The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) asserts that the failure of the efforts to establish a joint media tallying center was due to the late commencement of negotiations.
Media owners and the Editors Guild had agreed on the joint tallying as they neared the presidential debate, according to a statement from MCK CEO David Omwoyo on Tuesday.
Omwoyo stated that the conversation began too late in the day after individual media outlets had already implemented internal preparations.
While the media outlets mostly depended on the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) portal, a report on Election Media Coverage claims that different media outlets simultaneously displayed various results.
“All the results displayed by media houses were accurate and only sourced from IEBC portal. However because different media houses started counting at different times, others counted in descending order, others in alphabetical order,” he said
“While some media houses employed more personnel than others and results displayed at any one time were not the same.”
He said that efforts had been made to deploy media personnel countrywide but the sudden availability of IEBC forms 34A on the portal caught many newsrooms flatfooted.
Omwoyo revealed that the different results were bringing unnecessary anxiety and therefore the stakeholders suspended the display of the results.
He, however, commended the media for the professional and responsible coverage of the August polls.
He said the preparedness and coverage of the polls were satisfactory compared to the previous elections.
“In the run-up to the polls, the Council trained over 3,500 journalists on elections coverage reporting on opinion polls and ethical principles,” he said.
He added that there were instances that lead to the violation of press freedom.
“At least 43 journalists from various media houses were affected by various forms of harassment in 12 incidences documented by the council,” Omwoyo said.
He urged the police to expedite the probe and bring the culprits to justice.
The Council also noted spread of misinformation and propaganda on digital platforms.
