Even peace is a human rights issue

I strongly disagree with the statement made by a member of the Kenya National commission for Human Rights mr Maina Kiai that " The kenyan media failed to search underneath the surface to look for the root cause of a political crisis". He was accusing the Kenyan media of hiding the reality, especialy related to what many saw as tribal cleansing related to the disputed presidential elections in Kenya. He continued that " The only way to peace is through truth and justice. Its not enough to be calm ; we need the truth". I am reffering to the article titled " Kenyan media spurns violence and calls for peace" pubished by The Star, Tuesday 10 2008

There are several issues that Maina should thoroughly understand. First, is that one of the role of the media is to inform but within the boundaries of social responsibility. Even as the media strives to report the truth to the public by giving out facts and real objective accounts of events that take place to satisfy there interest, it has to do this in a manner not likey to incite the society into more violence. Secondly, that the idea of tribalism is an identity problem and it is worsened by the stereotypes attached to the "other" whether negatiove or positive. Everyone knows that identity issues are ideological and one of the ways in which ideology thrives is through propaganda and naming or blaming of the "other". So the fact that the kenyan media avoided the naming of either the victims or perpetrators of the violence in Kenya and chose to preach peace only demonstares the maturity of our media. It further proves that the Kenyan media realy upholds and respects its role in the Kenyan society as a socialy responsible media.

I can continue arguing to inform Mr Maina that in any human rights issue related to two or more conflicting interest groups, the rule of law anywhere in the world will defend the idea of balancing rights to see which right outweighs the other, or which one infringes on the other. In this case, the Kenyan media seems to understand that the right to peace outweighs the right for kenyans to know (freedom to recieve information) which tribe is killing which one and in what manner, something that will only aggrevate the whole situation. Therefore, Mr Maina should rethink his position and agree that the Kenyan media is playing a critical socially responsible role to see us through in the current problematic situation.