Fake news, bias... 9 reasons why Kenyans are concerned about the media - MCK

In a report on the State of Media in 2022 released on Monday, MCK stated that 24% of Kenyans cited the spread of fake news as the top concern about the media.

In a survey conducted by Infotrak Research and Consulting Limited commissioned by MCK, 20% of Kenyans noted biases in the media as a concern with 14% citing poor coverage of important issues and 9% opined on lack of diversity in coverage.

Other concerns are the Frequency of adverts (8%), Lack of freedom of expression (6%), Strict regulation by the government (5%) and Others (1%.)

MCK also noted that during the survey, 13% of Kenyans were indifferent.

At the same time, MCK gave ten reasons why Kenyans trust the media.

Twenty-six per cent cited reporting of important issues as their reason, 16% said the media report local news and local people, and 14% indicated that their trust is based on the longevity a media organization has been reporting the news.

MCK added that 12% highlighted the provision of current and breaking news as their trust reason, 9% cited consistency and another 9% said the media has knowledgeable presenters and reporters.

Another 8% stated that the media puts out logical stories, 3% cited that media is independent, 2% noted that the media respects Kenyan leaders and 2% said that they trust the media because it is publicly funded.

The survey has therefore established that 27% of Kenyans trust the media, 43% partially trust the media, 22% have little trust and 10% have no trust in the media.

Royal Media Services (RMS) was ranked top as the most trusted media organisation with 62% followed by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) at 13%, Standard Group (10%), Nation Media Group (6%), Radio Africa Group (5%) and MediaMax (4%).