By Winnie Kamau
Nairobi, Kenya: Media houses in Kenya as elsewhere are increasingly facing both internal and external threats, according to reporters and academics who cherish the country’s strong tradition of investigative journalism and the rights of Freedom of Expression in Article 33 and Media Freedom enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution.
While financial, legal, and political pressures are placing great strain on the sector, somehow certain investigations still cut through.
Njeri Mwangi, a renowned activist, dusted off her early journalism training to deliver a hard-hitting investigation at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her maiden report, The Baby Stealers, a collaborative story with BBC Africa Eye, aired in November 2020 with more than three million views online.
“I am a mother and I can’t imagine losing my children in any way,” she says. “I wanted to find out what was happening… It’s too painful to bury a child whatever age but these ones are being stolen and then they disappear without a trace and there’s few that are found. How does a mother live knowing that their child is somewhere out there?” she asks.
The story continues to air on media houses that have partnerships with the BBC like KTN-Standard and the K24-Media Max, extending the shelf life and reach of the investigation.
Another of Mwangi’s reports from 2022 also on BBC Africa Eye, uncovered a trafficking network smuggling children with disabilities from Tanzania to beg on the streets of Nairobi and made ripples across the region.
The families of the children had been told that their earnings would be sent home to improve their lives. Instead ‘masters’ were making themselves rich at their victims’ expense.
James Zengo Nestory, who has lived in Kenya since 2001, was arrested following Mwangi’s exposé. The court on 27th January 2023 ordered him to pay a Ksh 30 million ($241,000) fine or serve a 30-year prison term.
“We will never know the compounded effect of how many children we saved from that one trafficker. Hopefully, it also stopped other traffickers from doing the same,” Njeri reflects.
Journalist Francis Ontomwa has been in the industry for close to 10 years, starting out as a regional reporter in Kakamega and Mombasa.
“There were ethnic clashes, the issue of drugs in Mombasa,” he explains. “I noticed what was coming from Mombasa was just general reporting and we needed to do in-depth reporting”.
Following a stint working with international media like the BBC, Ontomwa is back with the Standard Group at KTN where he leads the investigative desk.
“The biggest challenge I think for me is that newsrooms are not really investing in investigative journalism, but I’m lucky to be in one of the media houses that really has a reputation on investigative journalism and has been trying to trail that kind of a facet of journalism,” he says.
“We need to open up more spaces and … the newsrooms, they need to be deliberate about it, set up desks that are properly geared towards telling stories that are investigated in depth because right now you cannot compete with the new media. They tell stories perhaps better than even mainstream media at times,” he adds.
To survive in the current market, Ontomwa believes: “You have to have an edge with audiences, I would say that newsrooms cannot bargain on this. They have to open up desks that are properly centered on investigations.”
Highlighting the importance of society, Ontomwa cites one story that was close to his heart while he was starting out – uncovering a paedophile underworld in Mombasa. Despite the obstacles and overheads, he is resolute.
“I think in Kenya we are lucky because there are countries where you cannot talk about investigative journalism completely. In Kenya, we have our challenges, and I am not saying we are there yet, but I think we have the space to tell. The Media Council of Kenya is doing a pretty good job of protecting people who do investigations. In Kenya the space there might be shrinking but it’s there,” says Ontomwa.
Investigations obviously require significant resources including finance, logistics, experienced reporters, and legal support.
For the beggar exposé, Mwangi and her team made frequent visits to Mwanza in Tanzania involving both flight costs and movement on the ground. Even looking for the families of the Tanzanians who wanted to go back home was costly. Budget is also needed to ensure the safety of journalists while working.
She describes reporting what happened next after the ‘baby stealers’, “You follow up the court proceedings, which take forever, and the charges and the arrests and the sentencing with every one of the people that was charged… It’s expensive.”
She asks, “Will you be able to follow up on every single one of the investigative stories? Or can you trust that once you’ve done the exposition, that the authorities that need to come into play will do their job?”
