I recently visited my sister in the neighborhood one
Tuesday evening, having a tete-a-tete sitting on the sofas and soon enough the
7.00pm news broadcast flashes in our screens from a leading local stations. One
of the news items, is on a man who literally ‘got stuck’ after engaging in an
‘illicit act’ with a married woman. It is mentioned that the woman’s husband
visited a witchdoctor after suspecting he had been harboring a cheating wife.
We are almost getting used to these kind of news stories so really this didn’t
turn my head.
However, a conversation ensued after my sister questioned
the timing of this kind of news item citing obscenity and inappropriateness
since most families watch the 7.00pm news together with their young ones.
Strongly opinionated, my sister believes that, this type of news story should
be rated PG18 and
only aired during the watershed period; as cited in the Kenya Information and
Communications (Broadcasting) Regulations 2008 that states that: “…adult
content should not be broadcast between
5.00am and 10.00pm in order to protect children from the harm and offence that
these programs may cause…”.
I want to agree on this but then again I reason out with
her that; during my university days as a News Reporter attache’, human interest
stories were always given more airtime both in the broadcast and print media
hence the justification of the timing of the said news item. Besides it is
argued that nudity sells, doesn’t it? And again no one watches news after
10.00pm anyways, I don’t, do you?
Needless to say, we cannot ignore the fact that media plays
a huge role in shaping our societies and gate-keeping is no exception. It
is obvious that most times, majority of us consume what the media feeds us
without vetting the content. We tend to believe that the information shared by
the media is always correct, accurate and good for consumption to all and
sundry (well, usually it is but not always). Unfortunately, our youth and more
so our school going children have no wisdom to filter the rice from the chaff.
They follow celebrities, want to imitate them, make them their demi-gods
and some even idolize them.
My attention instantly shifts towards a very interesting
court verdict made by The High Court of Kenya in relations to a 17-year old boy
who had been remanded in an adult jail for a year. His crime? He was accused of
defiling his teenage girlfriend and after the girl’s parents realized their
daughter was pregnant, decided to press defilement charges against the boy. In
the ruling, it was mentioned that the girl and the by had engaged in a
consensual sex and that both should have been charged with defiling each other
and that the 17-year boy had been discriminated against and his rights as a
child abused. The judge ordered the boy to be paid Sh 200, 000 in damages.
What’s my point in this you may ask? The media
glorification of sexual related content alongside unlimited exposure and
availability of untamed Internet coverage coupled with ease of access to smart
phones has made our teenage children susceptible to sexual activities and thus
made them sexual offenders at a very tender age. It is very sad to note that we
even now refer to our teenage kids as young adults instead of children. The
risks in all these? Increased number of early pregnancies and school drop outs,
high risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV/AIDS
notwithstanding, increased number of single parents, street children, forced
early marriages just to mention a few.
According to the latest statistics from the Communications
Authority of Kenya(CAK), mobile penetration in
Kenya has risen to 95.1% and that Kenya tops in phone internet traffic
globally according to Business Daily article published on 20 March 2018. With
this information at the back of our mind, it will be very ignorant, uncouth,
alarming for any of us to overlook the potential harm that the media; print,
broadcast & social media can do our teenage children who are increasingly
becoming sexually active if measures are not put in place.
It is therefore the responsibility of the government,
religious institutions, teaching institutions, family units, the media,
Non-Governmental Organizations(NGO’s), responsible men and women of this great
nation to come forth and save our next generation from the looming disaster of
socially eroded moralities. Media should refrain from broadcasting very
suggestive content that may lure our kids and have them engage in activities
that takes away their innocence or at least media should respect the PG content
ratings. At the same time, the government working hand in hand with teaching
institutions should have laws governing and protecting children and introduce
subjects in schools that help to inculcate good morals in our children.
Meanwhile, family units alongside religious institutions should work in tandem
to instill upright and godly ways of living of our children in the society.
Everybody has a role to play as a moral cop in bringing up a morally upright,
god-fearing generation that is decent, modest and guided with principles of
good behaviors accepted by the basic minimum societal morals.
By,
Lisa Biwott
Freelance writer & a Blogger
No comments:
Post a Comment