Flickr CC courtesy of Alan Levine
Talk shows with vulgar content have been warned by the Media Council of Kenya, which after numerous complaints conducted a survey and found not only were the shows not following the journalistic code of conduct but were also hosted by untrained personnel.
The council commissioned a survey titled the Media Monitoring Report on Radio Talk Shows, which was unveiled yesterday and found 54 per cent of respondents indicated there is a problem of obscenity in radio talk shows because the hosts were not in control of the discussions and thus let them spiral out of control.
Additionally, 56 per cent of respondents believe many callers use fictitious names as a veil for making invective and reckless contributions, while 58 per cent said the discussions were not constructive, developmental or serious enough to inform policy issues.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Harun Mwangi, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Media Council, said: “In Kenya, we are used to absolute freedom and we can’t have freedom that is not governed by conditionalities and we cannot just make money and sacrifice the interests of the country in terms of morals.”
The council wants the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) and media owners to come up with a code for broadcasters and journalism colleges to have training facilities and for only accredited journalists to go on air.
They will also be coming up with a Diploma in Journalism curriculum by September to be used in colleges, the timeline of which will be 2.5 years.
