[kictanet] New Regulations & the Media: Broadcasting Regulations

Fri Jan 22 09:58:17 EAT 2010

I think the media wants the public to believe that the government is issuing regulations unilaterally. However, as Dr Ndemo pointed out, the media have previously snubbed meetings to discuss the regulations before they become law. Makali confirmed this by the following statement:

it has also been pointed out that there is an element of bad faith in
the manner the ministry always proceeds, despite protestation. our
meetings, submissions and petitions never seem to curry favour with the
ministry, hence a sense of deja vu. the apparent reluctance of the
media to engage sometimes with the ministry is borne out of the sense,
rightly or not, that you have taken this as a personal cause/agenda to
prosecute, and the public is only improvised as a pawn in the drive to
hem and castrate the media.

In an opinion piece in today's Nation (http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/-/440808/846842/-/5qd4jt/-/index.html) a media consultant points out that the Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act which empowers the Minister for Information and Communication to make regulations does not require him to seek the approval of the industry; he only needs to consult CCK.

If this is true, it shows the government went out of its way, I believe in good faith, to seek the views of the media industry but the media, for the reasons stated by Makali above, refused the offer. They cannot, should not, cry foul now.

I would advice the media to repent their bad faith in government and adhere to the regulations, especially those concerning content by keeping 'adult content' off family times, if not off altogether. This will win back some public sympathy and probably get enough support to deal with the legitimate concerns they have with other sections of the regulations and the government.

Jotham K. Mwale

--- On Wed, 1/20/10, Rad! <conradakunga at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rad! <conradakunga at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] New Regulations & the Media: Broadcasting Regulations
To: jokilimo at yahoo.com
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 2:20 AM

I think the point Makali is trying to make is that while indeed, there needs to be some regulation, a unilateral approach to it by government is a slippery slope to bigger problems down the road.

One needs to be reminded 'government' not only has its own interests, government is in fact made up with people who as human beings also have interests.
Let us take for example Honourable Mwakwere who on record confessed to owning a pair of matatus. How then can he be seen to be making fair and unbiased decisions in the transport ministry to do with the matatus? Remember justice needs to not just be done, it needs to be seen to be done.

Let us take another example the occasional bungling in various ministries (ferries, school funds, AIDS funds,land allocations etc). Let's be candid -- It is in the government's best interests that such things do not come to light.

The media too has its own vested interests, and can, and indeed has been partisan on numerous occasions.
So it is pretty clear that the media's ability to police itself meets with the same skepticism as the police force's ability to police itself and that of the government to police the media.

Perhaps there is a middle ground to be explored.
Who exactly constitutes the Media council?

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

Makali,

I too have read thro your "thesis" and its not easy read but quite engaging. And just borrowing a journalistic cliche - "every story has two sides". From the government side we have heard the need to get rid of  adult-content from our air-waves during Daytime/early evening and on that note I can tell you (without any scientific survey ;-) that the Public is fully in agreement. Indeed during my Dec holiday I did get subjected to an overload of such content during "family-hours" and it is high time it was stopped because
 obviously the media has failed to).

But on the other hand, from your technical analysis you seem to claim that Government is hiding behind this high-sounding ideal to control(micro-manage) the rest of the Media content and basically take back the gains of Free-press that is the hallmark of a free and democratic society
 (read- getting Kenya back to the KANU days of the 1990s...)

I do know the regulations are already gazetted and therefore enforceable (by law)  but I do wish we could get still get an "anti-thesis" from Government on this (without breaking the Secrecy act?). Better still, maybe Prof Waema may organize another  Town Hall meeting (i do like that ;-) - this time with our Converged Regulator CCK doing the "anti-thesis presentation"....

walu.  

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