Judging the judge: A spotlight on the performance of media in Kenya since 2013 elections

IT is one year since the jubilee coalition came to power, the CORD coalition became the opposition and all the cameras have been turned on their performance in and out of government respectively.

While it would be wise to stand aside and  judge the government in all the sphere for which they came to power to manage the country, I find it quite tempting  to deviate a little bit and turn the spotlight back to the media and here I mean our main stream media houses, on their score in the areas of information, objectivity in their reporting, being the watchdog on behalf the Hoi polloi over our elected leaders both in and out of government,

On matters of information dissemination, I would give our media B, because ever since that deafening silence that I heard in the Bomas of Kenya in 2013 when it was asked by the IEBC officials whether the local media had any question after the foreign media had been given a chance and they went mute, any average Kenyan would tell you that Robert Onyango Alai of kahawa Tungu would easily take pole position where information dissemination is concerned.

Since the media went to take tea in state house, a lot of things went unreported or even if they were, it was too late for half the world had gotten the information from Robert Alai; in fact Robert Alai today is the single most biggest source of information that all manner of issues are reported to the relevant authorities   through him, that is why you stopped hearing ‘Tunaomba serikali’ (we are pleading with the government), you would think Alai is the unofficial Ombudsman of the Kenyan Government . The second slot would betaken by the social media, twitter and face book more so the famous #KOT(Kenyans on twitter), these people are very fast at passing information that while  our media are still scrambling the microphones and cameras &editing,  the information would be out there raw! From the issues that were raised by CORD during the elections, the West Gate attackto Jicho Pevu exposes’; our media have proven to be economical with the truth when it suits them.

 Then there is the lethargic habit that is taking root among their news reporters: Lack of research and verification of the type of information they release to the public to consume.  A good journalist they say is one who verifies all his/her source of information and its authenticity. It is then therefore incongruous of our media houses to purport report what they themselves don’t even know about. In the past six months or so we have seen a more lazy type of reporting: from some journalist trying to unmask the ICC witnesses to the‘death’ of Nicholas Biwot, it is utterly crazy and unacceptable! One media house particularly Nation media Group has this penchant of finding it much fanciful to wait until standard media does the donkey work of research then ‘steal’ part of standard media article and report as theirs! The resent one happened in John Allan Namu’s ‘the Inside story’ By KTN. Yet a more bizarre case was when one journalist from one of the media houses picked a gossip from the social media by one of CORD’s sympathizers about what Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe said on corruption and Nigeria and without even an iota of verifying the source of information, put it in the print that Mugabe compared the corruption that is slowly creeping in his country to that of Nigeria and Kenya. That’ being lazy! Not only was this not embarrassing butwas a show lack of professionalism. The blogger had just added salt to twit the story back and entangle Kenya into it, and just like that our gullible media swallowed it whole!

I would really want to know what r was in that tea the journalists took in state house that fateful evening for from that tea, nothing has been forthcoming from our media houses as objective reporting and analysis. Even when you would want to sit upright and cock your ears to get the objectivity of their news and talksshows, you tend to get a sense of a more inclined tone to trying to suit a certain power out there. We have shows that are much dictated by what the host/hostesswant to hear or want his/her panel to say rather than the view of the panels or callers on the subject.  Here again youfind Kenyans have taken to social media more so twitter to air their views various topics.

A reporter reporting an incident from Luo Nyanza would most certain have a tinge of either Raila  in it and is to blame  or some backward cultures in the mix. The same would apply when one is reporting from the slops of Kerinyaga. When police drag supporters of Othaya politicians from the streets  pelting their opponents with stones or do I say potatoes you don’t hear of political violence associated with TNA, but is a whole different thing when Obado and Orengo supporters clash at a funeral(all of them very primitive). What make Duale’s remark less dangerous than what Kalonzo Musyoka said that the media are up in arms joined by Jubilee political hawks that Kalonzo should resign from politics? Combined with being the watchdog on behalf of the poor, I beg to be allowed to say that our media has let the poor down since 2013. Even when they have the opportunity to seize the golden chance and redeem their image, they keep gerrymandering, prevaricating while on nonsensical.We now have the ghost of Anglo leasing rearing its ugly head into our pockets,but what our media house would rather talk of on and on is#SomeonetellKalonzoMusyoka in their programs. The standard Gauge railway tender came and went without any hawk eyed journalist t getting his fingers itching to dig deeper. An appointment or even short listing of candidates that smacks of sheer tribalism and nepotism passes, but we are just glad to say that‘all those who applied came from same tribe.’ A man who is still under investigation is approved and appointed yet out media just accepts and moves on.

Instead of putting the government of the day to task as to why they have delivers on their promises, our Kenyan media have turned the whole modern democracy on its head by judging the government’s performance on the basis of the opposition performance. Thus the jubilee government, according to our media has not performed because the opposition CORD has not performed either. That’s clever!On this I give our media C.

What has a happened to that stoic media that took on Nyayo head on during the golden berg saga to the Artur Brother is still a mystery to me. Growing up as a young lad in the 90’s, I took pride in the courage with which our media was standing up against bad leadership, tribalism and corruption, that I became overwhelmed and joined hands to start Young Nation from where we could add our voices. Later I got that knack to do a thorough investigative piece on Mathari Mental hospitals in the year 2000 that has remained one of my best achievements to date in freelance journalism. It’s that piece that heralded the changes that to people see in Mathari mental hospital.

Before the likes of Hamed Nassir,Ngunjiri Wambugu came into the picture. we opinion writers who would go deeper than just mere opinion, we had the indefatigable Kwendo Opanga he of the week that was, Hilary Ngweno, RobertShaw, Okech Kendo, kwamchtsi Makhoha, Tony Gachoka, who has since lost his head trying to shout most to be heard by Jubilee for appointments, and host ofothers. It was blazing hot and you would feel proud to be associated with our media.

Today nobody wants to be associated with the media save for lifestyle, lotteries and what they churn out as gospel music!

It is on this account  that  our media got has exposed to the machinations of Jubilee government on the freedom of the media .They have in essence remained alone fighting for their lives against draconian laws and the digital migration quagmire they set themselves against by getting blinded by tea. No Kenyan would today be willing to get his limb broken defending the media like before for as Frank Maina puts it in the Star in his: Gagging media, Fans Growth of Other outlets, indeed, the poor has since moved on to the other outlets, for its is the main stream media that ran away from the people instead of the other way round. Wither there is substance in their claim or not, but many Kenyan felt let down with what went down at the IEBC 2013 elections. There is no gainsaying the role the media played in promoting peace before, during and after that election but, still, there is a feeling, that the media was compromised to turn a blind eye to electoral malpractices and latched on to the chorus of ‘Accept and move on.’ Without critically asking what it was that we were accepting and moving on from, Jicho pevu came close to unraveling ‘it.’

 

Overall I would give our media C in their performance one year since 2013 elections.