Decoding The Efficiency of Co-Regulation of Media in Kenya

Abstract

Co-regulation of Media is a hybrid governance model where media oversight is shared between the government regulators and industry stakeholders such as broadcasters, publishers and media companies. This model has proved effective in the countries of the European Union as model which ensures there is a balance between industry autonomy and government oversight. Co-regulation of media is crucial because it allows the media industry to self regulate and address issues of journalistic ethics and standards while still maintaining a level of state oversight to ensure compliance with broader public interest concerns such prevention of harmful content, hate speech and misinformation. Kenya on the other hand is yet to embrace co-regulation aspect of media fully despite its advantages and this research aims at delving deeper into understanding the concept of co-regulation of media and decoding its effectiveness in the Kenyan context. The Kenya media sector is governed by various regulatory authorities each addressing a different aspect of the media such as privacy, consumer protection, journalistic ethics, protection of minors from harmful content and protection of intellectual property thus introducing the aspect of co-regulation. Despite this, media laws in Kenya do not explicitly provide for co-regulation. Academic works on media regulation in Kenya do not address the aspect of co-regulation hence necessitating the research in the area.