Media bill gives tribunal sweeping powers over industry

By DAVID OHITO

Media practitioners and rights’ groups had warned that the punitive measures passed by Parliament yesterday were not only an onslaught to press freedom but also a threat to democracy, but the protests were ignored.

The amendments upheld in the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill 2013 (KICA) are seemingly engineered to silence the media. The bill has created a tribunal with sweeping powers to address media complaints as opposed to the stakeholder proposals that the function be a preserve of the Media Council of Kenya (MCK).

Editors were of the view that MCK is an independent national institution as established by the Media Act, 2007. It has since been the statutory organ responsible for the regulation of the media, media enterprises and the conduct and discipline of journalists. It has a wide mandate, among other things, to register and accredit journalists, register media establishments, handle complaints from the public and create/publish yearly audits on media freedom.

It is also tasked with enforcing professional standards by ensuring that journalists adhere to the Code of Conduct and Practice of Journalism in Kenya, which was created by media practitioners and stakeholders with the view to making journalism a more professional and respectable field.

Editors backed the position that the lead agency in the communications sector is the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), now to be called the Communication Authority of Kenya. Its initial mandate was regulation of the telecommunications and postal/courier sub-sectors, and the management of the country’s radio-frequency spectrum. The new tribunal will wield powers to impose hefty fines against individual journalists perceived to be critical of government and powerful individuals. They may be ordered to pay up to Sh1 million in fines as the media outlet itself pays Sh20 million.

Worse still are the powers to recommend the suspension and or de-registration of journalists at will, a function that is only performed by professional associations.

The news came as a shock to media stakeholders.

Article 19 Director Henry Maina cautioned that the freedom previously enjoyed by the media will be gagged by the proposed laws that are set for the Third Reading in the National Assembly. “Effectively, what they have done is to make the Media Council of Kenya useless and many FM stations will not survive the hefty fines proposed,” he said.

Draconian

Maina questioned why the bill elevated telecommunication providers to be members of the panel to judge matters of media. “It means the drafters of the bill do not understand the issues the media deals with and shows how the bill is not comprehensive enough in its creation.”

“The bill also talks of a tribunal of not more than seven members but only five are listed, which means the remaining slots can be filled as wished by government.”

Some clauses are unfriendly to the media as they allow the tribunal to make far-reaching orders, which include reprimanding journalists and making editors publish the decisions of the tribunal as it may specify, a move practitioners see as draconian.