Learning the Art
Veteran editor and journalist, Eric Shimoli, says investigative journalism in the country stands on the shoulders of pioneering giants like Mutegi Njau, Joe Kipsangok, Mohammed Warsama Snr. and the late William Onyango. It has always taken effort to become an investigative journalist, explains Shimoli.
“The beauty with those days is that media houses invested in good journalism. So, we used to use the police reports as tips to be developed further. And so basically, you joined the newsroom, did press conferences, went to police HQ… and then if you are good enough, you graduated to cover the most specialist areas, which were the Courts and Parliament,” he recalls.
The curiosity that is key to becoming a good investigative journalist, says Shimoli, goes beyond the Google search engine.
“You were only taken to the investigative desk after your editors confirmed that you have the thorax. Also, there was the element of integrity, that you will not be bent by material things,” he says.
As an Associate Editor in the Nation Newsroom, Shimoli confirmed the legendary Goldenberg investigation, reported by the then Business Editor, Peter Warutere, recently dubbed by The Conversation, as Gold fraud: the Goldenberg scam that cost Kenya billions of dollars in the 1990s – and no one was jailed.
“Peter Warutere had actually come up with the alleged scandal that ended up to be Goldenberg, just from reading government books, being able to analyze government documents, from the budget to the auditor.. and Comptroller General had reported to Parliament, he was able to pick what is this about gold exports in Kenya, and you can see the curiosity developing,” explains Shimoli.
“He asked himself, where do we mine gold in Kenya? And from that, he was able to come up and say, ‘Hey, this compensation, we don’t have gold to this extent in the country’. So, there was that element of curiosity and a bit of expertise that was required for people to be able to come to those desks,” he says.
Shimoli was also among the journalists who broke the Anglo Leasing story that rocked the country during the reign of the Late President Mwai Kibaki.
“The Anglo Leasing scandal was actually inherited from the Moi government… what we had was basically an arms purchase scheme for the government that people had cooked up and knowing that it was a way of passing a government public budget and that money would go to a shell company and then, later on, be distributed among them,” he explains.
Prof. George Nyabuga has been a Lecturer at the University of Nairobi and is currently at the Aga Khan University.
“Investigative journalism is critical to the society,” he says, “Because you’re investigating government wrongdoing, you’re investigating the leadership, and you’re trying to hold them to account for either failure caused by commission or omission. I think maybe at the Aga Khan, we are a bit privileged because we’ve got the resources to train media houses,” he says.
“We’ve seen the BBC Eye that reports on sex for work and other reports. And those take years. They cost a bit of money. So without the media houses themselves investing in investigative journalism, then however much we train, however rigorous we are. With our own training, we will see challenges within the broad ambit of investigative journalism,” explains Prof. Nyabuga.
As the media landscape evolves, with new tools coming such as AI, he and Ontomwa stress the need to keep developing the skills of the next generation.
“Because you realize at some point there was a gap in investigative journalism in this country where we had a certain crop of investigative journalists moving out of the scene, then there was radio silence. You completely didn’t see anyone taking over. I think we have to keep mentoring, holding hands to journalists who are coming up so that they are able to take up their roles and we keep pushing this agenda,” notes Ontomwa.
Kenya’s Government Spokesperson, Dr. Isaac Mwaura during recent Press Briefings set out the Government’s stance on investigative journalism saying:
“There is no room in this Administration for any form of victimization going forward… But a lot of changes are happening within the media Circle. And the office of the government spokesperson being the national government Communication Center stands with the journalists and believes that you play a very critical role in disseminating whatever information that we want to take to the public.”
“It’s a partnership and I would like to encourage you to continuously work with us so that we are able to deliver on our mandate,” he says. “So, any person who is investigating an issue, please go ahead, as long as you report objectively and factually and of course, you bring to light that’s the role of the fourth estate. We have benefited in the past as a country from your work,” adds Dr. Mwaura.
