MP Kuria Kimani On Govt Controlling Media After Moving All Ads To KBC [VIDEO]
On Friday, March 8, Principal Secretary of the State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunications Prof. Edward Kisiang'ani announced that the directive was part of targeted reforms at turning around the financial fortunes of the national broadcaster.
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Molo Member of Parliament (MP) Kuria Kimani has allayed fears that the State's decision to have all state agencies air their TV and radio adverts exclusively to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) risked endangering press freedom and make the country's media environment vulnerable to control by the government.
On Friday, March 8, Principal Secretary of the State Department of Broadcasting and Telecommunications Prof. Edward Kisiang'ani announced that the directive was part of targeted reforms at turning around the financial fortunes of the national broadcaster.
However, this sparked uproar across the country, with journalists and media stakeholders under the Kenya Media Sector Working Group (KMSWG) warning that the directive not only risks worsening the financial fortunes of some independent media houses but also undermines the public's right to access diverse information.
Speaking exclusively to Viral Tea, Kimani dismissed fears of the government aiming to muzzle the Kenyan media sector, citing the digital disruption period through bloggers, TikTokers, content creators and digital media platforms which have provided Kenyans an alternative means of news consumption in real-time.
The Chair of the Finance and Planning Committee argued that while the fear of the media space being regulated still remains, it would be very difficult to curtail press freedoms, citing the government's directive favouring KBC as a non-issue.
"We would wait for the morning to read the newspaper, so the way now to get the news is until I buy the newspaper and then read it. I have to be on my TV to see whether there is breaking news...or wait until it is news time at 7 pm or 9 pm but what has this done is that everyone with a phone has become a journalist and a reporter. Whatever news is being read at 7 pm...if that news broke at 5, on my phone I'm able to get it.
"To think you can restrict or you can regulate this sector is almost impossible, that's why we respect whether the government takes its advertising business to KBC or not, that will not make the other institutions fail," he said.
The lawmaker further brought to light the matter of timeliness which he believes has been a significant challenge for mainstream media in the digital disruption period despite the critical responsibility of verifying information before disseminating it to members of the public.
In comparison, digital media such as Viral Tea receive information, verify and publish as well as disseminate news items to consumers countrywide at the same time, utilising the power of social media to 'get the word out there fast'.
"Mainstream media are disadvantaged sometimes...I need to be on my TV or go to their website and see what live they are covering, but at the same time, someone has sent me a WhatsApp of what's happening in Mai Mahiu, so if I'm waiting for me to get to the TV and find out what's happening, you miss out," he added.
He recommended that the media must be innovative in terms of its operations as well as the engagement of its consumers in real-time while also protecting the security and safety of Kenyans in their reporting.
"The media is a sector that is extremely complicated and that is real-time, and whoever now will find a way of breaking that news in real-time, but of course safeguarding security and safety of the people and sensitivity...until you get there, we must be innovative and we must continuously innovate how we engage our customers and those who will be our viewers, as well as the consumers of our news and content," he continued.
Kuria though defended the government's move to advertise through KBC, opining that the government was capable of providing business to the state broadcaster that would see it rake in revenue instead of having to rely on taxpayers' money to sustain its operations.
The legislator on Tuesday, April 30 hosted independent content creators, TikTokers and digital journalists at his offices at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi where they deliberated how Parliament can collaborate with digital media platforms to disseminate information to the public.
