Kenya should stop harassing media, they are innocent

There is a belief among some legalists and the government that for there to be peace in Kenya, news media must be tamed. Apparently, the recklessness of journalists in reporting political events fuels tensions, which in turn lead to public disorder.

Further, the belief is that if the negative images of chaotic political rallies, political protests, run-ins between police and criminals, ethnic attacks and all forms of public disruption are given news media blackout, peace will be enhanced. This is the way, it appears, to maintain national peace and cohesion.

Kenya is slowly turning itself into another litigious society where legalism is seemingly overarching moral reason. On this basis – questionable as it is – the Government is critically examining media reporting with an eye for ensuring “sanity” in what citizens consume from the media platforms.

It is therefore “proper” that the people’s watchdog is equally put on a leash. Who actually bears responsibility for creating the kind of political content that legalists do not want citizens to consume? Is responsibility for media consumption on political events co-shared between government and the media?

Aware that news media have clear news values, and are practitioners with a body of knowledge that defines the profession, what are legalists after in determining the frames of news consumption? Political events are conceptualised, organised, supervised, and carried out by politicians.

They therefore create what we consume from the media. Media do not organise political rallies and protests nor do they give instructions to police on how to go about their duty whenever there is public disorder.

The police have their own professional ethics, and know best how to manage public affairs. Media simply report political events.

What does media reporting of political events entail? Surely, the point of departure is neither sanitizing political rhetoric nor political actions. If there is one failure of media in Kenya today is the self-imposed censorship to sanitize political speeches. If only media deliberately report the reckless, inciting and misinformed political rhetoric that goes largely unreported, citizens would take politicians to task for their utterance.

Other law enforcers such as human rights organisations will find it necessary to tackle inappropriate political rhetoric.

Reporting political events entails media play their watchdog role, meaning, ensuring political leaders, who exercise their power on behalf of the citizens articulate issues that build the common good.

When they stray and news media let them enjoy in irrelevancies only to sanitize the rhetoric in the news presentations is indeed an act of betrayal. Media have a social responsibility, which includes making politicians accountable and transparent not only on how they spend the tax payers’ money but also in both what they say or not say.

Reporting political events means news media must consider the effect of negative political rhetoric even when it is not reported. For instance, a political gathering in a remote part of the country, that is so abusive and diminishing of the other may go unreported but residents remain with planted seeds of hatred. To give such negativity a blackout, is a good thing in the short term. However, in the long term, media would have become contributors to nurturing hate and negative politics.

Media should, therefore, not turn themselves into political sanitizers. Moving from extreme negative skewedness in reporting one side of political events to extreme positive skewedness in favor of a competing political grouping to sanitising disparaging, dehumanising and regressive political rhetoric is, on the one hand, providing fodder for legalists to jump in with strict laws to “bring order” in the media sphere.

Let legalists go for the source of social disorder before shooting the messenger. We are a society that easily passes on responsibility – in this case, the media taking responsibility for disruptive political behavior. Stop it.