KFM back on air, producer sacked
Aug 19, 2005
MONITOR’S KFM radio was reopened yesterday but producer Angelo Izama was discontinued by the Broadcasting Council.
By Anne Mugisa &
Herbert Ssempogo
MONITOR’S KFM radio was reopened yesterday but producer Angelo Izama was discontinued by the Broadcasting Council.
The radio re-opened yesterday afternoon, a week after it was closed allegedly for breaching the broadcast law.
The council said the station must immediately implement new standards for Andrew Mwenda Live programme, which led to the closure. KFM must also pay the council sh4,950,000 as costs of the ruling. The council said Izama was unable to moderate Mwenda.
The council’s operations manager, Denis Lukaaya, accompanied by Monitor chief Conrad Nkutu, turned on the studio transmission link at the station at 3:20pm. Ragga Dees’ “Mbawe,†blared out as staff cheered.
Council chairman Godfrey Mutabazi said the council had received numerous complaints from the public and on several occasions talked to KFM management and board over it.
“The Broadcasting Council did engage the management of KFM in particular Dr. Martin Aliker, chairman Monitor Publications/KFM and director Nation Media Group and Mr. Conrad Nkutu, its managing Director, with the hope that moderation and restraint shall be exercised by the presenter of the programme. During the informal dialogues, assurances were made, as have been done in the latest, that management would rein in Mr Mwenda. As to whether the management was successful in this endeavour is no longer debateable as the recording of August 10, 2005 shows,†he stated.
He said arguments that Mwenda’s statements fell under protected speech were untenable because freedom was not absolute and that the utterances touched on matters of national and regional security.
He said the media was central to the Rwanda genocide of 1994. He said irresponsible journalism by journalists of Mwenda’s calibre could “be a recipe for disaster†and “could unleash hostilities between the region’s fragile democracies.
Nkutu admitted inappropriate comments and pledged to review the show’s format and presentation.
Ends
Herbert Ssempogo
MONITOR’S KFM radio was reopened yesterday but producer Angelo Izama was discontinued by the Broadcasting Council.
The radio re-opened yesterday afternoon, a week after it was closed allegedly for breaching the broadcast law.
The council said the station must immediately implement new standards for Andrew Mwenda Live programme, which led to the closure. KFM must also pay the council sh4,950,000 as costs of the ruling. The council said Izama was unable to moderate Mwenda.
The council’s operations manager, Denis Lukaaya, accompanied by Monitor chief Conrad Nkutu, turned on the studio transmission link at the station at 3:20pm. Ragga Dees’ “Mbawe,†blared out as staff cheered.
Council chairman Godfrey Mutabazi said the council had received numerous complaints from the public and on several occasions talked to KFM management and board over it.
“The Broadcasting Council did engage the management of KFM in particular Dr. Martin Aliker, chairman Monitor Publications/KFM and director Nation Media Group and Mr. Conrad Nkutu, its managing Director, with the hope that moderation and restraint shall be exercised by the presenter of the programme. During the informal dialogues, assurances were made, as have been done in the latest, that management would rein in Mr Mwenda. As to whether the management was successful in this endeavour is no longer debateable as the recording of August 10, 2005 shows,†he stated.
He said arguments that Mwenda’s statements fell under protected speech were untenable because freedom was not absolute and that the utterances touched on matters of national and regional security.
He said the media was central to the Rwanda genocide of 1994. He said irresponsible journalism by journalists of Mwenda’s calibre could “be a recipe for disaster†and “could unleash hostilities between the region’s fragile democracies.
Nkutu admitted inappropriate comments and pledged to review the show’s format and presentation.
Ends