[kictanet] Media council Draft bill 2010 (Day Eight--Code of Conduct/Wrapping up)

Wed Feb 2 22:27:22 EAT 2011

Dear Grace and all,
My apologies for lack of participation this week. I was bogged down by work 
On the Monday question on financial provision, it is not realistic for the 
council not to receive funding from foreign governments. Even the government of 
Kenya gets funding from foreign governments and entities. It should be left to 
the council to source for funding from wherever it deems fit so as to achieve 
its objectives. I believe the current MCK has had collaboration with foreign 
governments and entities and it has worked for it. 

On the Complaints and Dispute Resolution, i see no problem with the chair having 
the legal profession background if his/her expertise will add value to its 
mandate. however i have trouble with the requirement of the person having 10 
years experience in the high court. Five should suffice so that we don't lock 
out young geniuses.
And i agree with Grace that the bill is not clear on whether the Complaints and 
Dispute Resolution Commission has the powers of a high court or will refer some 
of the disputes to the high court. 

On procedures upon complaint, the bill gives provision for 14 days from the date 
of receipt for it to be presented to the complaints committee and another 14 
days within which feedback will be communicated after the dispute  has been 
determined. The assumption here is that there will not arise a situation that 
needs urgent attention like was the case of encroachment and disconnection of 
links of KISS some years back. I think there should be provision for urgent 
resolutions. 

Code of conduct for the practice of journalism carries the core of the business 
and yes, the MCK code should be the minimum code that each media house and 
journalist should subscribe to. This will help ensure  professionalism by all 
players in the industry. All media houses/ enterprises should be bound by the 
principles under the code of conduct at frequency and license allocation stage. 

Independence is hard to achieve in an industry that is more than 90% commercial 
owned . article 2(f)  talks about inflencing news judgement and content 
"inappropriately" . Who would determine what is appropriate and inappropriate 
especially where coverage of biggest sponsors are concerned? 

How does article 5 - opportunity to reply fit in with complaints and disputes?
Maybe article 6 and 7 should be merged and made clearer. 
I agree with the suggestion that the children s act and sexual offenses act 
should be integrated into 18 and 19. 

Apart from the Hate speech (article 25), the national cohesion and integration 
act should also be sought on article 22 (acts of violence) . This is in relation 
to adhering to the code of conduct while consciously ensuring peace. 

What has not come out clearly for me is the authority of the council vis a vis 
the media houses / employers in terms of upholding  the profession. Is the 
practitioners protected from the owner/ employer if in keeping with the code of 
conduct one finds themselves at loggerheads with owners? 

Once again sorry for chipping in late. 
Cheers
Rachael. 

________________________________
From: Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>
To: rachealnakitare at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Sent: Wed, 2 February, 2011 16:46:22
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Media council Draft bill 2010 (Day Eight--Code of 
Conduct/Wrapping up)

Dear Walubengo, KK, Lydia, McTim, Edwin, Alice and Solomon for your 
contributions. A quick response.

Walubengo, thanks for that pointer to the Tribunal that handles disputes in the 
ICT Sector. If it is working, it definitely is worth looking at how it operates.

McTim, sorry about the outdated Code. I hope you will get a chance to look at 
the proposed one which does not differ much from the one in the Media Act of 
2007.

KK, I see your point about provocative headlines. Different media houses use 
catchy headlines to get the attention of the reader, and yes you have a point on 
the practicality of this. I also see your concern on article 12 of the code. 
Would say 'Jicho Pevu' be justifiable? In article 16, and just to follow on your 
concerns, I am just thinking that if a journalist has 500 shares of Mumias 
Sugar, will s/he need to disclose to the editor every time there is a story 
about mumias? I have no answer. I am also being hypothetical. 

Edwin, you raise an issue that we must pay attention to. I am happy that Alice 
has responded and raised the challenges of regulation of blogs and social media 
and even a major challenge of how they would be made to adhere to a code of 
conduct. 

Lydia, I agree with you that it would have been good to have media's 
contribution into this debate. I have no answer as to why they have not 
participated. Maybe they are just too busy or they have another platform. 
However, the contributions that have come from non-media people on this list 
have been very useful and will still inform the Bill, as the new constitution 
places people at the heart of policy making processes.  Maybe media people on 
this list can respond to Lydia?

Solomon thanks for going through the code and pointing out gaps. Your point 
about the need for media to be guided by tenets acceptable to wider population 
has been noted. 

In 1(a), did you mean that there is need to distinguish between a reporter, 
editor and broadcaster?

On 1(b) and (c), I agree. 'Promptly' needs to have a specific time line.  On 3 
(a) I agree that the issue of confidentiality may need further debate. Further 
the contradiction on 7 and 3 is noted. 

On 9, I think you raise the issue of how 'public interest' will be determined. 

The need to integrate the Children's Act and the Sexual Offenses into 18 and 19 
is noted. 

And yes, the national cohesion and integration commission has guidelines for 
monitoring hate speech in the electronic media. Hate speech is defined as any 
utterance or words intended to incite feelings or contempt, hatred, hostility, 
violence or discrimination against any person, group or community on the basis 
of ethnicity, religion, or race.

Rgds

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If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all 
about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule 
the World!

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