Newspapers of the day in a Nairobi news stand. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS

Along with the violent outbursts in Kenya following the 27 December election, Kenyan media practitioners have experienced self-censorship, threats and violent attacks. "We have failed", says the chairman of the Kenyan Union of Journalists in this report

It is like walking on eggshells, the local journalists say about the delicate act of balancing which characterized Kenyan media during the current outbursts of violence.

When violence broke out in the days after the disputed December 27 election in what used to be considered as East Africa’s most stable and prosperous democracy, most Kenyan journalists and editors found themselves covering a devastating political conflict for the first time.

The political situation increased the pressure on privately owned media – most clearly demonstrated through the ban on live radio and TV news reports on 30 December 2007, when all live radio and television broadcasts were suspended indefinitely. Pressure has since been constantly mounting -with journalists being arrested, others being shot at while covering the riots, and most recently, a wave of death threats has been launched against journalists.

In the highly explosive political situation, increasing external pressure on the freedom of expression environment and an internal fear of further inflaming violence and ethnic divide has dominated the media houses and driven media managers and journalists to restrain themselves in their coverage of the controversial election and the post election violence. “Like walking on eggshells” as the atmosphere in the media houses was described locally.

A gruesome wake-up call

According to Tervil Okoko, chairman of the Kenyan Union of Journalists, the actual situation has been a gruesome wake-up call for Kenyan journalists.

“This conflict has come as a big shock for Kenyan journalists. We have never been in a situation like this before. For a long time, we had a very large degree of freedom of expression which made us lower our guards. But the pressure on the freedom of expression environment has made journalists afraid. When you are afraid, you are not sure how to go about. And then it becomes difficult to protect the right of people to information,” says Tervil Okoko.

A painful process of soul searching

Traditionally, Kenyan media has been relatively independent and generally, media practitioners have been acting very responsibly. But the increased pressure on the journalists and the media houses in a highly explosive political situation, where the role of the media has become crucial, has introduced a culture of fear and self censorship amongst Kenyan journalists which has further been threatening the independence of the media.

In the media houses editors and journalists have gone through a painful process of soul searching in the weeks after the election. Their conclusion is clear – Kenyan media failed in fulfilling its role as independent and critical watchdog.

“Yes, we failed,” says W. Kwendo Opanga, group editorial director at the Standard Group, one of the two most important private publishing houses in Kenya.

“Our media has not gone into investigating what really happened in the days after the election. It haunts me to this date that we have not done so. We were never in the frontline in search for the truth about the election,” concludes Mr. Opanga.

This article is based on facts gathered during an assessment mission to Kenya in January 2008, carried out by Article 19, Reporters without Borders and International Media Support. As a result of the of the mission, IMS will from 11 February be coordinating a joint rapid response mission to Kenya responding to the urgent needs for safety and conflict sensitive journalism training. The needs for a more long-term media safety strategy will also be assessed during this mission.