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Kenya Newspaper ‘Standard’ makes
plea on live coverage
Published on January 19, 2008, 12:00 am
By Lucianne Limo
The Standard Group Deputy Chairman, Mr Paul Melly, has requested
the Ministry of Information to give journalists guidelines on live
coverage.
"As a media house, we know it is not the intention of the
Government to ban live coverage but we will exercise our judgement
and ensure undesirable content is not aired," he said.
He added: "We are willing to delay our news coverage for some time
but we will be worried if it is unduly delayed."
Melly made the request to the Minister for Information and
Communication, Mr Samuel Poghisio, when he paid a courtesy call to
the media house on Friday.
Poghisio was accompanied by his Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange
Ndemo and senior ministry officials.
Present at the meeting were the Standard Group Chief Operating
Officer, Mr Paul Wanyagah and senior editorial managers.
The minister explained that the Government had not banned live
coverage but merely asked the media not to air raw footage.
"There is no such thing as a ban. What we want from media houses
is responsible broadcasting and that they should edit footage that
could fuel tension during this critical period," he said.
He asked media houses to desist from airing or publishing reports
that may cause tension.
"As part of the healing process, the media should exercise
balanced reporting and take the lead in returning the country to
normalcy," he said.
Melly said the Standard Group would continue to act responsibly
and exercise reasonable judgement.
He regretted that the media house was unable to expand its
coverage due to the digitisation programme being undertaken by the
Communication Commission of Kenya.
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