[kictanet] Media Bill
Wainaina Mungai
wainaina at madeinkenya.org
Wed May 23 12:02:11 EAT 2007
This debate is now on the right track thanks to Brian, Alice, Dr. Ndemo and Bill;
I would ask that the government to consider a structure that gives the media representatives greater visibility in the Media Council and the Advisory Board e.g. having the Chairperson as a member selected by the media or a different model that makes them bodies more "media".
Hoping we can all now work to protect the media from government extremes (as the case of Citizen Radio/TV) and protect the people of Kenya from the extremes of a lawless media (as was in the case of blackout given to Martha Karua/Water Ministry and many others). Neither side should be using threats or propaganda.
---
Wainaina Mungai
Made in Kenya Network
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> -------Original Message-------
> From: alice <alice at apc.org>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Media Bill
> Sent: 21 May '07 22:26
>
> Dear all
>
> In my opinion, the justification for our media bill would be the policy
> vacuum in the media sector and an outdated existing legislative
> framework characterised by often times conflicting laws with regards to
> the access and dissemination of information.
>
> Therefore the presence of an implementable legislative framework allows
> for the establishment of, for example, professional bodies, which
> would monitor professional and ethical conduct and practices, while
> protecting consumers. The media sector, I am sure does agree that the
> absence of self and or co-regulatory measures in the sector would and
> has resulted in many governments, ours included, to consider applying
> sometimes unfavorable/draconian regulatory measures (we have seen this
> played out in in various aspects/instances) in order to protect Kenyans
> rights to dignity, privacy, etc
>
> I would agree and join Brian in urging the media and all stakeholders
> including consumer networks to, quoting Brian, " take hold of the
> olive leaf extended by this government - and the goodwill that is
> present at the Ministry - and ensure that we have a good if not a great
> Media Act"
>
>
>
> best
> alice
> Note: The above comment are entirely personal and do not reflect any
> position of the organisations I am affiliated with.
>
>
> Brian Longwe wrote:
> > To all,
> >
> > I would like to take a little bit of your "airtime" and lay down a
> > slightly different perspective with regards to the Media Bill that is
> > under discussion. (Although my comments relate to any Bill that is
> > put before Parliament.)
> >
> > First and foremost my personal position is that I welcome the move to
> > put a law in place that governs the 4th estate. On a recent radio
> > input I emphasized that any sector law has two sides to it:
> > 1) It defines and protects a particular constituent group e.g.
> > Communications Industry (Communications Act '98), Childrens Bill etc...
> > 2) It protects society and the Kenyan populace in general from harm
> > caused by the parties covered under the Act/Bill
> >
> > Therefore taking these two elements into consideration I would
> > encourage that the media fraternity (and all other stakeholders) take
> > this opportunity to engage with the process and ensure that we put in
> > place a good if not excellent law/Act.
> >
> > I will give a short story to illustrate my point:
> >
> > In 1997, the Kenya Communications Bill was published - it aimed to
> > regulate, govern and facilitate the growth and development of the
> > communications sector. For those of you who recall, the first draft
> > was a nightmare and if that is what eventually became the law - we
> > would still be living in the dark ages of blind control.
> >
> > There was a lot of activity surrounding this bill. I remember a
> > number of public forum discussions that sought to provide government
> > with opportunity to shed light on some of the less clearer parts of
> > the bill (i.e. most of it) but also to hear from the public and
> > stakeholders what their views and opinions were. The Institute of
> > Economic Affairs played a key role in a number of these fora.
> >
> > Eventually it became abundantly clear that there was a lot of talk
> > but very little action. So a group of non-profits, Insitute of
> > Economic Affairs, Econews, FemNet and East African Internet
> > Association got together and went clause by clause through the draft
> > and came up with a very comprehensive set of submissions that
> > addressed what we felt were the key/crucial parts of the Bill.
> >
> > As many of you know, in the commonwealth law system any bill of
> > parliament must go through a series of readings. This allows both
> > fellow parliamentarians as well as the public to provide input along
> > the process. Public input into the process is normally handled by a
> > select committee of parliamentarians who are responsible for
> > capturing and channeling the inputs into the process and where
> > necessary making amendements/changes to the draft.
> >
> > In our case, we made an appointment to see the House committe - at
> > the time chaired by Hon. Shem Ochuodho - and the Chair of the EAIA at
> > the. Mr. Suchindranath Aiyer then presented the paper to the House
> > Committee. At the end of the presentation our group was
> > unceremoniously thrown out (paper, submissions and all). I guess that
> > was the governance style of the day (read - KANU).
> >
> > Nevertheless we didn't give up and decided to use all means possible
> > to "squeeze" in our submissions. There were breakfast, lunches and
> > cocktails held for parliamentarians - none of which seemed to yield
> > much. Eventually it was too late - the Bill had gone for 2nd reading
> > - and passed without any changes - now only the Minister and
> > President could make any changes. But we didn't give up.....
> >
> > At the end of the day we were able to find a way of getting the draft
> > to the then Minister - Hon. Ntimama. He read through our comments,
> > understood all of them and passed them to the Attorney General to
> > incorporate. The Kenya Communications Act '98 - which has governed
> > our communications sector for the past 9 years consists of almost
> > every single point that we had in our draft. As an individual I will
> > always have respect and admiration for Ntimama - he was truly
> > concerned and focused on this role.
> >
> > I have told this long story to make one strong point. As a country we
> > need good laws to ensure that not only our present - but our future
> > and that of our children can be brighter than our present. I would
> > strongly encourage the media and all other stakeholders to take hold
> > of the olive leaf extended by this government - and the goodwill that
> > is present at the Ministry - and ensure that we have a good if not a
> > great Media Act.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Brian
> >
> >
> >
> > On May 21, 2007, at 10:14 AM, bitange at jambo.co.ke wrote:
> >
> >
> >> Dear All,
> >> I feel compelled to respond to Kanja's surprising response to the
> >> Media
> >> Bill. Media especially MOA has decided to distort information with
> >> blatant
> >> disregard of a journalist's cardinal rule (objectivity) to poison the
> >> People of Kenya with lies and propaganda;
> >>
> >> Here are the Facts
> >> .
> >> •The Bill was drafted by stakeholders among then Kanja himself;
> >> •The content especially on the code of conduct for journalist were
> >> transposed from the current code of conduct with the Media Council;
> >> • All stakeholders were kept informed throughout the stages of the
> >> Bill
> >> and Kanja as the former Chair of MOA received letters informing him
> >> of the
> >> progress;
> >> • The Bill does not seek to control, it simply gives some teeth to the
> >> Media council to regulate professional journalists;
> >> • Regulation is not control (think, we all are free to drive but we
> >> must
> >> drive on the left hand side);
> >> • Without regulation you have quacks as journalists who may plunge the
> >> country into chaos (just listen to Venacular FM stations to
> >> understand why
> >> we need professionalism in Journalism and remember what happened
> >> with Hope
> >> FM);
> >> • The controversy in the Bill arises from funding. MOA and KUJ did
> >> not
> >> want to fund the Advisory Board and the Media Council instead they
> >> asked
> >> the Government to finance; and
> >> • Government funding comes with certain strings as you all
> >> understand and
> >> even if you were to fund you will expect the recipient to adhere to
> >> certain rules (we have gone through this with the World Bank even
> >> though
> >> we did not like it).
> >>
> >>
> >> Bitange Ndemo
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ----------------------------------------------
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> >> ---------------------------------------------
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> >>
> >>
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