Kenyan media should up their game to cultivate patriotism

Kenyan media should up their game to cultivate patriotism

Communication experts on Tuesday urged the Kenyan media to change tact to be effective in driving the patriotism agenda. 

  

Dr. Levi Obonyo, the Head of Communication Department, Daystar University and Mr. Ken Njiru of Uungwana Initiative, were speaking in a media roundtable organized by Media Focus on Africa themed on the role of the media in cultivating patriotism. 

Need for relevance in the dynamic society should motivate the Kenyan media to drop their business- as-usual approaches, the panelists concurred. 

Citing the United States media history, they contended that the media shoulders the responsibility of cultivating patriotism amongst the populace.

They concurred that this responsibility entailed inculcating hope and pride on the people.

“Media should deliberately set these agendas through programming,” Obonyo said.  

However, the preponderant commercial motivation behind the mainstream media could make this responsibility unattainable, he added.   

Njiru concurred. 

“Balancing between profit making and serving their responsibilities can be challenging.” 

Besides searching and reporting the truth, avoiding bias, avoiding harm and maintaining trust, the media should strive to escape manipulation, he added. 

Media in developing countries is significant in influencing a great deal of social causes and nurturing democracy.

  

For relevance, the panelists contended that Kenyan media should change their approach to match the dynamics in the society.

“Media should invite criticism and be accountable to the public,” Njiru said, adding that media that lacks accountability can be tyrannical.

The issue of media endorsements, where media owners took sides in political discourses, surfaced.

Njiru mentioned how endorsements are global phenomena in the media by quoting the openly anti-Democrats Fox News as an example. 

“Taking of sides should not compromise the objectivity and professionalism of the media,” Obonyo said. 

Reacting to a concern from the audience on whether the clamor for patriotism was not a contradiction of the tenets of objectivity, the panelists clarified on the essence of patriotism. 

Njiru chided the behavior of media houses drying any feelings of pride amongst the people by focusing on the negative sides of their founding fathers. 

“If you focus on the skeletons, you will be skeletons yourself,” he said, adding that in doing so, the media houses should not be driven by a paradigm of fear but a paradigm of patriotism.

Asked whether the patriotism responsibility holds across all media, Obonyo answered to the negative. 

The national broadcaster, KBC, has more responsibility compared to commercial media, he said, adding that social media hold negligible levels of responsibility. 

“Social media is not a source of mainstream thought,” he said. 

They concurred that regulation is essential for the media to serve the patriotism responsibility. 

Elias Makori moderated the 2-hour media roundtable, venued at Nairobi’s Alliance Francaise. 

Pius Maundu

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