LSK Challenges Communication Authority’s Warning To Media On Protest Coverage

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) has contested a warning letter from the Director General of the Communication Authority to several media houses.

The letter criticized the manner in which recent protests and human rights violations have been reported.

The Communication Authority claimed that Kenyan media compromised objectivity and balance when reporting on crime, security operations, and crisis situations.

They also criticized the airing of images of dead or wounded people, stating it caused shock among the public and victims’ families.

LSK President Faith Odhiambo acknowledged the concerns raised by the Authority but reminded them that their role as regulators does not extend to determining what news is disseminated.

Their role is to ensure that the news does not contravene Article 33 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

“We challenge the Communication Authority to substantiate their claims of biased reporting by the media. It is not the media’s duty to sanitize unconstitutional violations of human rights through toned-down or favorable reporting. There is no neat, balanced, or objective way of reporting rogue police brutality, extrajudicial killings, government impunity, and lack of integrity,” Odhiambo stated.

Odhiambo emphasized that the media has a constitutional duty to report information as it is, and that the Communication Authority cannot nullify this duty with baseless threats and unqualified warnings.

“We are concerned that the Communication Authority seems diligent only when the government is being scrutinized by the people. Their duty is to the people of Kenya, not the government. The airing of shocking images is not new or unique to Kenyan media. These images result from heinous actions that must be reported to the public, and the perpetrators must be called out in the strongest terms possible. While we agree that the media should respect victims and their families, disseminating information is fundamental to democracy, as necessitated by Article 33 on freedom of the media and Article 35 on access to information,” Odhiambo added.