Deputy President, William Ruto, has reported Citizen TV and Kameme Radio for alleged biased coverage to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) chairperson, Wafula Chebukati.
In an address to Chebukati on Saturday, June 4, after being cleared to run for the August 9 presidential polls, Ruto asked the Commission to take note of the stations' reporting even as he stated that he will not attend the presidential debate as long as the said media houses are the main players.
He stated that the stations should be compelled to make an official announcement of their preferred candidates for all Kenyans to know.
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/8-R7ofrPH8M.jpg?itok=CMGNe_Ht","video_url":"","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":0},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive)."]}
"We have raised this concern and through you, we want to raise this concern again. There should be a level playing ground for all aspirants. When stations like Citizen TV give 10 minutes to our competitors and they give us 1 minute, it goes against the integrity of fairness.
"They should be honorable and say they have chosen a side so that Kenyans can be informed that the media houses have taken sides," he stated.
Ruto maintained Kenya Kwanza has no problem with the respective owners supporting his opponent, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, however, he insisted that they also wanted to be covered fairly.
"We do not want to be favoured, we want to be treated fairly like everybody else. Respectfully, we want to request the media to be fair. So far, we have been treated unfairly by some media houses."
The DP maintained that he will not attend the upcoming presidential debates being organised by the media until he is assured of impartiality.
The UDA presidential candidate termed the presidential debates process rigged, explaining that it will only favour his opponents.
"We respect the decision of some media houses to have a candidate in this election but they should be decent and declare that they have a candidate in this election. It is the most decent thing to do.
"Yesterday, they told me that it was a platform to understand the candidates. If the debate is being organised by people who have taken sides, what moral authority do they have to ask us to attend a pre-arranged and rigged debate?," he wondered.
"They should organise a debate for that side. Don't expect us to attend a debate you have rigged with skewed coverage. We have overcome other hurdles such as the deep state and we shall with this too."
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke today, Digital Strategist Dennis Itumbi noted that they had given conditions to be met by the respective media houses before attending the Presidential debate.
“The update is as it is. We demand fair coverage, Royal Media Services stations led by Citizen TV, Kameme Radio of Mediamax Network, and Nation Newspaper cannot produce a moderator," stated Itumbi.
