Let’s first be clear about the word violence. We tend to notice and give prominence to overt forms of violence that damage property and hurt individuals physically. Violence occurs on many different levels and it takes many different forms. Usually it is only the obvious expressions of violence that are counted.

Let’s use well known example of the kind of violence that we saw meted out on Hope FM, a radio station in Kenya. A guard was killed, people hurt and property destroyed in the bombing.  Although the station had earlier received threats that it would be attacked, nothing was done about it. Nothing was done afterwards to arrest or prosecute the culprits.

In the raid on the East African Standard earlier this year, masked raiders- later admitted to be policemen- forced their way into the station. They damaged property, confiscated computers, a vehicle and other equipment. The huge public outcry was ignored. Not only did the government, through the Minister for Security admit responsibility for the raid, but he threatened to do it again. The minister for Information and Communication supported him.

We, the public, are always told to take our grievances to court and not to beat each other up or break into each others’ houses if we think things are amiss. Clearly, those rules do not apply to the government. No criticism of the Minister in charge of security came from others in government, lending credence to the fact that his action was taken on behalf and with the agreement of all members of cabinet. It was so to speak, government action.

What then is the message to the media? Clearly media, one of the symbols that is often touted to show just how free and democratic we are- are NOT free to operate freely because the government does not have to follow the law in dealing with the media. The government is the law. It can and will use force where and when it wants to and has no interest in the consequences for democracy or anything else. The government does not really care about public outcry so there is in effect no-where for the media to run for justice or protection since the body charged with protection of the media is the one attacking it and the alternate is ignored. The government does not have to explain itself. In this case it cited security grounds and said the media house had dangerous information. Too bad if you want to know more.  

A couple of years ago, there was the jamming of the KISS FM signal (another radio station) for a day. It would be rumour-mongering to suggest that the signal was jammed to prevent an interview scheduled for that day and I am not a rumour monger so I will move on. After the signal returned, there were allegations that a government aligned station had been responsible, made by none other than the authoritative Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK). There has never been any explanation. No one has ever been charged and the Managing Director of CCK was instead moved to another state corporation.

These kind of incidents appear few and if we describe violence in this absolute form, then it may appear to be an exaggeration to say that the government is using violence to distract attention from more pressing issues.

When we look at other levels, a more complete picture emerges. Verbal violence is well known. It is distinguished as a form of violence in law and covers expressions such as abuse, threats and intimidation- words used to coerce people to do what you want them to do. When a member of the executive, a whole cabinet minister directs a warning at the media and says “if you rattle a snake you must be prepared to be bitten by it” we must look to the intent of such a message. I say it is designed to create an environment of fear and domination.

The previous Minister for Information and Communication Raphael Tuju publicly threatened to pull advertising from a particular media house for raising a question of conflict of interests arising out of his ownership of a media production house that had made a bid for a tender floated by his ministry. In regular language, that is called blackmail. He is free to take his customs anywhere he chooses but he chose instead to use it to leverage advantage over a media house and threaten their bottom-line.  That’s cold.

I often hear ministers and other government officials talking about corrupt journalists. In the examples they give, they cite themselves as the bribe givers and one wonders if they know what they are saying. They participate in creating the situation and then blame the media practitioners.

Then there is the violence of silence. Before the NARC government  came into power, they published a manifesto in which the reform of the media environment featured very high. They said they completely understood the problems faced by media and the constraints under which it operated. They said they would repeal the oppressive laws and amendments made by the colonialists and what they called the oppressive rule of the previous President, Moi. They promised to do a better job. 

Now that they are in power, all they have done is warn, threaten and attack the media pretending not to see the myriad problems that stymie the growth of media, doing nothing to support that growth but claiming all the glory. When accused of stifling democracy, they say, “Look what we’ve done for the media.” They’ve done nothing.

Look at the public broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC). For the first time in its independent history, we have seen a departure from the traditional boring propaganda style that  we had been used to. That change happened despite the fact that the government cut off all funding to KBC and said it should rely on its own resources. This left KBC what should be the public broadcaster (NOT the State Broadcaster) that we rely on to tell us about places, people and things that the commercial broadcasters don’t want to invest in. Putting nothing in and taking everything out is the position the government has chosen to take, rewarding the managers who try to make a difference by transferring them to other offices.

All these things have been done in an orchestrated effort to discredit and frustrate the media. It constitutes violence against the media. It creates an environment where media practitioners and owners cannot work freely. They must spend extra money installing security against invasion by the government that swore to protect them. They must worry about the blackmail. The government knows that the media is the only remaining institution that can check its abuse of power by keeping the public informed and aware of what is going on.

Despite all the difficulties facing the media and the challenges facing practitioners and even in the face of such abuse and intimidation, the media continues to keep the government on its toes.

Rose Lukalo Owino
Presented during the Media Council of Kenya Monthly Discussion