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                 CPJ Report: Kenya Press Freedom Shrinking Fast

   by Hilary Heuler

   The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists has released a report
   on what it calls the "deteriorating climate for press freedom" in
   Kenya.

   [1]The report, released Wednesday, paints a bleak picture of Kenya's
   media, long considered the most robust in East Africa. It documents
   cases of journalists being beaten, arrested and intimidated for their
   work, especially outside the capital, Nairobi.

   CPJ's Tom Rhodes says that since Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta came
   to power two years ago, journalism has become a more dangerous
   profession.

   "I've counted since the beginning of this year, and documented 19 cases
   from January to May 2015 of attacks, threats, imprisonments and
   harassments of the Kenyan press, which basically works out to be one
   case per week," he said. "And in all four years that I've been here in
   Kenya, I've never seen such high levels before."

   What makes this trend more worrisome, he says, is that this
   intimidation takes place with almost complete impunity.

   "What has happened in all of these cases? To date, nothing," he added.
   "This is, I think, one of the reasons why we're seeing this increase in
   cases. It's simply because it can happen. It's allowed to happen."

   Rhodes says most of the cases documented this year have involved Kenyan
   officials or police and tend to revolve around topics such as land
   disputes, corruption, security and the International Criminal Court.
   The result, he says, is that certain topics have become "no-go" areas
   for the Kenyan press.

   While government officials say journalists arn't in any danger, Kenya's
   parliament recently passed a series of laws impacting press freedom,
   many of which have been challenged and are tied up in court. These
   include a law limiting the media's right to report on security issues
   and another that forbids journalists from handling classified
   information.

   The report also indicates official harassment isn't restricted to
   conventional media. CPJ researchers also report a government crackdown
   on social media and the arrests of numerous bloggers for writing about
   apparently sensitive subjects or for posting similar items on Facebook.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/cpj-committee-protect-journalists-ken
   ya-press-restrictions/2862833.html

References

   1. https://cpj.org/reports/2015/07/broken-promises-kenya-failing-to-uphold-commitment-to-free-press.php
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/cpj-committee-protect-journalists-kenya-press-restrictions/2862833.html