The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has encouraged Rwandese media stakeholders to engage diverse stakeholders in order establish a robust media regulation model.
The Council on Thursday, 15 December, hosted stakeholders of the media sector in Rwanda who were on a benchmarking visit to understand the media landscape in Kenya and borrow from best practices to support Rwanda's ongoing media policy review.
While acknowledging that the media does not work in a vacuum, MCK CEO David Omwoyo advised the team to work towards understanding the dynamics around the political environment in their country.
"For media to remain relevant in Rwanda there is a need for crafting policies that will reflect on quality of content being produced by media houses over the quantity of media enterprises churned out", said Mr Omwoyo.
The visit was organised by Legal Aid Forum in partnership with Thomson Foundation with support from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to support the ongoing media policy review led by the Rwanda Ministry of Local Government. In the delegation were representatives from the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC), the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) and the Legal Aid Forum.
Media Complaints Commission Chairperson Mr William Oketch said the Commission’s mandate sought to enhance adherence to the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya and to create a platform to address media-related grievances.
Rwanda Media Commission Executive Secretary Emmanuel Mugisha commended the Media Council of Kenya for the warm reception accorded to the team and pledged to incorporate the learnings in the Rwandese media policy review process.
“This visit is enough to inspire us as we undertake the review of our media policy to ultimately guarantee a conducive working environment for the media in Rwanda”, he said.
Mr Mugisha supported the planned formation of a regional media regulation umbrella body, saying it will immensely contribute to media development in East Africa.