Articles About Internews
Ignore threats, media told
January 31, 2008
By Susan Anyangu And Maseme Machuka
Media practitioners should rise above parochial interests in their coverage of post-election crisis.
The media have been urged to strive to tell the truth because the public has invested their trust in them.
In a workshop, "30 days in Words and Pictures: Media response in Kenya during the Election Crisis", held on Wednesday, participants underscored the need for the media to be at the forefront in championing the peoples’ interests.
The workshop, organised by Internews, Nairobi, was held to scrutinise the media’s coverage of the post-election crisis amid allegations that they had been biased.
"The media should live beyond selective bias in dissemination of their work. They must live up to the call of informing the society on what matters and aid in bringing the fabric of the country together," said Mitch Odero, a media consultant.
The workshop heard first hand experiences from journalists who have covered the events in the build-up to the elections and the post-election crisis.
Odero, a career journalist, said part of the problem was to do with the fact that Kenyans accepted consensual democracy instead of competitive democracy.
He said the taskforce to be set up by the Government to audit the media should involve the public, who are the key stakeholders.
"There is need to listen to the public and get their point of view on what went wrong and what was done well," Odero added.
The Minister for Information and Communications, Mr Samuel Poghisio, has intimated that a taskforce will be constituted to probe the conduct of the media during the coverage of the General Election and the post-election crisis.
University of Nairobi lecturer, Mr Peter Oriare, said the media should go beyond conventional journalism and attempt to locate history, giving background information.
"Media houses should invest in research departments," Oriare said.
The media have been accused of being partisan in the coverage of the elections and the ensuing crisis.
Journalists have received threats because of some of the stories they have highlighted. During a meeting held between Poghisio and the Editor’s Guild on Wednesday, the minister said the media’s conduct in covering the election and ensuing crisis should be probed.
He intimated that when the probe is done some media practitioners would be found guilty of being partisan.
"When the truth about the tenth General Election is finally told, it will be evident that the media became players…they joined the partisan advocacy game, exceeding their role," Poghisio said.
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