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John Githongo the CEO of Inuka Kenya and fierce human rights defender believes that the civil society in Kenya has to get into the media because traditional media has bias challenges. He says that the media unfortunately is controlled by oligarchic interests.
“Kenya is a very fortunate country that we have the freedom of expression and we have a free media. However, the grim reality that we have to accept is that the media has to prioritize commercial interests to stay in business.
When you have a company growing all the grass in the country and is advertising with you it’ll be very hard to give them negative coverage. If they’re mistreating their workers and the people want it exposed you’ll shun them because this company is paying you,” said Githongo.
Speaking to civilsocieties.org the former PS talked about how they started their own publication known as The Elephant. theelephant.info is a website that publishes long-form feature articles and opinion pieces by authors who are active players in the Kenyan civil society.
Some of the famous activists who contribute to the elephant are David Ndii, former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga, John Githongo, Gado the cartoonist and more.
Githongo believes that in very nuanced elections, civil society should be impartial, balanced and unbiased. “In the August 2022 elections, we have two big players. The Azimio and Kenya Kwanza factions. They are arch rivals but yet are appendages of each other because they were born from each other. However as the civil society, we have to toe the middle line and be objective,” said Githongo.
This conversation was held on the sidelines of the Philip Ochieng’ lecture where Githongo was the keynote speaker. The lecture was in honour of the late veteran editor who worked for the Nation for many years. Many journalists paid tribute to him and his work. He also laid the foundation for the freedoms that the media enjoys today by writing opinion pieces that championed the freedom of the media. Philip was also a huge proponent of self-regulation of the media through his widely sought-after columns.
The event which was organized by the Kenya Editors’ Guild was attended by various stakeholders including journalists and civil society stakeholders.
