Disability is not Inability

:: Media in transitional Kenya

Is the media and not politicians, the hope of Kenyans in its quest for development? If so what form of media do we need to deliver the promised land? How can we as a nation influence the dynamics of the media if this objective is to be achieved?

You may not appreciate the media in this way. To my little mind, I see the media purely in terms of its citizenship. Its rights and responsibilities within the context of our development timeframe. I belive Kenya is in a fluid transitional phase and the media's rights and responsibilities need to be balanced in this context.

A Status report card of the 2007 media in Kenya to my mind; is best done by journalists with a development mind. The best of such I Know is Expressions Today or ET; edited by David Makali and company... Reading this magazine you will not appreciate the value of media expressed above. You will find it difficult to see why media and politicians are not two sides of the same coin of pursing self interest at whatever cost.

But look again. What are the rights of the media. To pursue profitability within journalistic principles of freedom of the press. Definition of "Freedom of the press" here is guided by international thinking and laid down by the country's development framework.

To me this is what defines which regulation is necessary and which is not. To me statutory regulation should guide self-regulation to ensure a dynamic balance between the rights and responsibilities of the media. The balance should be continously changing because Kenya is transitional.

The strength of business sense should not overwhelm development sense. Neither should vice versa. Transitional is defined beyond constitutional review needs to the perpetuity needs of the country or culture.


Regulation issues

Ownership has influence on content. Content has influence on transitional dynamics, the worst of which was best expresseed in forces behind Rwanda genocide. I would root for oligopolistic ownership. This not only build three or more influencial opinion marketshares. It also entrenches democratic principles by diversity in editorial perception.

My thinking is that a media conglomeration is beneficial only to the extent that there is editorial diversity within. Otherwise ownership of TV and Print need to be separated to the extent that editorial democracy is maintained.

But providing equal editorial respresentation to competing social forces is not the only factor to consider in determining regulation. Promotion of those interests is also a necessary responsibility of the media.

That is where the interests of shareholders and journalists is as important as those of the consumers and social structures involved in the country's or cultures in which the media operates. To protect the pursuance of these competing dynamics in a transitional country like Kenya is not possible without some regulatory environment.


Content relevance

The power of the media is the impact its content has in negotiating our relationships in an effort to overcome challenges we meet in the path to the promised land. Looked at this way you may shadder at the thought of its importance at this point of time in Kenya.

The local control of this power is so critical if competing social forces are to be represented equally and beneficially. The relevance of international ownership is limited to resources distributions. The limited contribution of international ownership should therefore not overcome the local self determination needs for perpetuity.

What this means is that as much as international investors are welcome to invest in local media their interests should not overthrow local self determination needs. Local journalists need to be well trained and paid to improve their skills at building content that builds better relationships.

disabilitykenya

:: Media in transitional Kenya

:: Who tops on local television, radio content

:: Media in civic education

:: Media in politics

:: The Internet and local content.