Omwoyo revealed that the ongoing accusations bring to the fore a simmering tension between the government and the media, leading to tension and confusion across the country.
The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Omwoyo on Monday night, July 22 expressed deep concern regarding the adverse working relationship between the media and the Kenyan government that he noted degenerated into accusations and counter-accusations, especially regarding the coverage of the ongoing public demonstrations.
In a statement to newsrooms, Omwoyo revealed that the ongoing accusations bring to the fore a simmering tension between the government and the media, leading to tension and confusion across the country.
He termed the conflict the full-blown culmination of what began as a perception of biased media coverage of the 2022 General Elections, which has now seen the media locking horns against the government, resulting in unwarranted threats, blame games coercion, intimidation and bad blood.
The MCK boss viewed it as a surprising scenario given that President William Ruto’s regime has been fond of leaning towards former journalists, editors and communication experts to various positions in the government’s communications sector.
A group of Kenyan journalists covering a past event. /KENYA UNION OF JOURNALISTS
“Despite the Government employing the largest ever number of communications and media advisors, including many editors, journalists and communication consultants, the only visible result from the investment largely remains resources spent crafting communications strategies and plans and minimum mostly conflicting messaging.
“It is regrettable that despite all this investment, the media are complaining about a lack of clear government narratives, too many viewpoints from the same Government and far too many mouths purporting to speak for the government,” he argued.
According to Omwoyo, the political class, who were in opposing camps during the elections, have found many reasons to work together, while the media and government haven’t found common ground yet, with the media still being looked at as an opponent.
He argued that both the government and the media have a common public interest, including commercialÂ
and editorial relationships, thus using commercial interests to get back at editorial misgivings is no better than utilising editorial positions to revenge for unmet commercial expectations.Â
He reiterated that the Constitution of Kenya guarantees a free, fair and independent media whose focus isÂ
public interest and that the “government and the media are under no obligation to like each other, and this is historical and global, but they must agree to exist and identify common principles and values on which to engage including duty to the nation.”
“While a section of senior government officials has exercised the right to freedom of expression through levelling accusations against certain media houses, open expletives and threats against the media and selected journalists, such approach is not the way to go,” he continued.
Omwoyo shared the plight of the media which has of late been accused of bias in the guests invited to broadcast programmes and framing of national conversations, while on the other hand, the media claimed a lack of credible government voices and poor consistent messaging shown by officials when given a chance.
The scenario, according to him, has left Kenyans caught between a ‘good’ government that believes the media is bad and irresponsible on one side and a good media whose actions portray the government as bad and out of touch and hate the media.Â
“The Media Council of Kenya believes that in the same way, a bad Government is way better than no Government at all, bad media is a million times better than no media at all,” he continued.Â
Moving on to the debate at hand, the coverage of the demonstrations, especially live coverage of conflict situations against provisions of the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya which demands reasonable delays in cases of active conflict, he reiterated that instantaneous live broadcasting of violence and active combat is unprofessional as it is unethical, and put editors on the spot as well as a section of protesters covering the events independently through live broadcasts on social media.
“Beyond the provisions in the Code of Conduct, supported by in-house editorial policies, it is a professional obligation on the part of editors to ask themselves if broadcasting live images of protestors looting and destroying property, is not glorifying violence and encouraging lawlessness.
“If the protestors have clearly laid down their demands, isn’t it the work of the media to sieve out and critically analyse the same and create a conversation around the practicalities and timeliness and related consequences informed by global and historical trends or merely report?” he posed.
Omwoyo called on the government and editors to find common ground and prioritise the unity of the country by way of creating a framework for communicating critical national issues while respecting each other’s independence and duty.
Nakuru journalists protest over the shooting of Mediamax reporter Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki. /PEOPLE DAILY
“A good example and urgent matter is the Government ordering the police to stop harassing journalists and depersonalising media and Government relations while the media exercising professionalism in covering the conflicts by way of not escalating the violence,” he demanded.
“There is a need for an urgent media and Government dialogue on engagement on national public interest issues without compromising the independence of the other. This has happened before in this country. All media houses and outlets, both online and offline, are therefore called upon to strictly apply the provisions of the Code.”