The Media as “Agents for Peace”: a Kenyan Perspective

By Lavinia Mohr, Deputy General Secretary and Director of Programmes, WACC

Bethuel Kiplagat

The United Church of Canada’s Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit first consultation with global partners in ten years took place in Toronto in mid June 2008.It brought together some of the UCC’s many national, regional and international partners from around the world as well as partners from Canada. Partners from Angola, Brazil, Fiji, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, India, Nicaragua, Palestine, the Philippines, Switzerland Syria and Zambia were among the participants who explored aspects of the theme “Faithful Partnership in a Time of Empire” over three days. WACC and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) were the two organisations with a global membership that took part.

Bethuel Kiplagat, Executive Director of the Africa Peace Forum and one of the founders of Kenya’s Concerned Citizens for Peace, was among those who took part.Through his involvement with the Concerned Citizens for Peace, Ambassador Kiplagat (a former Kenyan envoy to France and the United Kingdom and former deputy General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Kenya) worked with social organisations, the private sector and the media to restore peace in Kenya after the outbreak of post-election violence in December 2007. In his comments to the gathering, he emphasised that the influence of the media is a topic that needs more attention. Concentration of ownership and cross-control of media and information structures entails limitations on editorial independence that can reduce the diversity of voices in the media.

In a conversation during the UCC consultations with WACC’s Director of Programmes, Amb. Kiplagat pointed to the importance of the media in building and maintaining peace in Kenya, throughout Africa and beyond. Many decisions that have a major impact on Africa and its prospects for peace are made outside the continent, often in a climate of ignorance about Africa. He thinks the international media contribute to that environment of ignorance. The international press does not carry enough stories by African journalists who are producing news and analysis about many aspects of Africa that receive little notice in other parts of the world. As a consequence, Africa appears incorrectly in the international media primarily as a place of disasters and violence.

The media within Africa also have a part to play in building and maintaining peace. They can be what Amb. Kiplagat calls “agents for peace”. The Concerned Citizens for Peace in Kenya launched several initiatives during the recent post election conflict to involve the Kenyan media in contributing to the restoration of peace. Media owners and editors and journalists were asked to sign a peace charter, and many did. Print journalists signing the charter were asked to write about peace building efforts for the national and international media.Most of their stories were published in Kenya or abroad. Radio, in his view, is especially important to maintaining or restoring peace due to its immediacy.He noted the tendency of radio station owners and managers to hire people, without regard to professional qualifications, whose main qualification is being able to speak well. This presents the possibility of great danger in times of tension. He sees a great need for higher professional standards and training in “conflict sensitive journalism” throughout Africa, and for an emphasis on higher standards of professional qualifications especially for radio journalists and on-air personalities.