Media owners demand fairness in digital signal distribution

By GEOFFREY MOSOKU and RAWLINGS OTIENO

Media owners and editors have asked President Uhuru to ensure his administration addresses the skewed manner past regimes awarded licences for digital broadcast migration.

Media Owners Association Chairman Kiprono Kittony and Media Council Chairman Joseph Odindo said digital migration licences should not be left at the mercy of two business ventures.

The two were addressing East African Journalist Convention in Nairobi, which was part of the World Press Freedom Day celebrations that was marked worldwide yesterday.

Odindo said there had been disquiet among media-houses houses.  “There has been some disquiet among media houses about digital migration. We want an independent entity to be given the third license to distribute digital frequencies,” explained Odindo.

 Although President Uhuru steered off the request by the Media Owners Association, he said his administration would create same level playing ground for fairness among the operators.

He, however, challenged the media industry to be responsible in coverage and harness the potential of Information and Communication Technology.

Kiprono asked the Government to include local media in the digital migration process.

 “The Government has so far issued two digital distribution licenses but not to local private operators. This needs to be reviewed, the third licenses should be given out to one of us for fairness,” he said.

Information and Communication Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo, however, defended his Ministry over the manner in which they have handled the process.

Ndemo argued the State proposed to media owners to either form a consortium to be given a third license or acquire shares in Signet, a subsidiary of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, specifically set up to broadcast and distribute the signals.

“Your Excellency these are the two options that we have put on the table and are currently discussing with media owners,” he said.

Currently, Signet is the only licensed public signal distributor which the government is funding to rollout frequencies throughout the country and to fulfill its public service obligations.

Kenya failed to meet the December 2012 deadline to switch from analogue to digital television broadcasting.

The communications industry regulator had pushed the exercise till after March 4 election, citing prohibitive cost of acquiring set-top boxes.

According to the implementation plan, the government had expected that by July 2012, the DVB T2 digital TV signal would be available in 70 per cent of the country.

This was then expected to allow it start a phased switch-off from December 2012. But according to Communications Commission of Kenya, the signal coverage is still at 50 per cent.

Currently the digital signal – DVB T2 – is now on air and is available in seven towns including Nairobi, Mombasa, Webuye, Kisumu, Meru, Embu and Eldoret.

Switch-off

The other two phases will involve distributing the signal to other parts of the country before switching off the analogue signal.

Uhuru assured Kenyans the Government would not muzzle or curtail freedom of the media.

Uhuru saaid that for a country to attract investors and promote economic growth, it should put in place an environment to ensure a free media, saying that is what the Jubilee Government would do.

The President says he is committed to cultivating a working partnership with the media and will safeguard a free Press in accordance with the Constitution and international conventions.

Uhuru told the meeting he is committed to ensuring freedom of the media and will not oversee any act of gagging or harassment of journalists while performing their duties.

“I assure the media fraternity that the Government will support the media to be free, fair and responsible in conducting their business as provided for in our Constitution and international conventions to which Kenya is a signatory.”

He added: “As a country and an emerging democracy in Africa, we will be at the forefront in fighting any form of gagging the media, harassing journalists, constraining media space and violation of media freedom that are fundamental to good governance.’’

The President, however, said any freedom carries with it responsibility and urged the Fourth Estate to be ethical in its work.

Uhuru said: “More fundamentally, the media must safeguard professionalism most jealously to sustain the trust and faith of the public by remaining objective and impartial.”

Uhuru said media is a key partner of the Government in highlighting key economic, political and social-cultural developments to the public to enable them make informed choices and decisions.

“This will enable them to hold their Government to account on the basis of knowledge and information,” he added.

The President said the sense of responsibility should also be extended to new media, especially social media, warning that those who use the platform should not act irresponsibly.

“The sense of responsibility must extend to the social media, which must be seen as a powerful tool of a new digital economy rather than a platform for propagating sectarianism an other social ills,” he said.