The nation media group has responded to the hate remarks from Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria who called them an “opposition party”. He had ordered all government agencies to stop advertising with the media house failure to which they will be sacked.
Speaking on 18th June 2023 in Embu, CS Kuria said “I want to tell Nation Media, you need to choose whether you are a newspaper, broadcasting house or an opposition party. From today, not even tomorrow, if any government department advertises with Nation Media, know you are on your way home.”
The dispute between Nation Media Group and CS Kuria started when NTV exposed a 6 billion Shilling edible oils scandal in which the Cs was implicated. On 19th June 2023, NTV responded to the attack from Moses Kuria calling it a violation of media freedom. Moses Kuria’s remarks got the attention of umbrella bodies in the media such as the media Owners Association, the Kenya editor’s Guild, the Kenya Union of journalists and the media Council of Kenya.
The ethics and anti-corruption commission also called out the Cs over his hate remarks. The Kenya editor’s Guild likened the CS’s remarks to those of the late Mulu Mutisia a zealot of the one-party dictatorship and who is remembered as a poster child of one of the darkest periods of Our National History. The Kenya Union of journalists has called the Cs a symbol of national shame.
“Cs Moses Kuria must be reminded tonight that the media as an institution predates his short political career and will outlast his fleeting ministerial job by many generations, further the freedom that the media enjoys in Kenya is the product of a long struggle for which many Kenyans paid with their lives. The media therefore does not operate at his pleasure and its freedom is not his to give” said NTV.
