Journalists need protection, not condemnation and threats

In Hounded: African Journalists in Exile, Joseph Odindo writes that good journalism demands more than an ability to cultivate news sources and generate content. It requires courage.

And this week, Citizen TV’s Purity Mwambia displayed courage in her investigative story, SilahaMtaani/GunsGalore, which captured the country’s imagination and shook the timbers of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and National Police Service bosses.

“It was as easy as it was chilling,” said Ms Mwambia as the video clip came to an end. She was referring to the ease of acquiring a pistol, an AK 47 rifle, a police uniform and handcuffs. In the clip, a police officer allegedly called to threaten her. He’d gotten wind of the fact that she was a journalist.

As journalists, we knew trouble was brewing. We were right.  “Will she be safe? Will she be protected?” were some of the questions raised by concerned comrades within media circles. For, although journalism is not a crime, truth-slinging often comes at a very high price.

Act of courage

But not everyone thinks hers was an act of courage. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss called the reporting “inaccurate, sensational and aimed at humiliating the National Police Service (NPS)”, adding that it amounted to an abuse of media freedom.

This is a curious accusation that deserves to be addressed by anyone who believes in media freedom.

The DCI proceeded to summon top editors from Royal Media Services, a move condemned by the Media Council of Kenya (MCK), which is mandated with safeguarding media freedom. MCK’s statement read, in part: “...In this case, where the media has exposed weaknesses among some elements in the National Police Service, natural justice demands the same service cannot then purport to investigate or otherwise summon the journalists.”

The Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) also expressed regret and trepidation over the summons, noting in their statement that “the DCI, and the National Police Service in general, should familiarise themselves with the entrenched constitutional provisions that guarantee free operations of the media and unhindered public access to the same”.

KEG and MCK were simply reiterating an accurate, non-sensational, not-meant-to-humiliate-the National Police Service fact: that journalism is not a crime.

As a survivor of a robbery-with-violence incident, the investigative piece triggered memories I would rather bury but also raised my hopes that one day, the streets will be safe from illegally acquired guns. That’s what Kenyans expect the DCI and the National Police Service to focus on. Instead, it’s the popular adage of a man whose house is on fire chasing after a rat all over again that’s repeating itself, given their reactions so far.

If nothing else, the expose should open everyone’s eyes to the high price journalists pay for speaking truth to power.

The truth is that SilahaMtaani/GunsGalore has been decades in the making, and it’s the citizens and journalists that need protection, not the police.

[email protected]; @FaithOneya