Media investors are being urged to prioritize fair compensation for their staff in order to safeguard journalists from the threats of violence, online harassment, psychological strain, and financial instability.
Speaking at a media stakeholders’ forum in Naivasha on Saturday, David Omwoyo, the Chief Executive of the Media Council of Kenya, emphasized that inadequate and delayed payment puts journalists, particularly correspondents and field staff, at risk of various challenges, fostering unethical practices within the industry.
Facing the reality, Omwoyo asserted that a financially strained journalist might succumb to the temptation of accepting a ‘brown envelope.’ Correspondents and editors experiencing prolonged periods without payment are more susceptible to compromise by news sources, jeopardizing their independence and objectivity.
“This is why we currently witness numerous unethical incidents involving correspondents, some of which even pose threats to the journalists’ lives,” he conveyed to industry stakeholders.
The one-day seminar, titled ‘A Time of Internal Retrospection,’ convened editors, media managers, practitioners, and state actors, aiming to inspire practical action plans fostering professionalism, journalist protection, addressing existing challenges, and strengthening collaboration.
At a time when the industry grapples with escalating financial and ethical issues, recent reports highlight incidents of attacks on journalists during their work, coupled with instances of non-payment or delayed payments.
Araka Matara, the newly appointed Chairman of the Kenya Correspondents’ Association, criticized the industry’s culture of non-payment or payment delays, emphasizing that media houses engaging in such practices undermine the integrity and professionalism of the entire industry.
Matara also called on media houses to invest in enhancing the capabilities of the new generation of journalists by providing regular training on various beats, legal and ethical considerations, and instilling discipline among them.
