“Harrassment of media has no place in a Kenyan democracy”
Blog post by Victor Bwire, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Programmes Manager at Media Council of Kenya
In May and June, demonstrations against Kenya’s electoral commission swept through the streets of several counties in Kenya and prompted worries of a repeat of election-related violence against the media
There are indications that media may again be a target of authorities and angry mobs during elections in Kenya. In May and June, journalists have been subjected to attacks and harassment during demonstrations in Nairobi, Kisumu, Siaya, Mombasa and Migori counties organised by the government opposition against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
The affront by security agents and political activists on journalists, confiscating equipment and intimidating journalists both on and offline for their reporting, may unfortunately be a sign of what lies ahead for the media during next year’s elections.
The journalists who were attacked in Nairobi, Kisumu, Siaya, Mombasa and Migori counties were covering the demonstrations and some were trolled online for reporting in a particular manner. Many pundits blamed the media for taking positions that were perceived as sympathetic to the opposition and for concentrating on reporting about the skirmishes rather than ignoring them completely. A number of jounalists were injured and harassed, had their equipment damaged while some were trolled online. A number of journalists are now suffering in silence while several bloggers and other online users have cases in courts or have been slapped with heavy fines for content they have posted.
Attacks on the media at a time when the country is heading towards a general election are clearly an affront to the democratisation process in Kenya and should not be allowed.
History repeating itself
History seems to be repeating itself in Kenya as the media faces intolerance and attacks for reporting on various political and societal issues and events in the lead up to elections. Those attacking the press both verbally and physically have primarily been focussed on the content produced without also simultaneously addressing the responsibility of those consuming media and the behaviour of politicians and opinion leaders. The media is also under pressure to practice responsiblity around not conveying the hate speech and scaremongering often spewed by politicians in connection with election campaigning.
Such pressure and intimidation of and through the media took place just before the 2013 general elections and the repercussions on the media were great. For this reason, government agencies prior to the elections in 2013 in Kenya, established the National Steering Committee on Media Monitoring at the Ministry of Information and Communications, possibly fearing that media might be used to fuel violence or tilt the political landscape in favour of some groups. This Committee carried out weekly monitoring of media coverage, analysing the language used, angles and sources sited and then shared this information with media houses and other media stakeholders. The police, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Communications Commission of Kenya, the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission who also gathered specifically to monitor media coverage of the campaigns. The body issued weekly reminders and warnings to media on coverage of particular issues.
The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), currently the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), then proceeded to issue instructions on SIM card registration, switched off fake mobile hand-sets and released guidelines on issuing and dispursing long mobile text messages with political content. Mobile phone operators were given strict instructions to filter text messages and caution users whenever unpalatable messages were shared.
Additionally, media owners were under great pressure to censor news from their outlets and even at some stations, the owners and not the journalists decided on which guests to invite to talk shows on TV and radio. It also became very difficult for some journalists from particular tribes, regions or media houses to cover particular events or profile politicians without the fear of being harassed.
Media must prepare for the worst case scenario
Free media has a critical role to play in the democratisation process, including during elections. Media must be left to carry out their role as society’s watchdog, especially at this critical time in the country’s history with elections approaching in 2017. But how will Kenya prevent history from repeating itself, prevent the “shooting the messenger” rather than letting media report freely on elections?
What may happen around election time in 2017 is that live broadcasts of campaign rallies by media may be banned, many social media platforms including twitter and facebook may be blocked, and there is the chance that ruling party and opposition followers and security agents may try to influence the coverage and work of the media in favour of their agendas. Government and leading private companies doing business with the government may deny advertisement to independent and critical media as a form of commercial pressure unless they tow the government line. For this reason, it is important that the media prepare for the worst during the 2017 electioneering processes. It will be hard for independent media to operate in Kenya, if media and media support groups do not prepare in advance.
In addition to training on how to report fairly and accurately on elections, the media stakeholders in Kenya must begin thinking about journalist safety and protection initiatives including safety training, setting aside safety and rapid response funds in case of emergencies, establish safety focal points in their newsrooms, ensure insurance cover for staff and scale up dialogues between media, security agencies and political parties to ensure a safe working environment for journalists.
Media support groups should invest in supporting trainings on safety and protection, elections reporting, and rapid response mechanisms while journalists must uphold professionalism and maintain high ethical standards in their work, exercise responsibility in reporting and show support and solidarity whenever one of their own is attacked or harassed.
The Kenyan government, through security agencies, should in turn allow media to operate freely and provide protection to journalists who are on duty and avoid using laws to intimidate the media. Political parties must also encourage their supporters to give media the necessary space to carry out their duty of reporting freely and fairly on elections without fear or intimidation.
