and ask the CA and the parent ministry to withdraw it to allow a proper consultative process.

The association will develop a code — as allowed under the law — and present it to the CA and the ministry.

LOCAL CONTENT
The Kenya Information and Communication Broadcasting Regulations are a comprehensive set of rules that cover various aspects of broadcasting, mainly at policy level, and which we broadly support as they currently exist in the KICA Broadcasting Regulations of 2009.

In appreciating the role of the ministry to periodically review the regulations due to changes in circumstances and new realities, it is important that this is done while taking into consideration the views of all stakeholders.

The MOA has several concerns about the latest review of the regulations.

First, while the MOA is broadly in agreement with the provision on local content, the issue critical to us is that the interpretation of what constitutes local content should include news and commentaries, advertising, and productions done in and/or edited in Kenya, for example music and comedy videos.

The definition of local content should also appreciate the classification of broadcasters, factoring in each station’s format with regard to content.

There is a need, for instance, for the definition to recognise community stations and non-commercial broadcasters who cannot afford local content.

Second, we are concerned about the discretion given to the Communications Authority to determine the number of radio frequencies or free-to-air television channels that any person other than the public broadcaster can be allocated in the same coverage area.

UNEVEN GROUND
This discretion bears a risk of abuse and does not take into consideration the investment that media owners have devoted to operating in a particular area.

Third, it is of grave concern that the regulations now allow a public broadcaster, which receives subsidies from the government, to draw funds from advertising and sponsorship.

We believe that a public broadcaster exists, not for purely commercial purposes, but for the greater public good of providing information to all Kenyans.

Therefore, allowing a public broadcaster to make money from advertising and sponsorship will give it undue advantage and create an uneven playing field with commercial broadcasters.

Fourth, CA has introduced a new provision that media owners ensure that 10 per cent of the local content aired shall be produced and supplied by independent producers.

WITHDRAW REGULATION

The Kenyan Constitution states that broadcasting media have freedom of establishment and are subject only to licensing procedures that are necessary to regulate the airwaves and other forms of signal distribution.

Further, there are specialised stations for specific audiences whose programmes do not have local content due to its unavailability.

Producing such content locally is costly.

This regulation should be withdrawn as it amounts to the government trying to dictate how media owners should run their businesses.

The MOA hopes that the new Cabinet secretary will encourage consultation and promote amity among the players in this critical sector.

We all want a system that works efficiently and creates value in the greater interest of the public, which depends on the media for information, education, and entertainment.

The writer is the chairman of the Media Owners Association