The Nairobi Round Table Recommendations

An unprecedented wave of politically motivated violence was triggered, when the Electoral Commission of Kenya declared President Mwai Kibaki winner of the disputed December 27 presidential election. More than 1,000 Kenyans have been killed and over 500,000 have been displaced by the crisis.

The political situation has increased pressure on both public and pri- vately-owned media – most clearly demon- strated through the ban on live radio and TV news reports on 30 December 2007, when all live radio and television broadcasts were suspended indefinitely. The ban has since then been lifted. Pressure has since been constantly mounting – with journalists being arrested, others being shot at while covering the riots and a wave of death threats against journalists and human rights advocates.

The findings and recommendations in this publication are based on the Nairobi Round Table: “Kenyan Media under Pressure.” The Round Table was carried out in cooperation with Editors’ Guild of Kenya and Kenyan Union of Journalists and organized by Article 19, International Federation of Journalists, International Media Support and International News Safety Institute with the support of World Association of Newspapers and International Press Institute.