This post published on X on 19 July with a video showing journalists engaging with police during protests in Kenya claims that the journalists were attacking the police, and states that ‘rogue media’ would not report on the story. The 6 second video posted alongside the post has no sound, and shows some individuals wearing Press jackets engaging with a baton-wielding policeman.
The post states in part, “This video shows journalists attacking a police officer and the same rogue media won’t show you this story.”
The post is republished from another page that makes the same allegations, and uses the hashtag #GenocideMedia, which has been used in the past to accuse the media of promoting a message of death and destruction around the ongoing protests.
Background
Journalists have faced attacks from rogue police officers while covering the ongoing protests in Kenya, with both local and international media reporters injured in the line of duty. During the breach at Parliament on June 25, 2024, when protesters occupied Parliament after members passed the Finance Bill, KTN News received threats of a media shutdown if they continued airing live images from Parliament. KTN News addressed these threats live on air, stating they would not be intimidated and would stand by their commitment to defend the public interest.
The attacks on the media did not end there. The latest incident that sparked nationwide outrage involved Catherine Wanjeri, a journalist with MediaMax Network Limited. On July 26, 2024, while covering protests in Nakuru County, Wanjeri, who was marked with a press jacket, was shot three times in the leg.
The attacks on the media have extended beyond physical violence to an online campaign against journalists. A hashtag, #TheGenocideMedia, has been circulating, accusing the media of sensationalizing coverage of the protests. Citizen TV, in particular, has been targeted with false claims of biased and inflammatory reporting. The video attached to the post above was shared under this coordinated hashtag.
In response to these attacks, media practitioners in Kenya held a protest on July 24, to stand against the targeted attacks on journalists while they perform their duties.
Verification
The video shared with the post was edited to show only the part where the police appeared to be retreating. However, from the full video by NTV, it is evident that journalists and members of the public were pushing the police back. This occurred after NTV journalist Ibrahim Karanja tried to intervene after noticing that the police were attacking peaceful protesters.
He stepped in to defend the protesters, calling out the police for their use of force asking in Swahili “Mbona unapiga watu?” (Why are you beating people up?) As more people rallied around Ibrahim, demanding that the police stop harming peaceful demonstrators, the officers began to retreat. The journalist remained calm and non-combative, even inviting the police to arrest him if they believed he had committed a crime. Eventually, the police left the scene.
Contrary to the misleading claims in the edited video, the journalists were not attacking the police during the protests. The video was intentionally manipulated and muted to hide the context and deceive the public.
Verdict
The claim that journalists were attacking a police officer is MISLEADING.
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