Not yet uhuru for the media

World Press Freedom Day was celebrated on May 3, 2016. The celebrations come 25 years after the adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media in 1991 in Namibia. The UN General Assembly established the day in 1993 to mark press freedom.

Starting with the independence Constitution to the current one, there have been positive developments. While Kenya has not reached the optimum in realising freedom of expression, a number of milestones have been achieved. On paper, the country has a very vibrant and diverse media; 140 radio stations spread across the country, 67 TV stations are on air following the migration from analogue to digital, four daily newspapers and nearly 100 periodic publications. With nearly 100 bloggers, the online space is also very active. Periodic press conferences by the president at State House and tweets from Government functionaries give the impression all is fine in terms of press freedom and access to information. We currently have 120 media training institutions and nearly 2700 journalists accredited by the Media Council of Kenya.