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County assemblies are increasingly becoming a hostile ground for journalists.
Two weeks ago, Members of the Tana River County Assembly harassed journalists covering proceedings of the House, before locking them out as they embarked on discussing the county budget.
The only logical conclusion is that MCAs did not want journalists to report on the proceedings.
This presupposes there is something sinister they want to conceal.
And last week in Homa Bay County, an overzealous police officer attacked and seriously injured a newspaper photographer who was among journalists deployed at the Assembly. The officer also destroyed the journalist’s camera.
The officer was in a team sent to quell chaos that had broken out as the MCAs discussed the divisive matter of the post of Leader of the Majority Party.
He was reportedly working at the behest of a section of the MCAs who did not want the embarrassing scenes unfolding in the assembly reported.
Though he was called in to tame the rowdy ward representatives, the officer opted to turn his fury on the hapless journalist.
And the latent message is that the dark side of county operations should not be exposed.
These are just the latest in an emerging pattern in which journalists are routinely harassed, attacked and injured while performing their lawful duties.
The incidents involving the assemblies are just the tip of the iceberg that is the misconceived notion that all that anyone or group not happy about media coverage has to do is unleash violence on journalists to achieve their ulterior motive.
This should not be tolerated in a democratic country where media freedom and citizens’ right to information are clearly articulated in law.
County assemblies, and MCAs in particular, have to appreciate the fact that much as they appreciate the work of journalists when highlighting positive things about them, they have to exercise tolerance when the media turns its spotlight on unsavoury things they engage in at times.
Theirs are public offices, which must be spotlighted all the time to hold them to account.
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