Employ more female journalists, media houses told

By Samuel Ouma

Media stakeholders have urged Kenya's media organizations to recruit more female journalists to achieve gender equality in the industry.

The Kenya Media Sector Working Group, in a statement, said recruitment of female journalists would assist the media in achieving affirmative action.

“More women should be recruited into journalism to ensure the media provides equal opportunity and space for both men and women. This requires affirmative action to urgently remedy the gender skew,“  read part of the statement signed by the group’s chairman Chairman Churchill Otieno.

Kenya Media Sector Working Group brings together Kenya Editors' Guild, Kenya Union of Journalists (KUJ), and Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK), among others.

Consequently, the stakeholders also raised concerns about the recent rise of journalists' retrenchment and pay cuts in the media houses.

They termed the acts as unsustainable, noting that the decreasing number of journalists will cause long-term effects on the industry, roles, and responsibility of the media in society.

They asked the media house owners to carry out self-audit in the newsroom on the skills available and the ones needed.

To solve the challenges bedeviling the industry, they suggested the establishment of a Media Fund to ensure consistency and continuity of independent and diverse media.

They committed to working with Parliament to develop a law to establish an independent and progressive Media Fund.