[Unqualified journalists unwanted. Photo/Courtesy]
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has asked media owners to do away with unprofessional employees who transmit fake news to the public.
Speaking during the World Media Freedom Day, Wednesday, he noted that quacks appear mostly during the electioneering period and extort money from politicians.
He advised the media to lead from the forefront in spreading peace ahead of August 8, general elections.
“As we approach elections, take it as your patriotic duty to hold the country together, weed out quacks,” Mucheru said in his address to stakeholders, in Nairobi.
Editor’s Guild chairperson, Linus Kaikai, who was speaking at the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, Wednesday, also lamented on the increasing number of false news, saying it ws affecting the credibility of the press.
He urged the media fraternity to report factual news to the public.
2017 World Press Freedom Day theme was: ''Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive society.''