Kenya

The political situation following the election in December, which lead to violent riots in Kenya, has increased pressure on Kenyan media professionals. Journalists are being arrested, others have been shot at while covering the riots and a wave of death threats has been launched against journalists and human rights advocates. Together with Editor's Guild of Kenya and Kenya Association of Journalists and international NGOs, IMS is actively engaging in supporting Kenyan media.

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Trauma counseling for Kenyan media

Kenyan journalists recieve trauma counseling following post-election riots. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS
02.04.2008 Share on facebook
Many journalists and photographers in Kenya witnessed the cruel atrocities when covering the riots following the election in December 2007, and suffer severe traumas today. Together with local organisations, IMS is supporting the provision of counseling to help media practitioners
 
When the results of the disputed December 27 presidential election were declared, clashes broke out immediately in Eldoret, a town in Rift Valley about 300 kilometers northwest of Nairobi.
“It was hell. Shops were looted, houses were burnt down, and people were hacked down and killed. There was blood everywhere,” recounts Evans Kanini, a freelance journalist with the People Daily newspaper in Eldoret.
Covering the post-election violence for his newspaper, Evans Kanini was constantly in the frontline of the events. He was one of the first journalists to arrive to the church in Kiambaa, where 40 people, mainly women and children, had been locked up and burned to death.
Today, more than two months later, Evans Kanini still struggles with the trauma that has haunted him since he covered the gruesome events that unfolded in his hometown. The sadness and the pain has not vanished – nor has the embarrassment of watching his own countrymen turn against each other like they did in the weeks after the election.
Evans Kanini was therefore one of the 30 journalists who had signed up for a post-election violence trauma counseling, organized by the Kenya Association of  Photographers, Illustrators and Designers (KAPIDE) and Kenya Correspondents’ Association (KCA) and funded by International Media Support (IMS).
Help to overcome traumas
The trauma counseling, headed by leading Kenyan psychiatrist and expert in crisis disaster management, dr. Sobbie Mulindi, and a rapid response team from the Kenyatta National Hospital, will provide trauma counseling for a total of 150 journalists and photographers in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret and Kisumu, areas that were worst hit by the post-election violence.
Providing counseling for journalists and photographers having witnessed some of the most gruesome atrocities but with no tools to handle the emotional shock has been identified as one of the most urgent and crucial needs by the Kenyan media community in the aftermath of the political violence that killed almost 1,500 people and displaced some 500,000 people.
But counseling is lacking among the vast majority of media practitioners. It is estimated that over 70 per cent of the daily content, both in electronic and print media, is generated by freelancers and stringers who are not protected in any contractual way and who are not part of the fraternity of a newsroom.
As in the case with Evans Kanini. He has not been offered any help from his newspaper that could help him heal his mental wounds. “Employers do not care about freelancers. You are exposed to danger and they do not even care how you survive in the field. Therefore, if it was not for this opportunity, I would not have had access to counseling and found a forum to express my feelings.”
Ministry of Information supports initiative
The Nairobi counseling session, the first of the five sessions, was officially opened by senior deputy secretary, Peter Alubale, Ministry of Information, speaking on behalf of permanent secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo. In his speech, Mr. Ndemo appreciated that “the counseling sessions will go a long way in helping the effected media practitioners cope with the serious health problems they have experienced before, during and after the 2007 December general elections.”
 
The trauma counseling is part of International Media Support’s strategy in support of Kenyan media. The strategy has comprised rapid interventions including safety training for 60 media practitioners in three locations across the country, a workshop in conflict sensitive journalism for 25 reporters in Nairobi and a round table debate, gathering some 40 key media stake holders to assess the challenges and priorities for a more long term strategy.
The interventions have been carried out in close cooperation with Kenyan media institutions –Kenya Editors’ Guild, Kenya Union of Journalists, Kenya Association of Photographers, Illustrators and Designers and Kenya Correspondents’ Association and with international media organizations such as Article 19, International Federation of Journalists and International News Safety Institute.
World Association of Newspapers and International Press Institute have also provided important support to the interventions in support of the Kenyan media under pressure.
 
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