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Fight for media freedom.[File, Standard]
If the media and the State were two children of Mother Kenya, she would be smiling with pride today. Not because they never disagree, but because they are beginning to act their age. Like maturing siblings, they still challenge one another, sometimes publicly and sharply. Their growing maturity is, in many ways, a reflection of our democratic evolution.
President William Ruto’s recent exchange of jabs with Standard Media Group spotlighted the state of media freedom in our country. The President criticised the media house’s editorial approach in its thoroughgoing critique of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s performance, while the company responded with even more hard-to-ignore questions for the Head of State.
Such confrontations should not alarm us. They are often hallmarks of a healthy democracy. American media mogul Joseph Pulitzer famously observed that, “Newspapers should have no friends.” Wherever the media is genuinely free, friction with those in power is inevitable. We should worry only when the media becomes a friend of the state.
