The Civil Liability of Defamation Versus the Role of Kenyan Media Houses in Updating the Public on Misconducts of Public Offices and Officers

Abstract

Notable mass communication institutions in Kenya have seen themselves succumb to increasing their annual budget expenditures, to cater for extremely expensive legal fees and transport facilitation for the numerous times they find themselves in the corridors of justice as they answer to civil suits on defamation. In their defense, the allegations on defamation arise as a result of them exercising their moral right of informing the public on alleged misconduct of persons and institutions, misconduct of which is subject to public interest. The legal framework in Kenya provides for elements of defamation that may lead to civil liability, but simultaneously, in the spirit of democracy, answerability and rule of law, the same framework allows in certain circumstances for their alleged actions or misconduct to be put to question by the public. This article focuses on the elements of the civil wrong of defamation and the circumstances that form concrete grounds for liability of defamation or exemption from this wrong, specifically the exemption of media houses from defamation liability by the Kenyan courts of law.