When the marriage of Chege and Daniel hit the Kenyan headlines, media houses went to extremes to attract viewing audiences. KTN even invaded the parents of Chege and behaved in a way that can only be called cruel and despicable.
This blog is a continuation of an issue that’s bothering me -the irresponsible hatred aired on radio and incitement to violence. I started with a podcast and in my last post shared correspondence with Caroline Mutoko of Kiss FM who surprisingly defended gay bashing DJs on Classic FM. I’ve had further correspondence with Caroline Mutoko in the last 24 hours which went something like this
“Dear Caroline…I hope that you find these comments useful and have it in your hearts to take them seriously. We are a country in pain that is in dire need of healing. You should be the first ones to step up to the plate. It would be a great step if you could apologise to Charles and Daniel as well as all people of different sexual oreintation to yourselves. I think your listeners will applaud you”.
In response Caroline wrote
“Paula;
There is hunger, floods, cholera, Swine flu and other more important issues to deal with.
I’m bored with this nonsense about gay people. I have The World Cup Trophy to deal with
And Tusker’s new brief, Zain’s tariff to execute and serious sales to create for Air Kenya, the people
Who pay our salaries and keep us in business. My day will not be taken up by the drama about
A few homosexuals, I don’t care how livid some people maybe.
If you are disappointed with us, fine. But I really need to do other things with my time.
On my list of priorities afew gay people, are not that important. Yes, I’m being brutally honest….”
and “….Honestly, you’d think I don’t have gay friends!! I do, but enough!”
I totally understand how busy Caroline Mutoko is, hell who isn’t busy these days? But she doesn’t seem to hear what the listeners are saying. I am not protesting her or Classic FM DJ’s opinion on gays, I’m protesting hate reporting, and incitement to violence.
Classic FM and it seems Kiss FM seem to have a fixed mindset about programming vitriol to attract listeners, and will even use the radio platform to promote hatred and xenophobia. This is what I’m up in arms about.
Kenyans deserve more ethical approach and more relevant programming from all media houses.
We are a country steeped in grief over post election violence. What we really need now is deep healing, and radio stations have the most important role in this.
As the most influential radio presenter in Kenya it saddens me that Caroline Mutoko cannot find time to think deeply about this, about the impact of Kiss FM and Classic FM programming on the public mindset and especially on stirring hatred and calling to violence. She was one of the most listened to voices during the Post election violence. Afterwards the public fiercly defended the media houses during the Media bill fiasco. We trust our radio presenters and we permit them to influence us. That’s a big gift, why don’t they cherish it?
So my question to you readers is how can we influence the media and get them to apologise and reform?
Who can we write to and complain about media irresponsibility in order to change this irresponsible and plain dangerous trend? Leave a comment. Thanks
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