PRESS FREEDOM

            PREREQUISITES OF PRESS FREEDOM IN KENYA

The United Nations Universal Declaration of human rights Article 19 defines press freedom as; “the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers.”Although this definition might not be universal, it does to some extend sums up what press freedom means in most states.

            Since press freedom is important in social, economic and political development of the people, the state must provide an arable ground for growth of such freedom. Article 33 (1) of the constitution Of Kenya on freedom of expression clearly states that, “every person has the right to freedom of expression which includes-freedom to seek, receive or impart information or ideas.”This means that from people seeking information from the government officials, bloggers offering their opinions on internet to newspaper columnist expressing their points of view on pages of dailies. The government must accommodate all these. And although such freedoms are limited courtesy of constitutional provisions, it does not either give a state the power to freely oppress by arresting and intimidation of journalists whereby they misuses such freedom.

            Free ownership of the media is also a key ingredient to press freedom in Kenya. For people to get all different views of information on issues, ownership of the media should not be restricted to certain people on the basis of class, culture religion or political views. Everyone has a free will to choose what to listen to what to watch or discard. If it’s a person looking up something on internet, he/she can take what suits them best as contemplated on Article 35 of the constitution of Kenya 2010.The state is also restricted from exercising control or interfering with production and circulation of information by a medium as Article 34 (2,3,4) states that, “the state shall not –(a) exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or dissemination of information by any medium or (b) penalize any person for any opinion or view on the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination.”

            Part three of this article also gives any person a freedom to establish a media house, electronic or print broadcast. And although this is subject to licensing procedures, any media house will be established regardless of politics or other factors. It states that, “broadcasting and other electronic media have freedom of establishment, subject only to licensing procedures.” It goes further to expound on reason for such procedures.

            The state must also surrender information that is important to the public. Such information are those held by the state officials regarding public funds,spending,security of the state or any information held by another person that might require the state to compel such person to give such information that might be crucial in exercising or protection of fundamental freedom. Article 35 (1)a and b clearly underlines this freedom with the second part stating that, “every citizen has the right to access information held by the state and any other person and required for exercising or protection of fundamental freedom.” With time the state must also provide the public with information that affect or important for the people as underlined on part three of this article

            Lastly, the state must also refrain from exercising media bias if press freedom is anything to be achieved soon. Laws must be applied equally and accordingly regardless of the views, alienation or nature of the media owners.Kenya has for a long time seen the government attacking media houses with the famous raid of The Standard Group in 2006 standing out.

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