Make Media Council regulatory commission, editors say

Stakeholders in the media industry have asked the government to elevate the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) to a statutory commission.

They also appealed to the State to allow MCK to be the sole regulator of media content as well as the conduct of professionals in the industry.

Speaking during the presentation made by the Kenya Media Sector Working Group at the BBI validation engagement forum in Nairobi Thursday, Kenya Editors’ Guild Chairman Churchill Otieno said the proposed change will bring order in the sector.

BRING ORDER

“It is only through this move that we will ensure that there is order in the sector and benefit accrued to all Kenyans,” he said

Mr Otieno said the hefty fines imposed on media houses by courts for defamation are a major obstacle to media freedom in the country.

He proposed the formation of a complaints commission to be overseen by the media council to ensure that disputes are amicably and reasonably resolved.

“Journalism, which is the core of media practice, finds itself unable to deliver services effectively due to the hefty fines imposed on media houses by the courts. This has had the effect of denying Kenyans the right to accurate information. We propose that the complaints commission be strengthened and given the right to be the sole mediator of conflicts [in] the sector,” he said.

GENDER RULE

He also called for the implementation of the one-third gender rule in the composition of all commissions, State agencies and parastatals in the country.

Kenya Union of Journalists Secretary-General Eric Oduor echoed Mr Otieno's sentiments, saying that the complaints commission is currently very weak and unable to effectively handle disputes between media houses and aggrieved parties.

"The complaints commission is very weak at the moment, and we have seen cases of people directly heading to court instead of approaching it when aggrieved by stories in the media. We need a commission that will have a functioning secretariat, staff and resources to be able to handle disputes between the media and those who feel they have been defamed or unfairly covered,” said Mr Oduor.

OVERLAPPING ROLES

He blamed the confusion witnessed in the regulation of Kenyan media on what he termed as parallel and overlapping roles in the three regulatory bodies.

“The broadcast media industry finds itself stuck between the three regulatory bodies namely the Media Council of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) and the Kenya Film Classification Board. This has led to confusion in the industry,” said Mr Oduor.

“In spite of the robust provisions contained in the Constitution, the profession of journalism continues to face many challenges. Chief among them are the overlapping mandates of regulatory bodies that are causing confusion in the industry,” added Mr Oduor.

He blamed the brown envelope culture that had invaded the profession on the licensing of what he termed as “backyard outfits” that underpaid journalists.

“Due to the recent trend of licensing backyard outfits as media houses, some journalists are hired by phone, paid via M-Pesa and fired by phone. Only a comprehensive reform in the policy and a legal structure governing the sector will allow us to address the problem of poor pay for journalists,” said Mr Oduor.

STATE ADVERTISING

Mr Oduor took a swipe at the Government Advertising Agency (GAA), terming it “a tool devised by the government to control the media”.

Mr Macharia Gaitho, a consulting editor, echoed Mr Oduor’s views and proposed that State bodies should be allowed to make independent decisions on where to advertise.

Mr Gaitho found faulted CA’s move to establish its own rules regulating content in defiance of the Constitution which only allows it to manage and regulate the allocation of broadcast frequencies.

“The CA provisions to regulate content are unconstitutional and should be repealed so that MCK can carry out its legal mandate of regulating content,” said Mr Gaitho.

He recalled the 2017 election where the government used the police to shut down mainstream TV stations in order to block them from covering the “swearing-in” of Mr Raila Odinga at Uhuru Park.

REGULATE CONTENT

“The MCK should be allowed to regulate content so that we do not have a repeat of the situation after the 2017 election where the government used another set of laws and the police to shut down TV stations under the guise of safeguarding national security. All this was done to achieve a political objective,” said Mr Gaitho.

He also called for the repealing of colonial era laws in the Penal Code that restrict Kenyans’ rights to movement and free speech.

“Some of these laws were passed in the 1930s as a tool of colonial oppression and it is unfortunate that they remain in our statute books to date,” said Mr Gaitho.

MCK Chairman Maina Muiruri said the Defamation Act should be amended to protect the media from actions by public officers adversely mentioned in matters relating to corruption.

FAKE NEWS

On her part, Association of Media Women in Kenya (Amwik) Executive Director Merceline Nyambala said there are two categories of fake news regarding the BBI.

“There are those who deliberately spread what is false and intended to mislead the public. On the other hand, there are those that will publish or broadcast material that contains inaccuracies, mostly in terms of how they view the process,” said Ms Nyambala.

She was responding to a question by Samburu Woman Rep Maison Leshoomo on why the country is awash with fake news on BBI.

Ms Nyambala said it is the duty of the media to publish different views on BBI, but was quick to assure the public that it would retract and apologise for content that is found to be false or calculated to mislead the public.

“As media, we will accommodate divergent views on BBI but we will apologise for false or deliberately misleading content,” she said.

Echoing Mr Oduor’s earlier call, she said the country needs “a functioning public service media that will help to espouse national values and articulate the issues that BBI has come up with”.

She called on the government to restructure the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation to achieve this objective.