June 25,2024 will forever remain etched in the memory of Kenyans. Gen Z, a group often dismissed as disengaged and too young to make a difference, shocked the nation and world. They stormed Parliament, overwhelmed the riot police and ravaged the revered august House, causing chaos and forcing MPs to flee for safety.
All this begun with an organic leaderless protest asking that MPs to reject the Finance Bill 2024. But due to hubris – there is no other way to put it – the political class ignored the calls, and even when they dropped the controversial amendments, they did it half-heartedly convinced they could bulldoze the bill.
The media erred in reporting the unfolding crisis. The coverage was positive – they framed it as politicians listening to the protesters. Gen Zs should be proud. And this is why these younger Kenyans are growing increasingly frustrated by this misrepresentation by the legacy media. At least on social media the message was clear – no amendments, reject the bill entirely.
In response to the attack on Parliament, the President lashed out at the demonstrators vowing that such events would never happen again, regardless of the cost. This was accompanied by an apparent internet slow down, as Safaricom reported technical difficulties. This was further followed by numerous allegations of security forces killing residents of Githurai. The traditional media remained quiet throughout this alleged “massacre”.
And this brings us to the crux of our argument: was this self-censorship? Why were there no journalists on site to verify the “rumours” on social media? Seeing as the Gen Z have throughout these protests relied on social media and the one time they had a chance to rely on the media (there was internet disruption, so everyone was glued on TV) the media completely let them down by failing to report on this, is it safe to argue that this only erodes the little trust Gen Zs have in the media?
More than 24 hours later, none of the local stations had deployed any journalists or had any reliable footage of what transpired. Larry Madowo of CNN had to turn to social media to ask if there was anyone with an original video they could verify to report on these allegations.
That 48 hours later, what the traditional media was saying about these allegations was purely hearsay with nothing tangible shows why this generation has no trust in the legacy media. We’ve said this before and, at the risk of sounding redundant, we plead with the legacy media to understand the changing times and adopt. Consider how to share news quickly as events unfold and package and share them in the platforms Gen Zs use. It would mean a world of difference and, more importantly, it could help increase the much-needed trust in legacy media in a world where anyone with a phone is a content creator and can feed the country false information that can create more harm.
The actions of June 25 are scary. And having stared at the abyss following the post-election violence of 2007/2008, the media has engaged in self-censorship because of the blame that came their way. But in the age of social media, self-censorship means giving legitimacy and platform to anyone with a social media page. Traditional media must occupy these places and help prevent misinformation by accurately reporting for GenZ that relies on these platforms for news.
