Protect Programme for Media Freedom
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- May 13, 2021
The newly launched Protect Programme by the British High Commission aims at supporting the media freedom in Kenya, mainly in the three major towns in the country, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
According to the British High Commissioner, Jane Marriott, they have collaborated with 4 other local partners, i.e ARTICLE19, HIVOS, ICNL (International Centre for Not for Profit Law) and INTERNEWS to ensure that the programme makes a significant impact to media freedom in the country in the coming years.
The Protect Programme will give grants to various organizations and will also provide grants directly to journalists who are based in the towns of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu so as to assist in their data journalism stories’ production.
She stated that a free press forms a foundation for economic prosperity, for social development, for more open and inclusive societies. The open exchange of information allows economies to flourish.
The Protect Programme constitutes 5 main aspects which include:
- Contributing to a well enhanced policy and legal environment.
- Enlightening the use of data to hold government to account on the delivery of services.
- Offering support to female journalists by ensuring that the environment in which they are operating is safe and secured.
- Providing support to media houses on future business models.
- Promoting civic education on the critical role of the media.
“We’ve begun discussing the programme with the Guild and it is early stages, so your input and support is very welcome. I hope to be able to come back in future and tell you more about what it has achieved,” said the British High Commissioner at the Kenya Editors’ Guild Press Club.
Marriott said that the country needs investigative journalists who will spend days, weeks and even months to get the real heart of stories. She also added that they needed journalists to be safe in their industry and work without fear of interference.