Under Pressure
A recent Friedrich Naumann Foundation report by Prof. Nyabuaga ‘Media Under Pressure’ found a particular concern for outlets when authorities resort to punitive measures like withholding advertisements as retribution for what they perceive as unfavorable coverage.
The report further states that this not only places the financial sustainability of media houses in jeopardy but also raises serious questions regarding the fundamental principles of press freedom and editorial autonomy.
Professor Nyabuga reflects: “Newsrooms are not investing new money, human capacity building, and they are hardly employing investigative journalists. So that is a failure on their part, mainly because it’s expensive and media houses… are interested in making some sort of profit, or at least monetizing their content,” he says.
One recommendation in the report is to establish an independent media support fund to address the pressing financial challenges faced by the media which would enhance media independence, and prevent media capture.
Government representative Dr. Isaac Mwaura notes concern over media houses being bullied online with trending hashtags on social media.
“The government is not involved in such things. Of course, there’s a change of our advertisement policy that is on record and you know going forward we hope that we can have an amicable way of working with the media because we need each other, the government needs media and the media needs government,” he says.
Adding, “However, I must concede that it’s a highly competitive world. There are alternative communication channels that are increasingly playing a critical role going forward, but I am sure our mainstream media is increasingly becoming adaptive. My office is very committed to protecting the welfare of journalists,” asserts Dr. Mwaura.
Ontomwa is concerned that: “The space of investigative journalism is in a way shrinking… largely because of so many factors playing around with the government issues and also, of course, media houses are not ready to really invest in investigative journalism”. But he is in this for the long haul.
“I know there are all these factors working against me in so many ways, but it’s been a personal cause because I really want to be that voice, the voice that tells stories that not so many people want to be told, and because they are largely pegged on public interest,” Ontomwa affirms.
Prof. Nyabuga raises another issue facing Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda – the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
“We might think that criminal defamation is gone, but it is still there through such legislation because the moment you publish information that is damaging to someone by using certain gadgets, especially computers and all these technologies, then you sort of have broken the law,” he reflects.
“The short answer is that we might as well be pronouncing… or announcing and writing, the obituary of investigative journalism in East Africa,” he notes.
According to Kenya Union of Journalists’ Secretary General, Eric Oduor, also an Associate Editor at the Nation Media Group, investigative journalism is not taken as seriously as it used to be and faces challenges from the familiar “zero investment’ to hidden influences.
“Somehow stories are shelved, depending on the different interests, especially commercial interests, by the media, especially investigative journalism touching on the corporates.” Adding, “Also if a media house is owned by politicians, then that story cannot be investigated by that media house.”
Thirdly, he says: “There’s no protection for journalists who do investigative journalism, for some of those stories are very sensitive and journalists who do them require protection. For any event if they are pursued by people who are named in the investigative story, be it corruption, this protection would really help,” he explains.
One such example is Purity Mwambia, whose investigation Guns Galore aired in 2021, which showed how it was easy to get a gun from the police. It took her a year to stand up to the evidence that put her in harm’s way, leading her to seek protection outside Kenya.
“In such a story you will find that the threat always comes from the people affected by the story,” says Oduor. “You see the reason why people do not do these stories is the way journalists are protected. We usually rely on our friends from Europe and the USA who have come to help us,” he adds.
Oduor notes, “However …those programs usually come to an end, they are time bound… you are supposed to enjoy the protection before time lapses, it means you will have to go back to your country, whether the risk has gone down or not.”
Njeri Mwangi feels now more than ever, that we need to be vocal about the ills in society but also to form communities of like-minded people for solidarity.
“Because even if they silenced me, by threats, there’s so many other people that will be talking loudly. So, I do not feel unsafe, either as an activist or as a journalist. Because there’s a community, there’s a movement of people talking about the same things that you’re passionate about. And they’re about the good of the society. They’re about national good,” says Mwangi.
