WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2024

By Thuku Kariuki and Daniel Furnad

You don’t have to go back more than a week in Kenyan history to see just how important press freedom is.  

Larry Madowo, albeit working for an international network, spoke truth to power.  He was out among the victims of the torrential rains in one of Nairobi’s infamous floods.  He interviewed desperate residents, who cried that no one from the government came with any help.  And then Larry narrated shots of the Red Cross doing the heavy lifting in a variety of areas, saving lives, and shaming Kenya’s authorities.

Media Council CEO addressing the media at the 2024 Annual Media Summit

Within hours there were announcements from the Statehouse that help was on the way.  Money was appropriated.  Assignments given.  It might be that Ruto’s government was just moving slowly at first.  But it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the President was watching CNN when he realized action was needed immediately.

This is what journalists do.  Sometimes in emergencies…sometimes when we identify perennial problems that need addressing.  We report what is really going on, knowing that it may make the powerful look bad, but also knowing that if we don’t speak up, people’s needs and even their very survival, will be neglected.

Thuku Kariuki, a documentary filmmaker at work

Hundreds of other journalists did the same hard work, wading through rivers, witnessing the suffering of people with little means.  They put their observations out on radio, on TV, in newspapers, and, of course, so many on-line.  Because in a disaster that is happening in real time, many people are turning to social media and on-line outlets to get the up-to-the-minute information.

It is important that these journalists not be constrained by fear that their reports will anger those in power.  It is important that they get information to people while danger is still avoidable.  

Freedom of the Press saves lives!