One of the responsibilities of the media is to ensure that audiences are actively engaged emotionally and culturally and robustly challenged intellectually through content that highlights important issues that affect citizens.
In this way, the media plays a critical role in national construction and in the moral development of the people. That is why it is crucial for media, especially broadcast media, to ensure that they balance the content they air so that there is a fine mix of education, information, and entertainment.
Sadly, however, this fine balance has been interfered with by the exponential increase in the number of betting ads — and products — particularly those owned and operated by media houses.
These have had the effect of numbing the consciences of audiences, many of whom are daily chasing after elusive jackpots as the betting promoters make a pretty penny.
Whereas it is the job of media houses, as businesses, to make money, it is crucial that they remain alive to the need for them to maintain a programming balance that caters for a wide cross-section of audiences and shields the vulnerable from addictive or harmful behaviour, including unchecked betting.
As such, in as much as broadcasters may at first glance be tempted to disagree with the directive by the Communication Authority of Kenya requiring them to take a 14-day break from advertising their betting products, they should be encouraged to take that time to engage in introspection.
It is easy, among media outlets grappling with the question of generating sustainable revenues, for broadcasters to exceed the quotas allowed for adverts on betting products in the rat race for the elusive shilling.
However, they ought to be reminded of their duty to citizens and their obligation to remain true to the media’s founding tenets. These are the very basics that made media relevant in the first stance and obligate them to remain primarily as watchdogs of the people for the people.
As such, when the lion’s share of broadcast time is gobbled up by in-house betting ads, this is a signal that something has gone wrong and there is, therefore, room for a much-needed reset. This is the only way to bring back creativity and diversity in the choice of programming.
Such a window should be used to find ways to keep audiences engaged, including by coming up with locally produced entertainment content. This can be achieved by harnessing the power of content creators who have made TikTok such a vibrant and fun theatre for audience engagement.
Broadcasters should, therefore, not shy away from borrowing a leaf from TikTok because it has discovered the formula of keeping audiences glued to their phone screens.
In countries such as Tanzania, Nigeria, and Greece, broadcasters offer a healthy mix of local content that not only keeps their audiences happy but also gives those countries a distinctive cultural and aesthetic identity.
Such programmes at once signal to a visitor that he or she is in a vibrant space where broadcasters are alive to the aspirations of their audiences. The same is difficult to say for Kenya.
Why, for instance, do local TV stations air foreign soap operas in which the characters speak in Kenyan vernacular languages? Why not task local writers and actors to come up with stories that have local flair and flavour?
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