One such ‘community’ is the Global Investigative Journalism Network which curates some of the best investigative stories worldwide. In 2022, 61 stories were selected of which 20 were from sub-Saharan Africa. Top on the list was Mwangi’s story Trafficked and Forced to Beg in Nairobi.
Media Capture in Kenya?
The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) defines media capture as a form of governance failure that occurs when the news media advance the commercial or political concerns of state and/or non-state special interest groups controlling the media industry, instead of holding those groups accountable and reporting in the public interest.
“The Kenya Kwanzaa Administration has always supported free media and freedom of the press. Always. Even when the Press was against the mainstream media, was against this Administration, during the campaigns, so journalists are allowed to investigate,” says Government Spokesperson, Dr. Isaac Mwaura.
“On media capture, there are stories you cannot tell about the Government, that’s true but I think we cannot despair. We must keep on pushing and pushing and telling these stories no matter how uncomfortable it makes people feel and Kenya has pretty good laws. We are protected even as we try to make our voices heard in this space of freedom of speech,” says Ontomwa.
Shimoli warns individuals can be ‘captured’ too, not just ‘the media’.
“Media capture is applied in various ways, either through the media houses themselves and media owners and editors are involved in media capture. It is not just the government that is involved … Media capture occurs when, for instance, there’s pressure to go slow on some issues or to stop the publication of issues that are damaging to save the Government altogether. So, I think it’s a serious thing that we have started to see in the recent past where there is a bit of pressure that is applied to media houses … to go slow on certain issues,” he explains.
Shimoli highlights another strategy attractive to those seeking influence: “People target this editor, this reporter, if I capture them, then nothing bad will happen to me they say”. He also acknowledges, “terms that are very, very insulting to any journalist, and one of them is facilitation. The other is brown envelope journalism. And those are killing this industry. Unfortunately, it’s prevalent,” he notes.
Mwangi flags the impact of funders: “…even when they’re keeping the one who funds them happy, that means they cannot tell the stories that they need to tell. So, a lot of stories cannot be pursued or cannot be aired. So, you kill that story,” she says.
Professor Nyabuga identifies two key financial levers. “When the government announces that they’re not going to advertise in the media, or when a certain advertiser says that you’re damaging our brand by publishing negative stories, that is part of the old strategy of media capture. So, it’s not just the government that is guilty of media capture,” he explains.
Dr. Mwaura dismisses the idea of Government interference in the media, “You people must be protected, you know going forward because you are doing a patriotic duty to the members of the public, duty in reporting on what is happening. There is no government policy whatsoever to suppress the media. We are not in that business,” he says.
The Future of Investigative Journalism?
While investigative journalism is undoubtedly under pressure, there is hope if media houses organize together, pooling resources and reducing the risk of being a lone target. The proposed media fund could not only help struggling media houses but also provide financial assistance to journalists and give legal support for both media houses and reporters facing legal threats.
“It’s easier to hit one organization. But if five organizations are collaborating to bring out something, it’s not easy to hit the five. So, collaboration, because of the way the business is today, the challenges that the media business is undergoing, will have to be adopted,” explains Shimoli.
Previously, he says, “With all this money we were not scared. We would tell off anybody because we had money and also made serious profits up to 1.8 billion a year. So, it was good. But now, the realities of the days are that profits and the business model are challenged because of new media. And it’s only good that people collaborate, do dockets jointly and share out these responsibilities and work together”.
Mwangi agrees, “We just need to come together as journalists, as media houses. It doesn’t matter who you serve, whatever kind of stories you tell, we need to find a way of independence, whether we do that for government or not, whatever engagement we need to unshackle ourselves, at least and form some kind of independence, but also be able to tell the stories that need to be told.”
This story was developed thanks to a grant administered by the Kenya Editors Guild. The project received support from the Thomson Reuters Foundation as part of its global programme aiming to strengthen free, fair and informed societies. The financial assistance provided has no influence or bearing on the journalist’s editorial work. The content of this article belongs solely to the author and is not endorsed by or associated with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Thomson Reuters, Reuters, nor any other affiliates.
