Journalist covering an event. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]
The media has been challenged to be more proactive and to consider the consequences of stories aired across the country.
A couple of weeks after being accused of taking sides in the just concluded general elections, the fourth estate was urged to be non-partisan and play its role in educating, informing and entertaining.
This emerged at the end of a three-day workshop for journalists organized byCommittee for Implementation of Citizen Participation in Security (CPS).
During the retreat held in KPC Morendat training institute in Naivasha, speakers said that the media had a major role in uniting the country.
According to the committee chairman Joseph Kaguthi, the media should take up its role and stop been used by politicians to propel their ambitions.
While praising their role in the elections, Kaguthi noted that some media houses had taken sides further splitting the country into tribal and religious lines.
“We have a very robust media in the country but it’s time that they stopped airing illegalities mainly from the politicians who are keen to push their agenda,” he said.
Addressing the press, Kaguthi noted that the country’s media houses should learn from Western countries where negative images were never aired.
“We respect the freedom of the press by its time the journalists stopped promoting illegalities by airing inciting stories which end up dividing the country even further,” he said.
On her part, a lecturer Eva Njauini from St Paul University called on the press to promote nationhood and defend the country’s image and heritage.
She warned the media that if chaos were to erupt in the country, journalists would not be spared either noting that some politicians were wrongly using media houses.
“Let’s not propagate or beam bad images in the name of making cash but concentrate on issues that will propel this country and the coming generations.
Another lecturer Dr. Edwin Nyutho accused a section of the press of poisoning the country by airing unconfirmed or inciting stories that end up raising unnecessary tension.
Nyutho who is a journalism lecturer at the University of Nairobi noted that journalists were slowly losing their focus and role in the society by giving politicians too much time.
“Journalists are not as critical as they used to be and its time that our learning institutions relooked into the issue of journalism curriculum as part of changing this,” he said.