The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has advised journalists to increase their news sources to enable production of diverse content and encourage a culture of research and professionalism.
MCK Mombasa Regional Coordinator Maureen Mudi says there is great need for journalists to explore more ways of growing their audiences through verified and impartial information.
“It is important for journalists to diversify their content in order to reach different audiences. This will encourage a culture of research and increase their credibility’, said Ms Mudi at a training on hate speech and disinformation in Kwale County.
Ms Mudi noted that collaborative approaches have brought out more opportunities for not only journalists and social media influencers but also the organisations involved.
“We have interacted and shared information that will assist the target groups to enhance professionalism, and also help organisations involved build their networks and work towards other programmatic areas for intervention”, she said.
Search for Common Ground Media Officer Dominic Mwambui noted that the European Union funded project has so far seen over 140 journalists and social media influencers trained on hate speech, disinformation and conflict sensitive reporting among other topics.
The journalists and social media influencers appreciated the roles played by the Council, Search for Common Ground and other organisations in the trainings, which they said has helped them in shaping their thinking on various professional issues.
The training was the last in a series of collaborative trainings for journalists and social media influencers by Search for Common Grounds, which covered Tana River, Garissa, Lamu, Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale counties.