[kictanet] Are we a media state?

[John Walubengo]

honestly I an unable to establish the bone of contention in
this evolving saga. Govt appoints a task force to Audit the
Media's Pre & Post election behaviour, then Media Council
does the same and then hell brakes loose...each side saying
the other has no right to carry out the Audit Task.

obviously there is something both sides know that we
(public) dont know. Methinks both sides already have a
pre-meditated report and recommendations and either side
wants to pre-empt the other.  My take, from a Governance
point of view is that none of them is 'neutral' enough to
do such a task given that each is an interested party
according to the 4 pillars of  democratic traditions
(Executive, Parliament, Judiciary and the 4th-Estate)

As Harry Hare alluded to last week, maybe Civil Society
should do this 'Audit-thing' after all.

walu.





--- Alex Gakuru <alex.gakuru at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Let's face it, we are all afraid of the media
> projecting us badly. As the saying goes the media
> "makes or kills". That is tremendous power either ways
> depending on how it is used. Their pen can kill or
> make things happen.
> 
> But "the media" is not a homogeneous thing. Like every
> other sector of society it has good people,
> questionable people and crooks as well. 
> 
> When I proposed that respective media houses conduct
> own audits, the media council another, and the
> government to  do the final task force, it was on the
> premise that we all accepted that "the media" played a
> very big role in the events that led to the sorry of
> Kenya. We were looking at fixing the problem so that
> it never again happens in Kenya. I still stand by my
> statement. 
> 
> It is saddening to read that the media council has
> gone ahead to form not an audit but "a task force".
> And that  they point to towards claiming that the
> government does not have the mandate to form a task
> force. In self-support, sections of the same media
> float suspicions "what is the ministry up to?" then
> reporting "media control is a tool traditionally used
> by oppressive governments" and editorials...
> 
> If even MPs in clash-torn areas turn to and ask 
> government for protection in their own areas, is it
> right for the media not to recognise that "for-common
> good" government always must always be recognised 
> as the supreme authority on the the state? Is the
> media exempt from all forms of external audit? 
> 
> If this is the case, then we may as well come to terms
> that we moved to a "media state", just like exists
> "police states", dictators etc etc and in that
> scenario the media controls even all its critisms and
> would not be any different from past  "news" critical
> e.g. to police etc for conducting internal closed
> investigations. Trust in their honesty delivery of
> news to consumers becomes questionable and one is left
> never to trust all news.
> 
> Consumers need a media they can trust their
> information. A media open governance scrutiny the
> always help us hold government open and accountable.
>  
> The government look after all of us, including the
> media and I recognize government as the final power
> over society's welfare. 
> 
> 
> If we fail to collectively correct recent mistakes
> then "media resources" might also well be included in
> the ongoing peace talks because daily information
> consumers  mind and opinion control is the most
> powerful national asset.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Alex Gakuru
> 
> 
>      
>
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