By Evans Kiogora
The media serves a critical role especially during the electioneering period. Besides allowing candidates to reach the electorate to sell their manifesto, it also provides a platform for debates, civic education for the voters and reporting on campaign developments. Elections in most countries provide a major challenge to the media. The media in Kenya has been accused of not observing impartiality and objectivity while reporting election news.
The media should serve as a promoter of coexistence among people in ways such as building bridges between people allied to different political factions, improving governance, increasing knowledge of complex issues among citizens, providing early warning of potential conflicts and as a motivator for action to promote peace in an electoral season.
Every voter has a to the right information from journalists and candidates who use the media as one of the podiums for their campaigns. It is the primary role of the media to ensure that the electorate gets this information in the fairest ways as guided by Article 34 of the Constitution of Kenya (2010).
The Constitution guarantees media freedom in Kenya. However, past experiences from electoral cycles in the country points to the need for enhanced capacity building to enable the media to effectively play its role. There is need for the media owners, editors and journalists to rise above their political inclinations.
The Media Council of Kenya has been at the forefront to ensure adherence to the to the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya by journalists. This has been done through identification of training needs on various aspects among them covering and reporting on elections. In 2017, the Council reviewed the election reporting guidelines developed in 2013. The guidelines are tied to the journalism code of conduct as well as the constitution. These guidelines have since been revised ahead of the 2022 general elections and are meant to ensure proper coverage of the election by the media.
Besides this, the Council has continually conducted trainings on election coverage to journalists aimed at ensuring that citizens get sufficient, accurate and reliable information from contesting candidates and electoral issues to enable them to make informed choices at the ballot. When journalists disseminate the right information, the electorate can understand their democratic duty without giving in to intimidation, fear or coercion.
The trainings are vital in helping journalists debunk myths and counter fake news. They also ensure that the media does not plunge the country into war as they are a constant reminder of their ability to have the country remain united or divided and, on the extreme, causing loss of lives. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda is a constant reminder on the effects of bad use of media. The genocide was the most appalling catastrophe ever faced in the 20th century, where the media played a significant role of inciting tribes against each other.
Institutions offering journalism classes and training programmes have a significant role in training current journalists and preparing the future generation of journalists and media specialists that will help shape the direction of the country.
The 2010 Constitution guarantees press freedom prohibiting the government from editorial interference, though we have seen this breached in several instances. The Access to Information Act was passed in 2016 but Kenya still struggles with the implementation of this legislation. With these gaps existing around the working environment of the media, it will take the collaborative effort of Media Council of Kenya, media owners, associations and supports groups to ensure that content from journalists does not paint the electoral cycle as an event with high stakes but a continuous process.
Evans Kiogora is a Media Council of Kenya Media Analyst based at the Meru Regional Office.