Media must keep on lighting fires under government to keep it awake

Journalists at a past event. [File, Standard]

Before the advent of social media, conventional media acted as the sole purveyor of government policies. Media articulates these policies, interprets them in ways that all citizens would understand, then releases the information to the public through print and electronic media.

On its own, the government lacks the extensive reach that media has, yet rather than embrace media and recognise it as an impartial player in good governance, it is assailed by the green-eyed monster and treats media as an enemy. Under the Kenya Kwanza government, hate against the media has intensified, with journalists bearing the brunt of State harassment.

The vaunted tenets of democracy and all the fundamental human rights and freedoms can only thrive with a free media acting as the umpire. It’s important to have checks and balances in place because, ideally, the government comprises a small group of people who bulldozed their way to the top, imposing their views, beliefs and rules on their subjects in line with the force theory.

This theory postulates that governments are formed through the forceful imposition of power by a dominant group, not through divine right. Unchecked, this dominance is potentially dangerous, and Kenya Kwanza has proven it. Its own exuberance, however, caused it to shoot itself in the foot. It is the most unpopular and maligned government Kenya has ever had.

The need for a ‘Fourth Estate’ (media) to complement the three estates already in existence in Europe; the lords, nobility and commoners was adopted in the 1800s. The role of the Fourth Estate in the political process was to report, verify and question actions of the government from a non-partisan, unbiased point of view. This demanded that the media be independent and free from manipulation by any of the other estates.

Excess power

That still holds to date, but governments are inclined, by virtue of their dominance, to try and bully the media into subservience. In maximising the advantages of dominance, which gives state mandarins excess power they are ill equipped to handle, the government often becomes an oppressor, an assortment of pilferers, schemers, cartels, and the malicious.

Corruption pervades government institutions, and these are the things those in power would rather keep under wraps, but the media keeps nosing around to their chagrin.

Keep Reading

With increased freedoms and liberties, the government no longer has the leeway to close media houses whimsically. However, it often resorts to the threat of withdrawing advertisement revenue to try and arm-twist media houses to its way of doing things.

The media is not confrontational by nature but can push back if push comes to shove. The media can force the government back on track by having it constantly in the spotlight, never once letting it get into the shadows, and influencing public opinion.

Malcolm X opined in 1965: “The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. They control the minds of the masses.”

It is the business of the media to light fires under the government, to upset complacent individuals in government and make them to constantly look over their shoulders any time they conjure up mischief. It is not the work of the media to massage their bloated egos.

Most people rode to public offices on the power of the media. Former Ministry of Information and Communications Technology PS Edward Kisiangani is among them, but like those inclined to hubris, he turned around to bite the hand that fed him on his way to the top. That was his undoing.

What would happen if the media denied government and politicians coverage which, needless to say, enables them to reach the governed at no cost to them? Even though not obligated to do so, the media propagates government plans, breaking them down for public consumption. Without the media, the government would barely be felt.