Media Council of Kenya CEO, Mr David Omwoyo says the hits and misses in media debates of the 2022 polls were a learning process as this was the first successful debate held in the region.
He absolved the media from blame with regards to election results transmission, saying it is not the work of the media to tally elections but to cover it.
"Tallying is done by the IEBC and the media is simply a platform to transmit the results", he said at a debrief retreat with The Technical Working Group on local election debates team at a Nakuru Hotel on Saturday, 1st October.
He commended the members for a good job during the Gubernatorial debates conducted across the country in the run up to the just concluded 2022 General Election.
The Technical Working Group's mandate was to support local media and advertisers and strengthen the local media outreach.
Mr Omwoyo at the same time decried rising threats and violation of journalists' rights and called for concerted efforts to address the matter.
"There are threats against journalists and we urge all stakeholders at the counties to be on the lookout to ensure media freedom", he further said.
MCK Director, Media Training and Development Mr Victor Bwire said the Council continues supporting media workers in such areas through capacity building, having trained 10,333 journalists and disbursing grants to media houses.
" We will continue doing this to ensure that all journalists, especially at the grassroots, are empowered to strengthen their involvement in nation discourses beyond election debates”, he said.