Kenyan media freedom suffers due to state control
NAIROBI (AFP) - Kenya's media freedom suffered greatly due to adverse legislative intervention and high defamation awards by the judiciary, a Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Media Assessment Report released Thursday said.
"Control of public-owned media remained in the hands of the ruling elite and was mostly exercised in a partisan manner to achieve a narrow set of political goals," the report said.
Kenyan courts this year ordered some newspapers and journalists to pay between 10 million shillings (126,580 dollars / euros) and 20 million shillings damages to libel complainants, prompting an outcry from the media stakeholders.
"The crippling financial penalties meted out by the judiciary for defamation need to be checked quickly if the Court of Appeal cannot act to reduce them," the report noted.
Despite stringent controls on the media, there are more than a dozen FM radio frequencies and TV channels allocated to individuals and which have proved quite popular mainly in the urban areas. There is also cutthroat competition among a handful of privately owned newspapers.
Early this year, however, the government introduced laws, which negatively affect the print and other media, particularly those concerning books and newspapers, film and theatre.
It increased from 10,000 shillings (126 dollars) to one million (12,650 dollars) the amount of bond to be executed and another 1,000,000 as surety for any eventual monetary penalty or damages imposed on publishers.
"The power to regulate the media, which is a preserve of the Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK), was exercised so as to promote patronage and the Attorney General was, to a larger extent, responsible for championing it," said the report, entitled "Freedom of expression: A Review of the Recent Past."
The CCK was established three years ago to regulate electronic media, telecommunication and postal services and to allocate radio frequencies to prospective investors.
"The unaccountable performance of the CCK has gone without redress and powerful politicians and some members of the judiciary continue to hold Kenyans hostage to many machinations," it said.