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Media matter, and that is why those who have access to the microphone have a responsibility to society.
It is for the same reason that regulatory agencies are in place and have guidelines that those privileged to speak to the public through the media must follow.

Yet, too often, those guidelines and the responsibility that goes with them are shoved aside in pursuit of media sustainability. Media is sustained through the number of ears tuning to it, the eyeballs on the screen, and circulation. These have become increasingly fleeting, leading to some of those charged with managing the sector going for innovative ways of staying afloat.

For some, the line between responsibility and recklessness has grown thin. Not too long ago, last week, a radio host in Nairobi went to air with a story, probably designed to be comical, but which was every bit ethnic profiling of one of the nation’s communities.

Population is falling in many of the world’s leading economies. A combination of factors leads to the decline in population growth in many of these countries, most of which have very high living standards with sound social and economic safeguards to cushion citizens.

But the situation is different in North Korea. This nation that split from its southern neighbour about seven decades ago is a reclusive society about which much is unknown. Whenever North Korea is in the news, it is often about its war activities, repression of its citizens and starvation. This time, the news was different.

During the occasion to mark the day of Mothers, the reclusive nation’s leader was reported to have broken into tears, troubled by the fact that his country’s population was falling.

In a commentary on this story, the Kenyan radio storyteller took to the airwaves to offer a solution, most likely in jest. Sometimes, Kenyan comedy lacks creativity. Much of such low-level productions fall back to ethnic stereotypes, tribal instincts, mimicking ethnic accents, and sometimes seeking to appeal to misogynistic attitudes.

In this particular case, the myth is not limited to ethnic stereotypes but covers racial stereotypes, too. The myth of the sexual prowess of the African man has existed in Western societies, often used as an excuse to discriminate against the black race.

It becomes an excuse to treat the black race in a particular way, often guilty as charged; after all, it is argued, their genetic composition and energy lends itself to their guilt.

So, when the radio host offered that the solution to the North Korean population decline was to ship five men from western Kenya to help replenish the North Korean population, she was riding on the unfortunate stereotype that should, at the very minimum, be debunked by an African country. Instead, she was cheered on by her co-host.

In nine months, she offered, the population of North Korea would have been restored following the arrival of the five African men. This was ethnic and male profiling plain and simple. It did not only profile the African but the North Korean male as well.

Institutions such as the Communication Authority of Kenya exist to protect society against such broadcasts. Authority requires media houses to be the first line of guard against such broadcasts by setting out their minimum standards but steps in when such in-house standards fail.

Authority has broadcast standards that broadcasters can adopt if they cannot set or meet their own. Failure to meet the minimum broadcast standard should attract sanctions against the broadcaster.

There should be sanctions in this case for perpetuating ethnic and, indeed, racial profiles.

Kenyan comedy should evolve beyond the now stale ethnic stereotype to be clean and more mentally engaging.

It is unfortunate that, too often, some broadcasters are unaware of the standards of their own media houses, let alone those of the Authority. Such broadcasters should be exposed to the minimum standards, a responsibility of their employer, or else assigned other responsibilities away from the microphone.

— The writer is Dean, School of Communication, Daystar University