The High Court of Kenya in Nairobi has quashed the Communication Authority of Kenya’s decision to censure six TV stations for covering anti-government demonstrations that happened in March this year.
The decision announced by former CA Director-General Ezra Chiloba on March 22, 2023, sought to revoke the operating broadcast licenses of six TV stations namely; Citizen, NTV, K24, KBC, TV47 and Ebru Africa over how they covered the mass demonstrations as illegal and unconstitutional.
At the time, Chiloba claimed that the TV stations violated the programming code as the coverage depicted scenes that could cause panic or incitement to the public and threaten peace and cohesion in the country.
The judgement rendered by Justice John Chigiti concurred with the arguments made by the petitioners; Katiba Institute, Law Society of Kenya and journalist unions that CA violated the programming code when it prohibited the media houses from broadcasting the protests live.
In revoking the decision by Communication Authority, Judge Chigiti termed the decision issued by former CA Director-General Ezra Chiloba as threatening.
