Former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and NARC Kenya Party Leader Martha Karua criticised Kenyan media for derailing efforts to establish alternative leadership in the country.
In a post shared on Twitter, Mutunga accuses Kenyan journalists of not giving equal coverage to leaders who were not in power, which has resulted in an invincibility image created about the current ruling class.
''The Kenyan media rarely researches, monitors or glorifies struggles for alternative political leadership. The deliberate or unintended media narratives project the barons as permanent and invincible, a necessary evil we have to live with. Colonial narratives were similar,'' the former CJ posted.
Karua supported Mutunga, indicating that in the past, during the first liberation, members of the fourth estate did a better job reporting, due to what she termed as a partnership between the people and the media.
''They used to do better in the struggle for the second liberation. Most of them were partners in the struggle,'' she responded to the former chief justice.
Many Kenyans voiced their opinion on the matter, with several claiming that the Kenyan media is compromised by the fact that many news outlets are owned by the political elite who then use the platforms to drive their individual agendas.
''News cannot be solely about contenders when there is no election in sight !'' she tweeted back to a Kenyan who weighed in on the conversation.
One netizen accused the media of paying more attention to ''who says what about who'' rather than ideologies.
Sam Ngige commented ''Media in Kenya is equivalent to village gossip. It can't give objective direction and substantiated reporting. It cannot form an authentic credible society's opinion other than incline towards the media owners who happen to be politicians.''
Mutunga however, was also put on the spot by netizens with regards to his ruling during the 2013 presidential election petition, which upheld the election results.
Benalfoti remarked ''Just like your 2-minute ruling was also not researched. The ruling deliberately or unintendedly glorified despots and thieves.''
Moreover, some netizens defended the media, alleging that media thrives on viewership, thus is a reflection of what Kenyans prefer to read or watch.
They claimed that the blame should not solely fall on the media, but on the collective responsibility of audiences that consume the content.
