Dark clouds are building up over Press freedom. When you think ominous clouds are gone and the sky over the Kenya’s media will be azure blue, someone in Government stirs the storm.
It is a game of subterfuge, where the Government declares respect for democratic ideals, claiming it is a national pillar the freedom fighters shed their blood for. They swear no one is out to emasculate the media or interfere with its rights. They tell you March 2005 raid on the Standard/KTN premises will never be repeated.
But, on the flip side, one sees the Government learnt a lesson from the barrage of criticism the nocturnal raid attracted and how close it took Kenya to the list of world’s rogue states, where Iran, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe comfortably sit. The lesson learnt, so it seems, is the counter-productive nature of the baton, gun and barrel. The fad now is to ‘legalise’ media raids and other form of interferences. Laced with the new attack are such sweet-sounding assurances as restoring morality, a war on offensive language and protecting the social fabric.
Of course, they do not tell you why they do not deploy the same zeal to stopping the operations of the nocturnal open-air flesh market in our vibrant red-light ‘districts’, such as Nairobi’s K Street.
It also begs the question why Government would want to tackle what it claims to be moral decadence without involving media stakeholders. No one is explaining why, if what is being done is in the name of public good, the new regulations were made and churned out in secret.
Thirdly, why — if it is not lies and pretence — does the Gover-nment assure the media fraternity the contentious laws are withdrawn, then wait until everyone is looking the other way, to pull them out to the surprise of all?
In 2007, the media held a silent march, with sealed lips, to protest the retention of a draconian and retrogressive law that allows the Minister for Internal security to raid a media house and confiscate broadcast equipment during a "public emergency". Predictably, no one bothered to define the parameters of this ‘emergency’, thereby raising fears it would just be at his or her whim as happened to Standard Group. The minister, then infamous for his unbridled tongue, haughtily justified the State’s gangsterism and violence against a corporate citizen as a matter of ‘national security’. He said this media house had "rattled a snake" and should not be surprised at being bitten.
Then, like now, the State fervently attempted to empower the Information/Broadcasting minister to micromanage the communication industry. The risk to media independence this would present is not in doubt.
Latest assault
Now, in the latest assault on the media under laws gazetted as Kenya Communication (Broadcasting) Regulations (2009), the minister seeks not only to control content, but even how news is reported as well as crafting apologies and shareholding patterns. It also introduces punitive licensing procedures as well as rules on such internal matters as advert placement and running time. It even purports to control sponso-rship of programmes, ostensibly to ensure sponsors do not compromise quality and balance! In short, it is an invasion of newsrooms by a Government purporting expertise in everything.
Yes, the media, as we have said before, is not infallible. We have had failures and conceded where we failed. In many cases we have been taken to court as by law established. On rare occasions we have been ‘punished’ by readers through shrinking viewership or readership — which teaches useful lessons. In law, there is provision for self-regulatory mechanisms. What the media will never compromise on is ceding ground to censorship or State control.
The Government must not submerge independent media in its war with unprofessional DJs or private stations that thrive on sex and gossip. As the Chairman of the Kenya Editors’ Guild said, the new rules are "retrogressive and obnoxious". We add they are impractical, unenforceable and intrusive. They should be withdrawn because they belong to the dust bin of history where draconian laws Kenyans fought and managed to have repealed lie.
