Kenyan lawmakers are trying to pass a bill in Kenya right now that will force reporters to reveal any sources that they use in their stories. This bill is in responce to accused actions taken by the press in which they often defame people, destroying certain people's reputations. In response to the bill, over 300 Kenyan press members marched to Parliament with black gags and white tape over there mouths, to symbolize the restriction of free speech and free press that the bill would create. Macharia Gaitho, an editor for The Nation Newpaper, said that "gagging the media is the first sign of a dictatorship".
I don't know exactly where I stand on this issue. On the one hand, Kenyan media, according to this report, does suffer from relatively wide-spread corruption. If the media really is defacing public officials for their own gains (or the gains of those pulling the media's strings) then I think that is a serious issue that needs addressing. Media corruption for one side is just as bad as if it is for the other side. I don't really think that this measure is the answer though. When you take away the anonymity of sources, then oftentimes those people won't want to be sources, because they could fear reprucussions. This would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the press to reveal scandals and report other stories that need reporting. If there is a problem with corruption in Kenyan media, I think there are much better ways of dealing with it then subliminally silencing it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment