Scribes to file election stories with ease from MCK media centers
By Dickson Odhiambo
August 8, 2022
Scribes to file election stories with ease from MCK media centers
A Number of Journalists giving media coverage to this year’s
General Election from Kisumu and other parts of the country will now file their
stories with ease from media centers established.
The media Centers are the first ones to be established
within Kisumu and some regions by the Media Council of Kenya to help
journalists do their media coverage of this year’s elections where voting kicks
off tomorrow by 6:00 am and ends at 5:00pm.
Addressing the Journalists in Kisumu today during the
inauguration of the Media Center within the posh Milimani Estate, Director,
Media Training and Development at the Media Council of Kenya Victor Bwire said
the Media Centers established across the country will be of greater help to
Journalists who provide media coverage during this electioneering period.
He says apart from the Media Center established at the Bomas
of Kenya where the IEBC has a national tallying center, there are seven other
Media Centers established to assist Journalists do their work effectively while
covering this election.
He says other regions where the Media centers have been established
include Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Eldoret, Nyeri,Embu and Kisii.
Bwire says the Journalists operating from the media centers
will be very safe during the times they will be working there to give extensive
coverage to the polls, adding that only journalists who have been duly
accredited by the Media Council will have access to the centers.
“At least the Journalists who are covering this election
across the country in the areas we have mentioned as having media centers will
do so with a lot of ease since they will be safe and will also be able to get fast
and free internet to hasten their work of filing stories related to the
election,” Bwire says.
He says having media centers easily accessible will make
scribes safe since they won’t walk for longer distance from the IEBC tallying
centers at the counties to their offices.
Bwire adds that the Media Centers can also be used to host
press conference on issues related to elections since they are safe places.
“I think by establishing the media centers, we have also
minimized cases where journalists covering elections are being attacked at
night in the line of duties of covering elections when they walk long to go
back to newsrooms to file their stories,” Bwire adds.
Kisumu based Journalists have welcome the move of establishing
such center to ease their working during the electioneering period.
John Riaga, Kisumu Based Journalist says a number of
Journalists with no offices to do their work especially during the
electioneering period will now have a place to do their stories.
Riaga has however called for an establishment of permanent
media centers across the country to help journalists get somewhere to do their
work easily especially the freelance journalists operating without bureaus.
“We want to thank the Media Council of Kenya for such an initiative
since this is a plus to the Journalists at the grass root level who will now do
stories related to elections with a lot of ease,” Riaga says.
Former Chairman of Kisumu Journalists Network Dickson
Odhiambo has greatly lauded the move to establish the media centers across the
country.
Odhiambo terms the move by the Media Council of Kenya as a
major milestone on the issue of election coverage from the grass root level.
In Kisumu, the Media center is situated barely a few meters from
the IEBC Kisumu County Tallying center at Tom Mboya Labour aCollege where the
Results for Governor, Woman Representative Senator positions will be officially
announced by the IEBC County Returning Officer.
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