Month: May 2018
Media, elite pacts and Kenya’s future
“You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back…
Hefty libel awards threaten media freedom
When it comes to media freedom in Kenya, the government is usually the main suspect. Parliament mostly gets away with it largely because it can…
Who needs a radio doc?
Last Tuesday, May 22, 2018, Radio Jambo had a doctor in the studio for a mid-morning show. People called in or sent messages about their…
Conflict-sensitive reporting needed
Article 11 of the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya deals with reporting ethnic, religious and sectarian conflict. That is an…
Iqra FM scribes down their tools
Iqra FM workers reported to duty last Wednesday but refused to do assignments in protest against poor working conditions. The staff action disrupted programming forcing…
Good coverage of KDF in Somalia
In issue 16 of the Observer published on April 23, 2018, we carried a short commentary titled, “Calling war correspondents.” Our concern was that the…
FAKE NEWS: Miguna as Nairobi DG and Sonko flees to Machakos
“Finer details of what killed IEBC Chris Msando”, a headline reads. But the content of the article does not relate to that heading. The article…
New law muzzles free speech
Florence Kamau is a well-known political activist in Nairobi’s Dagoretti South constituency. In the 2013 election, she campaigned for Raila Odinga’s CORD coalition. After Evans…
Freedom of expression in a conformist society
Weeks after Miguna Miguna’s dramatic deportation to Canada in March, the self-styled NRMKe General contacted a certain social media group requesting membership. On the face…
Careful with those confusing numbers
Perhaps one area that our media fraternity needs to get it right is numbers.Now, understandably, journalists are not exactly mathematicians. But all the same, that…