Reasons Why A Kenyan Mainstream Media Journalist Is An Endangered Species…And Why We Should Start Taking The Social Media Seriously (Part 1)

Mainstream media has always been the most trusted and up to date source of information in Kenya and the world over. Apart from entertaining, its other functions include educating, informing and to summarise all, get keeping.

However, as time goes by, all this is quickly fading out as less and less important things take centre stage, effectively eroding the values of good journalism and the main functions of the media in Kenya.

A friend who has worked with the media industry for two decades once told me that when he started working as a journalist, objectivity took center stage. Everything was done objectively and that is one of the many ideals of good journalism. Unfortunately, as he laments, today everything has changed.

A Kenyan mainstream media journalist is an endangered species. A lot is happening in newsrooms. Objectivity has been eroded.

This weekend I had a chat with a renowned journalist who works in one of the biggest media houses in the country and as we shared about journalism and its fate in Kenya, one thing manifested itself: journalism is on the decline in Kenya, and specifically in the main stream media.

A month ago I did an article on the relationship between mainstream media and Kenyans (There Is Hostility From Kenyans Towards Mainstream Media, And We Have The Evidence…But Why?) and in the article, after a thorough research, I highlighted how the relationship is a bitter one, especially from Kenyans who no longer trust the mainstream media, thanks to its failure to live up to the watchdog role that it should perform.

Three TV stations that have switched off to protest forceful digital migration

Many Kenyans no longer trust the main stream media and this explains why they are behind the government as it pushes for digital migration. They seem not to miss anything even after the purported 3 favourite TV stations shut down in protest of the hurried digital migration.

Many say it is time the media houses pay for their ‘atrocities’. Which are these atrocities Kenyans want the mainstream media to pay for? I asked my friend over the weekend.

Continued on Part 2