KENYAN MEDIA: FIRMLY IN GOVERNMENT'S CROSSHAIRS

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 002168

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2026
TAGS: PHUM KDEM PREL KE
SUBJECT: KENYAN MEDIA: FIRMLY IN GOVERNMENT'S CROSSHAIRS

REF: NAIROBI 1023

Classified By: Political Counselor Michael J. Fitzpatrick.
Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Even as the government hoped the public's
outrage over the March Standard Media Group raids would
quietly dissipate, continuing official actions only
underscore the government's unrelenting ire towards Kenyan
media. While paying lip service to its commitment to free
media on the one hand, government officials continue to
chastise the irresponsibility of Kenyan press on the other.
Following the March raids, although there was little hope of
an apology or appropriate explanation, observers were
optimistic that the government would learn its lesson.
Sadly, that hope too has faded as the government,
paranoia-driven and uncertain of its future after the 2007
general election, repeatedly lashes out at Kenyan media. END
SUMMARY.

WHEN IN DOUBT, DENY
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2. (C) The February 28 arrest of three Standard journalists
and the March 2 government raids on the Standard Media Group
signaled to Kenyans that press freedom in Kenya has not yet
fully, or adequately, evolved (reftel). While the government
had hoped to get away with never justifying the raids and
that public outrage would quietly fade, their repeated
fumbles have kept the issue of media freedom in Kenya front
and center. Despite Internal Security Minister John
Michuki's March 3 insistence that the Standard was in
possession of "matters detrimental to the security of Kenya"
no such evidence has been produced and no charges have been
pressed. An unrepentant Michuki has held firm, declaring
baldly on May 15 that, "I did what I did because of national
security...If I see that the security of this nation is
threatened, and if I find any reason to repeat what I did
there, I would do the same."


3. (C) Since the raids, government officials, in particular
Spokesman Alfred Mutua and Information and Communications
Minister Mutahi Kagwe, have repeatedly lashed out at what
they perceive as slights against the government at the hands
of the media, at times singling out individual articles and
newspapers (typically the Standard):

-- Spokesman Mutua, in a March 23 statement, accused Kenyan
media of "rubbishing the President's call for exercising of
responsibility by media." Mutua decried the "unfortunate
arrogance" among journalists who suggest the government is
only trying to avoid unflattering reporting, and called for
all sides to admit to making mistakes;

-- April 1, Mutua criticized as "inaccurate and misleading"
reports that President Kibaki had been slow to respond to
corruption allegations;

-- The spokesman also struck out against the Standard on
April 11, fingering one journalist in particular, calling a
report on the cause of the April 10 Marsabit plane crash
"baseless speculation and blatant lies";

-- In an April 27 statement, Mutua aired a laundry list of
grievances against the Standard, accusing another Standard
piece on the Marsabit crash of "lying and misleading the
public." The spokesman also took the Standard to task for a
reported meeting at Statehouse: "it appears the newspaper
takes certain politically biased positions and then starts
manufacturing lies to give credence to their positions";

-- Marking World Press Freedom Day (May 3),Mutua again
targeted the Standard, calling "a lie" the paper's assertion
that accessing government information was near impossible
(NOTE: PolCouns attempted to verify Mutua's claim that
certain information was available on a government website.
It was not. END NOTE.); and,

-- May 4, the High Court ruled against Standard Media Group
in a 2003 defamation case awarding Martha Karua, the current
Justice Minister, USD60,000. (NOTE: Human rights NGO
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) notes that this was
only one of hundreds of defamation cases pending under
criminal libel laws, adding that even a few awards would
bankrupt a media house. END NOTE.)
THEY JUST WON'T LEARN
--------------

4. (SBU) The government has also enlisted Parliament in its
attacks on the media. Minister Kagwe on April 26 presented
Parliament (and coincidentally the Ambassador, DCM and other
diplomats in the gallery) excerpts of a radio broadcast he
described as disparaging Parliament and parliamentarians,
allegedly including five members who died in the Marsabit
plane crash. In a fiery reaction, Speaker Francis Ole Kaparo
banned Royal Media (the owner of the accused Citizen radio
station) from covering parliamentary proceedings, threatening
that the media may think it is "powerful, but parliament is
more powerful!" Amid the din of MPs' jeers, the journalists
left Parliament as ordered. They have not been allowed back
since.

BOTH SIDES OF THEIR MOUTHS
--------------

5. (C) Mutua and Kagwe's repeated declarations of the
government's commitment to respecting media freedom are in
striking contradiction to their public tirades against
journalists. The ministers offer examples of irresponsible
journalism as evidence of the need for a
(government-sponsored) Media Bill and pledge support for
freedom of information legislation (drafted and due to be
introduced in parliament this session). However, the
government has actually constrained media freedom: several of
the journalists sought out and threatened following the
Standard Raids have fled the country. The Japanese
Ambassador privately raised the issue of press freedom with
President Kibaki in early May. A suddenly irate Kibaki
declared the Standard "irresponsible" and baldly stated he
would not hesitate to shut down the Standard -- even
permanently -- if he felt the need.


6. (C) On the other hand, the need for greater
responsibility in Kenyan journalism is widely acknowledged.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission observed to poloff that
corruption among journalists is rampant, and the government
has rightly voiced its concerns about cross-ownership of
media houses. Misquotation is a common practice, as
journalists are in the habit of summarizing interviews as
they see fit, creating fictitious quotes and
mischaracterizing statements. On May 3, the Standard
suspended three editors reportedly in connection with an
April piece alleging a meeting (which the government
vehemently denied) between President Kibaki and two ministers
who had recently resigned following corruption allegations.
The editors' suspensions, even if not related to the
allegedly fictitious article, will be perceived as an
admission that sloppy reporting does make it into print. It
can also be held up as an example of a media house taking
action against its own staff for poor work. (NOTE: Former
President Moi and his family are the main owners of the
Standard Media Group. Over lunch May 16 at the Ambassador's
residence, Moi ridiculed the notion that national security
had anything to do with the government raid on the Standard.
END NOTE.)

COMMENT: THE WORLD THROUGH PARANOIA-COLORED GLASSES
-------------- --------------

7. (C) In the prevailing atmosphere of intense skepticism
and suspicion of the media on the part of the government,
calls from civil society and donors for greater respect for
media freedom continue, albeit to little effect. It will
take a shift in thinking among high-level government
officials to realize the media's role is not simply to shower
them with accolades. That said, a greater degree of
responsibility in accurate reporting is certainly needed.
The government's palpable unease with free media, much less
one tied to the opposition, is another symptom of a paranoid
government that feels itself on shaky ground fearing its
survival in the 2007 general election is at risk without at
least a segment of the media in its pocket. In a World Press
Freedom day speech before an Embassy-organized conference of
journalists, the Ambassador emphasized that recent government
actions and statements against Kenyan media signaled a
disturbingly retrogressive attitude towards press freedom, a
point the Mission will continue to reinforce. END COMMENT.

BELLAMY