Media Council of Kenya CEO David Omwoyo has urged government agencies to work closely with the media in order to ensure information released to the public is accurate and verifiable.
Omwoyo noted that many organisations were wary of the media but urged them to cultivate a good working relationship so as to make it easier for each party to perform its public duty.
The CEO made the remarks when he officially closed a two days training workshop for journalists on affirmative funds in Nakuru.
The CEO noted that there were numerous government interventions for the youth, women and people living with disabilities that were giving out grants across the country and therefore making a positive impact on livelihoods and yet the story remains largely untold.
He urged stakeholders within the affirmative funds agencies to consider giving grants to journalists who may wish to tell the success stories but are incapacitated by limited funding to travel across the remote areas of the country where some of the beneficiaries are.
Omwoyo stressed the need for a good working relationship between the media and stakeholders saying that organizations should provide factual information to journalists in order to avoid misrepresentation of facts.
The Media Coucil, he noted, was committed to bridging the gap between the media and various stakeholders by organizing seminars, trainings and workshops with a view to synergizing them.
The CEO also challenged the media to give factual information and always strive to verify all information before releasing it to the public for consumption.
In his remarks, Media Trainer and Communications Consultant Tom Indimuli expressed concern over the low coverage of business related news and urged journalists to take up additional interest in business reporting.
He noted that although the business sector had countless sources of news stories, only a small fraction of journalists had taken interest in it and therefore the field remains largely uncovered.
The training, which brought together journalists from the print, online and electronic media was organized by the Uwezo Fund Oversight board in collaboration with the UN Women.
Other stakeholders included the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, National Government Affirmative Action Fund and Women Enterprise Fund.
The funds are anchored on the Vision 2030 social pillar that seeks to empower vulnerable groups through the provision of affordable financial support and provide an avenue to promote their enterprises and value addition initiatives.
The initiatives also seek to create employment opportunities for women, youth and the vulnerable through entrepreneurship and encouraging them to be job creators and not job seekers. It does this by providing easy and affordable financial and business development support services to youth who are keen on starting or expanding businesses.
Collectively, the funds disburse billions of shillings to groups and individuals guaranteed by the groups using revolving funds that are borrowed and repaid over a specific period of time.
The loans are affordable as they boast of very low interest rates and do not require major collateral as required by commercial banks and are therefore easily accessible to the youth, women and people living with disabilities.
