Victor Bwire/CPJ Guest Blogger

Victor Bwire is the deputy chief executive officer and programs manager of the Media Council of Kenya. He is a safety trainer for journalists and can be reached at [email protected].

Kenya media, security forces soul search after Westgate

Should journalists expect support and protection from security agents when they risk their lives to report on security operations? What if their coverage could potentially expose military strategies? Why are journalists disparaged as unpatriotic when they show how security operations fail?

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Kenyan journalists film outside the Westgate mall in September. (AFP/Carl de Souza)

Westgate siege shows press’ lack of security training

Rumor had it that thieves and police had exchanged gunfire during the robbery of a bank at the Westgate Mall. That was the word that first reached some Nairobi newsrooms that Saturday about the gunshots many Kenyans heard coming from the luxurious shopping mall.

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Kenyan press face hostile work environment, study finds

The working environment for journalists and media workers in Kenya is increasingly hostile, with at least 91 percent of journalists at local media outlets having faced security threats in the course of their work, a new study has revealed. The harassment of and attacks against journalists, with nearly 40 percent coming from politicians, indicates a…

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Kenyan Prime Minister and presidential candidate Raila Odinga waves to supporters at a campaign rally in Mombasa on Sunday. (Reuters/Joseph Okanga)

As Kenya votes, journalists must take precautions

Election-related violence is a worry for journalists in many countries, but perhaps nowhere more so than Kenya, where presidential polls will be held March 4. In the aftermath of the nation’s last presidential elections in 2007, over one thousand people were killed in ethnic and political violence, live news broadcasts were banned, and the press…

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