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As we mark this year’s International Day to End Impunity and Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) today, we must remind ourselves of the challenges local media and journalists face in Kenya, including rising trend in press freedom violations witnessed in the past two years. 

Multiple surveys point to an industry and profession in dire challenges, largely because of business environment, predatory behaviour by big technology firms, changes in revenue flows, shrinking democratic space and the ravages of Covid. 

This year’s theme — KeepTruthAlive — shines the spotlight on local journalists covering beats related to anti-corruption and politics in non-conflict situations—the two beats form 93 per cent of journalists who have died in the past decade.

While Kenya’s press freedom situation, on paper, is impressive and shows an industry in rapid growth, the situation of journalists is in the contrary, according to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. 

The already bad working conditions and safety situation of local journalists—across all the more than 200 radio stations, nearly 130 TV stations, 1,000 blogs and 100 print publications—has been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Courtesy of the pandemic, journalists have face mass sackings, non-payment or slashing of salaries and wages as well as harassment since the outbreak of the disease.

Journalists and media practitioners have been exposed to the daily risk of infection as they seek to cover events on the Covid-19 and cases of mental stress have been reported among some. 

Also with the General Election around the corner, a lot of pressure could be heaped on the media with players demanding both accountability and responsible work but more seeking favourable coverage amid increasing cases of misinformation and brand destruction.

A study by the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communications jointly with the DW Akademie, released in March 2021, makes a number of critical observations including that while the local media has grown tremendously and has the managerial capacity to deal with the global challenges, journalists are discredited, assaulted, harassed or intimidated while on duty.

It also shows the country still maintains laws that are a hindrance to press freedom and access to information. 

The report further notes that while the growth of the economy has supported the development of a vibrant media industry, unfortunately, high competition for audience has led to repeated downsizing and cost-cutting measures in many media houses over the years.

Additionally, the shrinking revenue for media houses and dependency on a few influential advertisers compromises professionalism in the news reporting business. 

Suffice to note, the advertising revenue which is the mainstay of the media has declined due to audience fragmentation, occasioned by growth in social media and digital media platforms that are poorly regulated. 

On a positive note though, the report notes that local media produces highly professional content and journalists are highly qualified and educated. 

The Media Council of Kenya, with the support of DW Akademie, in their study early this year, also established that among other factors that threaten media sustainability and viability a legal regime that has been in place is a major challenge.

For instance, the hefty fines prescribed by the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Act—of up to approximately $200,000 for individual media houses and approximately $5,000 for individual journalists, respectively—are very difficult to honour.

And in trying to avoid falling victim to such penalties, media houses and journalists have been forced to seriously self-censor when covering politically sensitive stories. 

Constant threats of lawsuits hang over several media houses daily with some being slapped with huge awards in defamation suits is yet another challenge. 

Going forward, stakeholders ought to make the environment conducive for free, viable and independent media through tax rebates on media equipment, regulating the cost of content dissemination through the registered content couriers, support media to protect content against theft, establishment of a media fund and enhance professional self-regulation, including creation of public editors in media outlets. 

Hopefully, the recently appointed taskforce of media policy will address some of these challenges and provide some stepping ground to improve the situation. — The writer is Director Media Training and Development at the Media Council of Kenya, a journalist, media trainer and commentator