The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has urged journalists to uphold professionalism by ensuring that they share accurate, verifiable and credible information.
MCK Director for Media Training and Development Mr Victor Bwire has also advised community media to provide context to the issues that affect the public even as the country prepares for the elections.
“Media houses must ensure that they address the issues that affect the public by effectively highlighting them during their shows and in their editorial policies” noted Mr Bwire when he addressed a training for community media on information integrity during elections in Machakos County. The forum brings together 25 journalists drawn from Kajiado, Machakos, Kitui and Nairobi counties.
The training that is part of the Media Council of Kenya interventions to equip journalists with necessary skills as they prepare for 2022 polls and will cover election reporting-context and substance, access to information, hate speech and factchecking and sensitisation on the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism. The topics are critical to ensuring objective coverage before, during and after the 2022 August elections.
The training was informed by the realisation that the 2022 elections will be transitional and the critical need to skill community media to empower them on election matters.
The media has continued to suffer adverse effects of propaganda, misinformation and disinformation. Political actors have found ways of using social media to spread false and unverified information. This has significantly affected the nature, quality and attributability of content being consumed by the diverse audiences the media serves.
Media monitoring reports compiled by the Media Council of Kenya have unceasingly indicated that the issue of ‘Fake News’, access to information, misreporting, misrepresentation and cases of hate speech are a problem in the media industry and specifically community media. This continues to delegitimise most community media outlets that keep playing catch up with the digital media.
Katiba Institute Communications and Public Liaison Officer Mr Kevin Mabonga noted that Access to Information is a critical component in the electoral cycle and the responsibility lies with the media in ensuring the public is adequately informed.
He also noted that journalists must seek information using the right channels to report objectively.