Stop police intimidation against journalists

When Nairobi-based journalists protested along Moi Avenue over police brutality including shooting and physical assaults. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

For the umpteenth time, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has decried growing attacks on journalists by law enforcers. In the past few months, MCK has documented 24 cases of assault against journalists.

Unfortunately, the more media stakeholders decry police brutality, the more the officers become emboldened. This despicable development appears to have worsened on Kenya Kwanza's watch, promises to the contrary notwithstanding. Gen Z protests have made this more evident.

There is little help coming from Vigilance House, if any. Moreover, the Independent Police Oversight Authority and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions appear to be dragging their feet in this very grave matter that continues to put the lives of journalists at risk. Added to these risks is the cost of equipment that police officers maliciously destroy in their mistaken and often misplaced zeal. Lost to these rogue law enforcers is the fact that the media is not the enemy. More democratic countries have developed and encouraged healthy interactions between the media and law enforcers whose roles, somehow, complement each other.

If there is nothing to hide, those in authority have no reason to fear the media or resort to intimidation to stifle the media's role of being a public watchdog; the voice of the voiceless. The media will not give in to intimidation and will continue to execute its public watchdog role diligently. And this, despite previous and ongoing attempts to cripple the media through such things as denial of advertising revenue from government agencies.

Ironically, even as the government goes out of its way to muzzle the media, it expects the same media to keep the public informed of its doings. Media accords government functionaries time and space to articulate government policies. That alone speaks to why media freedom and mutual respect between the government and members of the fourth estate are important in the furtherance of democratic ideals. The media not being infallible, mechanisms exist through which grievances against journalists can be addressed without recourse to violence.