Press Freedom and Globalisation - International Press Institute

Press Freedom and Globalisation
The case of Kiss FM became hot due to underlying conflicts. Kiss FM’s owner Patrick
Quarcoo has some connections with former President Moi and Kiss FM is adversarial to
the present government. In addition, Quarcoo is a rival to Macharia, owner of Royal Media
with Citizen’s radio and TV. Citizen FM even jammed Kiss FM’s broadcasting signals for
a while without any subsequent consequences. 167 Just before this situation, Kiss FM also
had poached and headhunted five of Citizen FM’s prime time presenters. 168 The Kiss FM
example illustrates how a mix of interests influence publishing and reactions to it.
A barrier between editorial matters and the interests of the medium’s owner is not
developed much in East Africa. 169 The press history reports a great number of incidents
where media owners have used their power to pursue private interests through editorial
content. This is a source of censorship in Kenyan media, and illustrates the mix of private,
commercial and political interests. 170
Insult regulations are in a democracy meant to be the arrangement which make
balance between rights of privacy towards other rights including freedom of expression.
These laws are extensive in East Africa, and are useful for anyone who obstructs what
media are publishing. 171 It is even possible for individuals to bring bankrupcty on a
medium by libel law. 172 The Media Council of Kenya tries to turn this practice in a more
favourable direction for press freedom. The attempt is to maintain balance between free-
dom of expression and the right of privacy by use of code of ethics instead of the law. 173
Reporting on tragedies and crime, the practice of East African newspapers is to
publish details and identifying informations. Here are two examples:
167 Oral interview with Opanga.
168 Wachira, “The unlikely media mogul”.
169 Retief, Media Ethics, pp. 141 and 144-146; and “Forces Around Press Freedom” above.
170 For instance: Kadhi, “Anglophone Africa: Puppets of the proprietors?”, pp. 83-85 and 99, Ochieng, I
Accuse the Press, pp. 55 and 63 (where Ochieng disagree with Kadhi); and Kadhi’s address “Is There a
Place for Unethical Journalism in Kenya?” in Nairobi, 1 st March, 2005.
171 Walden, “Insult Laws”, pp. 208-212 and 220-222. This general article also refers to Kenya and Uganda.
172 Makali (ed.), Media Law and Practice, p. 227.
173 The Media Council of Kenya, Code of Conduct and Practice of Journalism in Kenya, pp. i-ii.
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