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Educate on Devolution, Media told

13-05-2013

Media focus on Africa held its last public media roundtable focusing on the elections at Nairobi’s French Cultural Centre last month. During the forum that sought ways the media could hold the new national and county governments accountable, Dr. Ken Ramani a media practitioner and lecturer said that training on devolution among journalists is needed if the media is to play the watchdog role effectively. Andy Kagwa of the Standard Group agreed with him. “How can a reporter ask a Senator to name their running mate? We must educate ourselves as journalists,” he said referring to a case just

MFA TRAINS 55 RADIO JOURNALISTS

18-04-2013

One month to the general elections, Media Focus on Africa (MFA) together with Search for Common Ground (SFCG) trained 55 radio presenters and producers on reporting conflict, governance and electoral issues. The training held in two batches, one in Nairobi and another in Nakuru targeted vernacular and community radio journalists across the country, a group that has often been ignored but which MFA believes has tremendous power to impact the society. “People trust us,” said Andika Ali, a participant working with Koch FM which broadcasts from the heart of Korogocho slums in Nairobi. He

Community Outreach for Peace

18-04-2013

For the past 4 years, Media Focus on Africa (MFA) has been facilitating inter-ethnic community dialogue sessions among the youths across the country, based on the drama series, The Team. This has been informed by the violence that rocked Kenya after the disputed 2007 elections that saw over a thousand people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. The nature of politics in Kenya is that it is built on ethnic foundations, and this is always magnified when the general elections draw near. This did not change in the 2013

Media performance in election coverage

18-04-2013

Watch the coverage of the March 2013 Media roundtable by GBS TV. The forum sought to analyse the performance of the media in covering the March 4th general elections. More here

The next session will be held on Tuesday, April 30, 2013. We will update you on the topic of discussion and panelists soon.

Spotlight on Kenyan Media

28-03-2013

The Topic of discussion for the last media roundtable was, “Playing Watchdog Vs Keeping the Peace: Did self censorship by the media go too far during the coverage of the March 2013 election?”

Vioja Mahakamani

20-10-2012

In efforts to help Kenyans deal with all the rhetoric and sometimes careless talk by politicians during the campaign period in 2012 and early 2013, MFA, WPI and KBC produced and aired four episodes of Vioja Mahakamani with themes revolving around inflammatory speech and hate speech.

Setting Stage for Peaceful Elections

21-09-2012

The media roundtable is here once again! Here are a few highlights of the event: This month’s focus is 'Media coverage of election campaigns'. Or, “is media coverage contributing to or counter-productive to peaceful elections in Kenya?"

The panel is made up of;

Media nursing traumatised nation

10-09-2012

Media focus on Africa has been using Fist 2 Five and The Team TV and radio programmes to generate trust, goodwill and ideas that communities in Kenya need in order to pre-empt and minimise conflicts. The TV and radio programmes are followed by outreach activities that reinforce the impact of the media programmes in the communities.

Parlementaires et journalistes deblayent le terrain de leur cohabitation

01-09-2012

The workshops received a lot of attention in the DRC, where it was the for the first time that journalists and parlementarians got together to discuss their respective roles.

The Media Roundtables Resume!

24-08-2012

The Media Roundtables are back! With the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), we will be hosting a series of 12 monthly media roundtables at Alliance Francaise starting Tuesday, 28th August 2012.The first of the series will discuss *Media and Hate Speech.* It will interrogate the preparedness of the Kenyan media to deal with and/or handle hate speech as we head towards a high stakes watershed election in March 2013.

Lessons Learnt workshop

23-08-2012

MFA organised a lessons learnt workshop for all faciliators of the Team outreach program. The workshop was held in preparation of the new series of inter generational dialogues to be organised in the following months. The facilitators shared their experiences of the last three years and discussed the up-coming series of debates that will involve the youth as well as the elders.

We have MOVED!

12-07-2012

After a happy couple of years in our old offices located along Muringa Road, Media Focus on Africa has MOVED!

Our new address is:

Green Valley Estate,Block G, Unit 6;

Convent Drive, off James Gichuru Road;

Lavington, Nairobi.

Attached is a map and information on how to get to our new office.

Sang's ICC indictment a wake-up call to journalists

31-05-2012

An article by the Standard Newspaper, featuring Mr. Charles Otieno, the Ag. Director of Media Focus on Africa.

March 18, 2012: Sang's ICC indictment a wake-up call to journalist

Press coverage of Media Roundtables

22-04-2012

September 28, 2011: Kenyans not MPs have final say on law changes, CIC says
September 28, 2011: CIC: Court will end elections date debate
October 25, 2011: Muite warns of post-poll chaos repeat
February 29, 2012: Poll rules for media to be launched
March 1, 2012: Media on the spot over alleged biased coverage
Reject Magazine, March 2012: Call for a paradigm shift in media

Launch of Michakato Majimboni

16-04-2012

MFA launched a new television show ‘Michakato Majimboni, a joint MFA and KBC television production on leadership issues in select counties. Speaking during the show’s official Launch at One degree south Hotel in Nairobi, the chief guest, Dr. Mzalendo Kibunjia lauded the efforts of MFA, declaring Michakato Majimboni, timely. Also speaking at the Launch was Mr. Charles Otieno, Ag. Country Director MFA; Will Janssen, Regional Director, Hivos; Chris Mutungi, TV Programmes Manager, KBC; and Philip Thigo of SODNET.Michakato Majimboni, hosted by John Kago, a youthful and well informed Journalist

Award for the The Team

30-03-2012

In November 2010 The Team received an award for Best Film in the Human Security category on the We the People Film Festival in London. The festival screens films addressing iconic issues associated with the Untied Nations Three Pillars of Freedom: freedom from want, freedom from fear; and the freedom to live in dignity. One of the themes chosen by the UN this year was: Dialogue and Mutual understanding and the Rapprochement of Cultures.

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