Through the Kenya Media Sector Working Group, journalists carrying placards with messages such as 'Shoot Not the Messenger' brought business to a standstill as they marched across Nairobi streets to deliver their petition to the police.
In the petition, the members of the press listed several demands including accountability for illegal shooting, beating, abduction, and harassment of journalists by state operatives.
They demanded immediate prosecution of rogue police officers including the one who shot a journalist in Nakuru.
The journalists also castigated the government over threats to shut down media houses covering the anti-government protests that continue to be witnessed in the country.
'Today, we have appropriated our rights as citizens and professionals to gather and express our anger over police brutality against journalists, threats to shut media houses, and other primitive strategies by state organs and agencies, politicians, and their ill intentions bent on curtailing the hard-won freedom of expression and media,' the journalists said.
Journalist shot
Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki, a journalist working with K24TV, was shot four times by police during an anti-government protest on July 16, 2024. Medics confirmed that three rubber bullets were lodged in her thighs, with one of them causing a serious injury.
Narrating her ordeal at a Nakuru hospital where she was admitted, Wanjeri told local media recently that she was being targeted by the police alongside other journalists for covering the anti-government protests.
"Nobody would convince me that I was not a target, it is not the first time I have been targeted. I had been hit by a teargas canister but I did not report nor escalate the matter. I just showed my colleagues the scar on the same leg that I was shot at," she recounted.
In the same week, veteran journalist and newspaper columnist Macharia Gaitho was violently arrested while driving around Nairobi with his son. However, the police later freed the scribe without charge, terming the arrest a case of mistaken identity.
Recently, the Communications Authority of Kenya cautioned the media against broadcasting content pertaining to the ongoing protests, arguing that airing such content violates the Constitution.
Citing violent protests that have resulted in the loss of lives and destruction of property, the authority said the media is mandated with the critical role of maintaining public order and sensitivity.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
