Thriving media is an asset, not a threat to State

A few months ago, President William Ruto was unequivocal about the ineptness of his Cabinet. He may not have put it that way, but as they say meaning is in not in what is meant, but what is said.

He said he knows more about their dockets than they do. Of course there are diligent Cabinet Secretaries and public servants, but a good number have distinguished themselves as the worst that we can imagine.

Often, we are left wondering whether these are leaders meant to serve or superstars walking with their heads in the clouds. The opulence they flaunt is accompanied by the dearth of understanding of the reality on the ground. Take the directive by a top government official that all government broadcast adverts be placed on one entity.

To put it in context, the information ecosystem is so critical to the economy, and our democracy and such directives speak of how totally oblivious to the basics in the industry these folks lack. The media may be many things to politicians holding the reins of power: Media as the channel the power holders use to let the electorate know their success and delivery of the promises and the media as an adversary, purveying the government’s ill deeds to the public.

It is dangerous to narrowly look at the media from just these perspectives. A solid media system in a democracy is critical for spurring economic development. Borrowing from the idea of the invincible hand as espoused by Adam Smith in his seminal publication “The Wealth of Nations”, the media just like advertisers should be allowed to allocate and seek resources based on market forces and not government directives. A vibrant, free, and independent media system gives investors an opportunity to reach their target clients. By frustrating the media, some of these folks might imagine they are pleasing the appointing authority by suppressing free flow of critical information, when the reality is that they are creating a bad environment for investors.

Other than the watchdog function, the media has other critical roles, and the fact that the watchdog role is rubbing the establishment the wrong way should not warrant the kind of affront from the State.

Whereas the establishment is threatened by the trust the public bestows on the media to identify, create, manipulate, and spread public opinion in the best interest of the society, that alone should not warrant a clampdown on the media.

In the wake of economic and political hardships like we face today, the media, as part of the system that makes our democracy function, is the only institution that functions to help move the masses in a collective, purposeful, and productive action. It does provide a basis of economic support as all those many investors that this government boasts of attracting need a vibrant media to advertise their entry into the market and advertise their products and services to their target consumers.

Interestingly, while our policy makers are working hard to starve the media of the much-needed resources, countries around the world led by Australia, are trailblazing with Bargaining Code Legislations.

The bargaining code legislation model in Australia addresses bargaining power imbalances to ensure news businesses receive fair remuneration from digital platforms for the value their content generates. Coming in the wake of the digital disruption it helps news media houses leverage on their content generation to get the much-needed revenues from the big tech companies that rake in millions from the premium content produced by the struggling public interest news media. 

One would expect the privileged Kenyans running some of these ministries to be at the cutting edge of global trends and bring in industry players to conversations and multi-stakeholder collaborations in addressing emergent challenges in the news media ecosystem.

What some of these directives are not alive to is the fact that a thriving media does not stop the government from thriving and delivering on its mandate and promises. In fact, a thriving media system is an indicator of a strong and vibrant economy that is attractive to investors.

—The writer is a PhD candidate in political communication