This archive report was first published on 11 January 2020.
As we begin 2020, a disturbing trend has emerged in Kenya: the rising cases of attacks on journalists. This poses a serious threat to democracy and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and international charters.
According to reports, over the past year, more than 50 cases of journalists being assaulted, threatened, and humiliated by resentful elements, mainly politicians incensed by media reports about them, have been documented.
One such case was reported this week in Migori, where a Nation reporter was harangued and humiliated by sidekicks of Governor Okoth Obado for allegedly writing negative reports about the county chief. Governor Obado, who is out of police custody on bond, was charged with the murder of a female university student, a matter pending in court.
Just last week, Gatundu South legislator Moses Kuria was arrested by police over an alleged offence committed within the precincts of Royal Media Services last month. The belligerent MP is accused of battering a woman with whom he had shared a TV panel discussion, apparently because she had embarrassed him by asking uncomfortable questions.
These incidents are petrifying and present a new dimension to the threat against media freedoms. They mean that television and radio panellists and discussants, as well as news sources, are in dire threat, just like journalists, from individuals who have been subjected to public scrutiny.
What is galling is that most cases of violence and threats against journalists are never acted upon. The media and the public expect stern action against those harassing and intimidating journalists, but nothing is ever done. The attacks are consistently reported to the police and other relevant authorities, but we hardly see any action. It seems nobody cares about the safety of journalists.
Press and information freedoms are protected in the Constitution. Media houses have policies and systems to guarantee quality reporting, and journalists have a code of ethics. Institutions, such as the Complaints Commission under the Media Council of Kenya, exist to arbitrate between journalists and news sources when a dispute occurs over reportage. Better still, there are courts to deal with defamation. However, individuals should not take the law into their hands to terrorise journalists ostensibly to stop them from doing their work.
We condemn those acts of aggression and demand investigations and prosecution of those assaulting journalists. Press freedoms must be protected at all times.
