Editors within Kenya’s leading media houses are divided over allegations that State House threatened to shut down their establishments if they televised the alleged NASA swearing-in ceremony today.
This emerged on Monday after the Editors Guild Chair and NTV’s Managing Director Linus Kaikai said some editors were summoned to State House last Friday where President Uhuru Kenyatta threatened to close and revoke the licenses of any media house that would air the event live.
In a statement, Kaikai said that according to the Star, “We have just learnt today that on Friday last week, a section of media managers and select editors from the main media houses were quietly summoned to a meeting at the State House, Nairobi, the objectives which were unknown. But the proceedings should be clear cause for alarm to the media and the public.”
Kaikai added that the Friday meeting attended by DP William Ruto, AG Githu Muigai, ICT CS Joe Mucheru and Interior CS Fred Matiang’i exuded an aura of intimidation to the Editors Guild.
“The Guild is appalled by the details of the meeting which was held under an atmosphere of intimidation for the media representatives present. Chairman of the Media Owners Association Hannington Gaya on Monday evening confirmed that the tone of the meeting as a ‘dressing down’ in which the media was, quote; ‘read the riot act.”
But even as the Guild’s Chair condemned the alleged attack on media’s freedom, the Editor’s Guild vice chair Samuel Maina dispelled these claims and said otherwise.
Maina who was present at the State House meeting in a statement after Kaikai’s said that, “What is being termed as a “dress down” is a misrepresentation of facts.”
“We had a fruitful discussion and we all agreed that media freedom has to be accompanied by a high degree of responsibility. At no point were any threats issued to media houses or any ultimatums given on how we choose to broadcast matters of public interest, or those relating to the current political situation in the country,” he added.
Kaikai had termed the threat to the editors a brazen attack on media houses’ role to inform the public.
He also said that the political differences between Jubilee and NASA should not in any way be dragged to media circles.
“This brazen threat is intended to intimidate the media from performing its rightful role of informing the public on matters affecting them,” he lamented.
“We would like to state it with all the clarity we can that the media is not an actor in the ongoing contest between Jubilee and NASA over the outcome of the last General Election. The Media remains a mere messenger and a chronicler of any events happening in our country. Our country’s vibrant media is made up of competent professionals of journalists and editors that continue to make sound decisions on what constitutes news, in public interest.”