Press risks sacrificing its neutrality

This reform process is pre-eminently an elite process.

Once an elite consensus is struck, the draft will be adopted, sadly, with the help of the news media.

Whichever side of this elite wins the battle, Kenyans will merely be enlisted to ratify the draft.

The losers on the other hand will try to mobilise support to have it rejected at a referendum.

By failing to either distinguish this elite or unpack the complex document, the public is being roped in to fight ‘a war’ in which they have nothing to gain but a lot to lose.

Soon, the news media will become a platform for this polarised elite.

This is what happened during the last referendum when subtexts of news headlines easily betrayed which side news organisations were taking.

This is not to suggest that news organisations are not supposed to take a stand on such polarising issues.

Such positions only become a problem when the news media allows its agenda to be defined by sections of the political elite with which it has an unspoken pact.

Hate and destruction

Precisely because of the extent to which sections of this news media remain wedded to the political class, Kenyans have legitimate reasons to express reservations at the right of this media to take a stand on the issue.

Unfortunately, in the absence of a trusted forum for public debate, people are bound to resort to the rumour mills and to media outlets sponsored by politicians.

When that happens, we will have opened doors of hate and destruction we won’t be able to close.

This is the time for the mainstream media to rethink its coverage of the reform agenda

Dr Ogola teaches at the University of Central Lancashire. GOOgola@uclan.ac.uk