It's time to discuss minimum wage for journalists

Journalists must be formally contracted and paid a wage that offers them dignity and independence. [iStockphoto]

As the world marked World Press Freedom Day on May 3, my mind was drawn to the plight of many Kenyan journalists, mostly in the smaller media houses across the country but also touching on the bigger ones.

First, a number of journalists do not have contracts with the organisations they work for. The implications for many is that they do not even know how much money they should expect to earn. I had a chat with a colleague from a regional media house, and he had not been paid for close to 10 months. This happened to be around election season, which is among the most hectic periods for field journalists. There are a lot of movements and expenditure to be incurred.