World Press Freedom Day is annually observed on May 3 to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom while reviewing the progress and pitfalls.
The theme for this year’s celebration is christened “Access to information and fundamental freedoms: This is your right”.
Dark cloud hangs over the media landscape in Kenya. Free space appears to be shrinking fast. The broad perception of shrinking space is informed by various attempts to pass laws to control media.
MPs’ preoccupation appears to be muzzling the media. The controversial Security Law (Amendment) Act, 2014, passed last year that prescribed how journalists could report on security issues was declared unconstitutional by the High Court. The proposal included the ridiculous requirement that journalists seek permission from the police before publishing any information on terrorism.
And the recent proposals by the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Broadcasting and Library regarding media-related activities within the precincts of Parliament offends the letter and spirit of Article 34 of the Constitution on media freedom. The committee proposes that all requests to conduct media activity will now be channelled through the Speaker of the Senate or National Assembly and that media activities should serve educational, cultural or news purposes.
If the conditions set are adopted, cameramen and photographers will have to report to the head of security before they can do coverage. Seeking consent from the person being filmed or photographed is a prerequisite.
Contravening these rules would attract punishment from the speaker of either House, which includes denial of access during a sitting day, suspension of an individual pass, denial of access to press gallery for a media outlet, or any other penalty the speaker may deem fit.
The Powers and Privileges Bill, 2014, sponsored by Eldas MP Adan Keynan, sought to introduce a crime of defamation to Parliament and criminalises the publishing of what in the eyes of the speaker or committee chairmen would amount to false or scandalous libel on Parliament. It made it illegal for anyone to “publish any false or scandalous information against Parliament, its committees or its proceedings.
The media and journalists are now the State’s biggest threat. Journalists are facing multi-faceted threats from intimidation, witch-hunt, denial of employment, confiscation of work tools, physical attacks and assault, kidnapping for ransom and outright killing.
Over the recent past, cases of journalists receiving threats for publishing reports touching on the ills troubling the Kenyan society have reportedly been on the rise. Some of the threats are believed to originate from numerous actors including the Government, politicians, influential individuals and internal security apparatus.
Few institutions are more important to a democratic society than a free and independent media. Information is a vital aspect of human life. Our actions are directed by the amount and type of information we receive or can access in a given situation. Information thus wields insurmountable powers.
The media in Kenya have played a critical role in shaping public agenda and also in governance. Media freedom is a key pillar in any democracy.
And as long as Kenya pursues the democratic path, the right of journalists to do their work should be jealously protected. Article 33 of the Kenyan Constitution provides for the right to freedom of expression, while Article 34 provides for freedom of the media. The two are interrelated. The passage of The Access to Information Bill by Parliament last week is a move in the right direction.
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