Kenya seeks to defend its ban on live news reports
Kenya's government on Saturday sought to defend its ban on live radio and television news reports, saying it wanted to promote fair coverage with the nation facing deadly rioting.
By Agencies |
NAIROBI: Kenya's government on Saturday sought to defend its ban on live radio and television news reports, saying it wanted to promote fair coverage with the nation facing deadly rioting.
The government banned live broadcasts last Sunday fearing "grave harm and injury to national interest brought about as a direct consequence of inflammatory and inciting statements issued by politicians in live broadcasts," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"It is in this regard and as an exceptional step that the government imposed restrictions on live outside studio broadcasts to enable media houses to use editorial discretion to determine what is aired."
"This measure is a temporary one and is in no way intended to gag the media or curtail their freedom," the statement added.
The ban, imposed shortly after President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected, sparked criticism from local and international media watchdogs that said Nairobi was strangling press freedoms.
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Opposition leader Raila Odinga has claimed that Kibaki rigged December 27 elections, touching off nationwide protests, tribal fighting and looting that has killed at least 361 people and displaced some 250,000 others. Kibaki on Saturday offered to form a national unity government in a bid to defuse the violence, but Odinga stood by his demands for him to resign to pave the way for dialogue.
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