[kictanet] how positive can foreign media be?

Tue Mar 12 00:20:05 EAT 2013

Brian, Plus one (+1) ndugu

Wenzangu,

I am all for complete press freedom and I think I was outspoken about
censorship on this very list before this election. Now that the election is
over is certainly a legitimate time for us to uncover corruption and bad
behavior.

However, there is no need for the foreign press to focus obsessively on the
6 police persons who were killed, or that the winner is in front of the
ICC.

A selection from my (usually beloved) *New York Times* from this morning.

Mr. Kenyatta, who has been accused by prosecutors at the International
Criminal Court in The Hague of bankrolling death squads during Kenya’s last
election crisis, cleared the 50 percent threshold and avoided a runoff by
the thinnest of margins, about 8,000 votes out of 12 million, or .07
percent.

>From my perspective as a "foreigner" with very strong Kenyan ties and
roots, I think about 40 people should be in the Hague, and am dissapointed
that only five or so are there! Al Jazeera and the Times can do a better
job of reporting on this election, I think.

Kind regards, Warigia

On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 4:11 PM, Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe at gmail.com>wrote:

> FYI
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 11:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] how positive can foreign media be?
> To: Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> First and foremost let me go on record here (I have already done so
> elsewhere) and congratulate/thank the local media for their part in
> ensuring a peaceful election.
>
> As for the International media - I think that the tirade against them by
> Kenyans is an indictment against the (foreign) fourth estate.
>
> The local media already went through their indictment in 2008 - and this
> time round voluntarily opted to adhere to a code of conduct and certain
> protocols.
>
> One example was not airing live any press statements by political parties
> or aspirants and subjecting any such footage to strict vetting according to
> the standards voluntarily adopted. The fact that international media aired
> many of these press statements where their local counterparts did not is
> (sufficient?) grounds for the sharp criticism launched against (all of)
> them by Kenyans.
>
> Andrea - by now you should know that being a member of the fourth estate
> means that you are right in there with the good, the bad and the ugly and
> it is only one measuring stick that is used for all of you, so if enough of
> you fall short - that is the measure that will be used for all. Pole sana
> for your feeling under attack, this is exactly how local media who did not
> propagate hate speech in 2007/2008 felt.
>
> Nevertheless, it is clear that the point that Kenyans made has sunk home
> because there has been a clear change in the tone and language of pieces
> coming from the foreign media.
>
> Power to the people!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Brian
>
> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 10:47 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>
>> Andrea
>>
>> I know it may not be a popular thing to say right now but I agree with
>> you entirely. Let's not throw the baby with the bath water.
>>
>> I personally was very disappointed with the lack of creativity and use of
>> data to extrapolate, analyze and give intelligent synopsis of what was
>> happening. I felt let down by the fact that the information was there but
>> none of the mainstream local media used it to give us more than what the
>> IEBC was giving us on their screen. I found it particularly dumbfounding
>> when we started counting the votes again when we had reached almost
>> 4million votes. That was an opportunity for a good narrative that Kenyans
>> needed to hear. But no..we focused so much on the message of peace (not
>> that I am against peace) that we forgot that the whole process had to be so
>> much above board as to render anyone who questioned the results seem like a
>> joke. Unfortunately we lost that opportunity.
>>
>> Now we have another opportunity to stress test our new constitution and
>> institutions. This may be a silver lining that God has given us so let
>> those who are dissatisfied with the results have their day in court without
>> them being vilified as being unpatriotic.
>>
>> My pesa nane..
>>
>> Ali Hussein
>>
>> +254 773/713 601113
>>
>> "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Mar 11, 2013, at 9:52 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt <
>> andrea.bohnstedt at ratio-magazine.com> wrote:
>>
>> Maybe Kenya would have been important enough anyway to cover the
>> elections? And I know of many Kenyans who also stocked up on food as well
>> (when they haven't left the country) - you just needed to spend a bit of
>> time in supermarket queues before the elections to see that it was a very
>> solid mix of everyone who lives here.
>>
>> Any Kenyan would rightly take offense with being wholesale painted as
>> tribal murderers based on 1,500 people having died in 2007/early 08. But
>> what you do is turn around and do exactly the same thing to 'foreign
>> media'.
>>
>> Yes, there were completely idiotic, wrong, stereotypical articles, and
>> they should be ridiculed every single one. But there were also many
>> competent, insightful, sober pieces. And there are many members of the
>> international who don't just swoop in for elections, but actually live
>> here. Maybe we can judge them one by one rather than condemning all of them
>> wholesale?
>>
>> In this forum, it will probably be a tricky argument to make that some of
>> the international media actually still (soberly, factually) reported where
>> the local media just shut up. So I won't make it.
>>
>> And in the meantime, I hope that everyone who's so irritated with the
>> international media will apply the same amount of scrutiny and criticism to
>> the local media and the corruption inside that system.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 11 March 2013 20:18, Warigia Bowman <warigia at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Personally, I am feeling very angry at the foreign media. Thanks Evans
>>> for this shocking ridiculousness. we need to expose them!
>>>
>>> I wrote this yesterday.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://digitaldemocracykenya.blogspot.com/2013/03/feeling-frustrated-with-change-in-press.html
>>>
>>> On Mon, Mar 11, 2013 at 5:30 AM, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Wow, this is a gem from Time:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "At this election, with a new 2010 constitution, and a new electoral
>>>> body with a new — though not glitch-free — electronic voting system,
>>>> Kenyans’ determination to hold a peaceful election has been palpable. *The
>>>> popular mood has also been notably anti-Western. Foreign diplomats
>>>> have been warned of blood-curdling revenge should they interfere in the poll
>>>> *. *Foreign journalists have been publicly ridiculed and denounced as
>>>> prejudiced if they predicted chaos and disaster.* And a central
>>>> message of most candidates’ campaigns was strident, patriotic
>>>> self-determination."
>>>>
>>>> Read more:
>>>> http://world.time.com/2013/03/09/kenyas-election-what-uhuru-kenyattas-victory-means-for-africa/#ixzz2NE3fBw4v
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *----------------------------------------------------
>>>> Kind Regards,
>>>> Evans Ikua,*
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Dr. Warigia Bowman
>>> Assistant Professor
>>> Clinton School of Public Service
>>> University of Arkansas
>>> wbowman at clintonschool.uasys.edu
>>> http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com
>>> -------------------------------------------------
>>> View my research on my SSRN Author page:
>>> http://ssrn.com/author=1479660
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>>
>>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>>
>>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt>
>> Publisher
>>
>> www.ratio-magazine.com
>> www.africa-assets.com
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com
>>
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/blongwe%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>
>
>

-- 
Dr. Warigia Bowman
Assistant Professor
Clinton School of Public Service
University of Arkansas
wbowman at clintonschool.uasys.edu
http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com
-------------------------------------------------
View my research on my SSRN Author page:
http://ssrn.com/author=1479660
--------------------------------------------------
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