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Kenya: Mwaura – Case for Stimulus Package to Keep Our Journalism Alive and Kicking

Published

5 years ago

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The number of journalists working in the country and accredited by the Media Council of Kenya this year is 3,249. Some work for foreign media organisations but the overwhelming majority work for the local media, with the Nation Media Group having 379.

These are the people who bring us the news and keep us entertained, educated, informed and empowered to check the excesses of our politicians and public servants.

But hundreds of them have been laid off. Others have had their salaries cut as the media tries to survive in this Covid-19 era that has accelerated the decline of their traditional sources of income — advertising and circulation.

STIMULUS PACKAGE

There is no business that deserves a stimulus package more than the news business. But there are people who would argue that it is unwise to allow the media to feed at the government trough because that can be used to kill the independence and freedom of the media. Or, as some say, nobody wants to bite the hand that feeds it and so the media would toady to the government.

But the Constitution would take care of that. Article 34 guarantees the freedom and independence of the media. The government is specifically barred from exercising control over or interfering with the dissemination of information by the media.

There is also enough reason in the Constitution to bail out the media because, without journalism that is alive and well, many of the things prescribed in the supreme law would be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.