Agency’s Chief Executive Officer says the council is targeting six counties across the country for a major operation in the coming weeks to weed out the quacks.
Media Council of Kenya has said it will launch a major crackdown to rein on quacks who have deeply infiltrated the Kenyan media industry.
The agency’s chief executive officer David Omwoyo said that the council is targeting six counties for a major operation in the coming weeks to weed out the quacks who have taken over several counties in the country.
Mr Omwoyo said that the quacks are involved in a myriad of misdemeanors including misrepresentation of facts, taking money by false pretense and asking for handouts from news sources, among other unprofessional practices.
EXTORTION
According to the Council’s boss, 19 cases have been reported in Kilifi County in recent weeks.
“It is a major challenge. We shall crackdown on the quack journalists because Media Council is the only body mandated to register journalists in the country. It will be decisive and will be less about press freedom but extortion. The quacks who move from one place to the other asking for handouts, taking money by false pretense and misrepresentation of facts,” said Mr Omwoyo.
NEGATIVE STORIES
He was speaking during a five-day media engagement forum organized by Nairobi City County at English Point Marina Hotel in Mombasa, which ended on Sunday.
Mr Omwoyo also called for a proper coordination between counties and journalists to avoid cases where journalists are either assaulted or denied access to critical information at the county governments because ‘they have written a negative story ‘.
“The media plays an important role in communicating to the public the development agenda of the county government, therefore as journalists lets focus more the development agenda,” he said.