At the Media Bill Kenya School of Monetary meeting, I proposed that neither government controls nor media is left alone to self-regulate itself. I asked for a independent media watch institute headed by consumers - the *confused* recipients of government propaganda and media self-interest/preservation angles. Obviously this proposal was unpopular to either.
<br><br>"In many a European country public broadcasting performance has come under severe<br>criticism. The institution is said to have too much power with too little responsibility and no<br>room for holding it to account. At the same time journalists are blamed for being too cynical,
<br>too scandal and hype focused and, in a competitive market, too much driven by the question<br>'what sells'. Politicians complain that the media try to set the political agenda, that policy<br>making is unduly influenced and, worse, that journalists tell half truths and whole lies. It is as
<br>if the institutions legally or professionally entrusted with symbolic power, are losing the trust<br>of those with political power...." <br><br>'...The press serves as a watchdog for democracy, but a watchdog that barks too often is
<br>
useless. An information channel that distorts the information fulfils no function. In any<br>
other sector where the product is so vital for society and the risk of a loss of quality so<br>
great, the government would have intervened. The principle of press freedom makes<br>
this impossible. Consequently this is a task for the press itself, given the potential<br>
danger and social harm of media that behave as a political actor without showing<br>
accountability..' <br><br>Death Duties: Kelly, Fortuyn, and the challenge to media governance" <a href="http://www.yle.fi/ripe/Papers/Brants_Bardoel.pdf">http://www.yle.fi/ripe/Papers/Brants_Bardoel.pdf</a><br><br>
You will find I have retreated to "hide" park on this one.<br><br>Alex<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/21/07, <b class="gmail_sendername"><a href="mailto:bitange@jambo.co.ke">bitange@jambo.co.ke</a></b>
<<a href="mailto:bitange@jambo.co.ke">bitange@jambo.co.ke</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Dear All,
<br>I feel compelled to respond to Kanja's surprising response to the Media<br>Bill. Media especially MOA has decided to distort information with blatant<br>disregard of a journalist's cardinal rule (objectivity) to poison the
<br>People of Kenya with lies and propaganda;<br><br>Here are the Facts<br>.<br>The Bill was drafted by stakeholders among then Kanja himself;<br>The content especially on the code of conduct for journalist were<br>transposed from the current code of conduct with the Media Council;
<br> All stakeholders were kept informed throughout the stages of the Bill<br>and Kanja as the former Chair of MOA received letters informing him of the<br>progress;<br> The Bill does not seek to control, it simply gives some teeth to the
<br>Media council to regulate professional journalists;<br> Regulation is not control (think, we all are free to drive but we must<br>drive on the left hand side);<br> Without regulation you have quacks as journalists who may plunge the
<br>country into chaos (just listen to Venacular FM stations to understand why<br>we need professionalism in Journalism and remember what happened with Hope<br>FM);<br> The controversy in the Bill arises from funding. MOA and KUJ did not
<br>want to fund the Advisory Board and the Media Council instead they asked<br>the Government to finance; and<br> Government funding comes with certain strings as you all understand and<br>even if you were to fund you will expect the recipient to adhere to
<br>certain rules (we have gone through this with the World Bank even though<br>we did not like it).<br><br><br>Bitange Ndemo<br><br><br><br><br>----------------------------------------------<br>This message has been scanned for viruses and
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