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CS Owalo, media owners in crisis talks over journalists layoffs
ICT Cabinet Secretary (CS) Eliud Owalo is set to convene a crisis meeting with Media Owners in the coming days in a bid to avert the hemorrhage of journalists in media houses.
In admitting that the media disruption has affected revenue streams and impacted heavily on circulation, the CS expressed concerns over the number of layoffs as the media houses struggle to stay afloat.
He also committed to urgently pursue and ensure National Treasury clears the outstanding payment of KES 1.15 billion owed to media Houses which has been audited.
“The ministry is concerned about the surge in laying offs of journalists by media houses. While there are undeniably hard, and technology is changing, laying off of journalists should not be the first line of intervention,” faulted the CS in a statement read on his behalf by Government Advertising Agency (GAA) director Dr P.D Gwaro Ogwaro at the start of Kenya Editor’s Guild (KEG) 5th convention in Kwale county.
He stated: “I purpose to have a consultative session with media owners in the next few days to review the best way ahead in matters of this kind in the future.”
The CS remarks also come at a time delayed payments by the government for advertisement has also affected the media houses’ operations.
It emerged that as of the present, Media Houses are owned Sh 1.157billion which has been audited and satisfied as payable, while Sh300millio is disputed.
“I am pleased to inform you that the pending bills owed to media houses are being settled through the Government Advertising Agency (GAA), “stated the CS.
He went on, “I expect to complete the process in the shortest time possible; in liaison with the national treasury, it is not our intent to starve media houses of the blood of life of their operation. we want to put this matter behind us so that we can focus on other things.”
Owalo weighed in on the matter of the pending bill, even as more media houses carry out the staff purge to manage their operational costs.
Media Houses are struggling to retain staff with some implementing salary cuts, changing the business model to focus more on digital-first news as well as welfare concerns among journalists who go without pay for months.
“Over successive financial years, the focus has been on clearing pending bills, with the unpaid current consumption graduating into pending bills at the end of each financial year, “the CS explained the cause of the delayed payments to media outlets.
He added, “This arises from the inadequate budgetary provisions for the advertising. However, we are seriously looking into this, and we will rest it very soon.”
But even as the CS commits to help the media outlets deal with the revenue setbacks, the Kenya Kwanza government has slashed the advertising budget by 75 percent in its austerity measure.
“The Kenya kwanza government is committed to protecting and defending media freedom and other civil liberties,” he guaranteed.
He continued, “The government will be reviewing policies to protect and support media freedom and against rogue officers, but it should come with responsibility and media owners should continuously train journalists.”
He challenged editors to look at solutions to the matters affecting afflicting journalists.
Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) President Churchill Otieno noted that the current state of media in Kenya is not its best and this calls for urgent interventions.
“There are so many issues bedeviling the industry that we can not wish away. There is the issue of media sustainably, corruption in the newsrooms, the welfare of journalists, safety, and security issues as well as political interference,” said Otieno when marking his opening remarks.
He lauded the role the key industry players have done to safeguard their interests amidst a myriad of challenges, in the aftermath of the Covid -19 pandemic and the digital disruption.
Otieno challenges the delegates attending this year’s editors’ convention drawn from the region and even China to deliberate of the prospects of rejuvenating the sector and protecting the jobs.
“We must have an honest and candid convention of how to address some of the challenges we face,” he urged.
Owalo also concurred with Otieno that the Covid 19 pandemic occasioned a global economic shutdown among other challenges.
“The pandemic occasioned a paradigm shift in the media industry’s ways of doing business, leading to the exponential expansion of the digital media, itself a good thing, but also riddle with challenges that had been sufficiently mitigated,” noted the CS.
He went on, “The challenges are associated with the emerging trends of fragmented audiences and slow pace of adoption of innovation in the fluid media space.”
The convention dubbed “Beyond Elections: Public Interest and Sustainable Newsrooms” has brought together editors from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Somalia among other sector players and was graced by the Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Zhou ping Jian.
The Ambassador underscored the importance of objective reportage, stressing that the media should not be swayed by misinformation and rumors.
“Reporters, as well as editors, play an integral role in informing the masses for public good. The information should be factual and verified,” he appealed.
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