MCK to do spot check in media Houses to ensure only professionals are employed

Journalists follow proceedings during the Media Council of Kenya Meeting in Kisumu today on New Accreditation Guidelines.The Council says it will do a spot check on various media houses to ensure that only professionals are employed there-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

 By Dickson Odhiambo

October 30, 2019

MCK to do spot check in media Houses to ensure only professionals are employed 

THE Media Council of Kenya intends to conduct spot checks in various media Houses across the country to ensure that only professionals who are trained and accredited are employed in the media Industry.

Media Council of Kenya Chief Executive Officer David Omwoyo says the council has decided to conduct the exercise soon hence to ensure that only those who are professionals and duly accredited by the council are the ones employed in the media houses.

Addressing Media practitioners and Freelancers on the new Media Council of Kenya Accreditation Guidelines for Journalists in Kisumu today, Omwoyo said the Council will issue a notice to all media houses across the country on the issue of wanting to conduct the spot check.

The MCK Chief Executive Officer says the non-professionals working in the media houses will be trained on the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya thereafter the council will accredit and issue them with MCK media accreditation card which expire after one year.

He says by January next year, there will be a new register for all accredited Journalists, Media Houses and Media Training Colleges across the country.

He adds that pilot about the new accreditation of Journalists across the country following the new accreditation guidelines will commence this December and in January next year, it will fully be rolled out.

Omwoyo urges all Journalists across the country to ensure that they are duly accredited in the right way pursuant to Section 4,6{h} and 46 of the Media Council of Kenya Act 46 of 2013 that allows the council to do annual accreditation to all Journalists practicing in the country.

“We want all the accredited journalists across the country to strictly adhere to the Code of Conduct for the practice of Journalism in Kenya because this is what guides them as they go about their daily duties,” Omwoyo says.

He says under the new MCK Accreditation Guidelines, the council will issue a new microchip and reader accreditation card whose expiry date will be placed in front of the card unlike the current one that has expiry date at the back.

Omwoyo says there has been challenges such as massive abuse of the current MCK accredited cards where some journalists whose accreditation cards have long expired continue to use them.

The Chief Executive Officer says some of the rights of accredited journalists include protection from udue attacks in the line of duty.

Others include attending to press briefings, press conferences, press release by the Government or public Sector organizations and other events organized for the press as well as inclusion in official visits by the state and government officials.

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