The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has dismissed posts doing rounds on social media saying that it’s planning to investigate certain media houses.
In a statement, the Council labelled the posts fake and urged the public to ignore them.
“The Media Council of Kenya disowns the correspondence and fake news circulating about the Council investigating media houses. Please treat this with all the contempt it deserves,” the statement read.
The council responded after social media users on Wednesday, November 6, circulated two posts alleging that action would be taken against a popular newspaper.
One post alleged that Telecommunications PS Edward Kisiang’ani had officially called for an investigation into Nation Media Group (NMG) by the Media Council, citing their consistent spread of misinformation and sensationalism.
As per the fake letter, the Telecommunications PS said that the government is troubled by the misinformation surrounding the Safaricom Neural Technologies Contract.
The letter alleged that the Daily Nation published inaccurate information suggesting that the Safaricom Neural Technologies contract has led to phone hacking and abductions.
The letter also alleged that the newspaper misrepresented a Joint Country Intelligence Meeting Protocols involving the US Central Intelligence Agency and the UK M16, allegedly sourced from an unnamed “Statehouse source”.
The other post alleged that MCK had acknowledged the Telecommunications PS letter and promised to delve into the matter.
“We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated of even date, expressing serious concerns regarding the recent publications by The Daily Nation of the Nation Media Group (NMG). Your detailed account of the articles published between 28 October and 31 October 2024, which allegedly promote misleading narratives, spread misinformation, and deviate from established journalistic standards, has been received with the utmost attention and gravity it deserves,” the post read.
Additionally, the purported letter responding to the PS further alleged that there would be a thorough review of the articles in question for compliance with the Media Council Act of 2013 and the Code of Conduct for the Practice of Journalism in Kenya.
Nation Media Group recently exposed how telcos allegedly provide sensitive call data records to security authorities thereby abetting abductions and extra judicial killings.
This expose sparked heated debate online and forced Safaricom to rebuttal the expose and denied the allegations.
