Deal struck on Kenyan media bill
By Leah McBride Mensching, Monday 30 July 2007 at 20:01 :: Press Freedom & Laws :: #341 :: rss
The government in Kenya and media stakeholders have compromised on proposed amendments to the country's controversial media bill.
Media Owners Association Chairman Hannington Gaya and Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya activist and media consultant Tony Gachoka welcomed changes to the bill, but both are apprehensive that a Parliament “deemed hostile to the media may interfere with the passing of what they perceived as a 'healthy' bill,” AllAfrica has reported.
One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is a clause defining a journalist as one who “holds a diploma or degree in mass communication from a recognised institution of higher learning and is recognised by the council as such.” The bill also defines journalism, the meaning of a media enterprise and a publication.
Although Gaya is quoted by AllAfrica as saying the clause “makes journalism a respected profession, as it distinguishes who is a journalist and who is not,” the clause also severely restricts freedom of the press by allowing a government hostile to a free and independent press decide who is and who is not a journalist. It also makes criminals out of citizens who happen to be eyewitnesses to a newsworthy event, and then report on that event in some way.
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