The Media Council of Kenya has called on the county governments to allocate funds to support local radio stations across the 47 counties.
Speaking during the World Radio Day in Mombasa on Monday, MCK chief executive officer David Omwoyo said that 78 per cent of the population listen to radio.
A research commissioned by MCK and conducted by Infortrak Research showed that radio is the most listened to media.
Radio and TV were reported to have consistently outperformed other platforms to stand out as the main media with a 33 per cent popularity rating compared to social media at 18 per cent, newspapers (6%).
In 2019, Radio had an overall performance of 84 points but in 2022, it reduced to 78 per cent as other media like TV and newspaper recorded an increase of 80 and 29 per cent respectively.
The MCK boss said that 78 per cent of the population listening to Radio is not a bad number because it is almost similar to the 80 per cent who are watching TV.
“Despite the fact that social media is dominating at high rate, radio stations can also use the digital space by doing live stream. Therefore, it is not that people are against radio, they are listening to their radio online,” he said.
Omwoyo called on county governments to ensure that there is allocation of funds to support local radio stations.
“As you roll out the media campaigns, please dedicate a reasonable percentage to the people of the media who talk in the local language. We urge that in your media budget, allocate something to local based radio,” he said.
Despite people embracing the digital platform where they get news first as they happen on social media, radio is still the main source of news.
In 2019, TV was leading as the source of news with 47 per cent and Radio 36 per cent, in 2021 Radio also took the second position with 31 per cent as TV scored 35 per cent but in the recent findings, the two tied as the leading source of news at 33 per cent.
Radio Citizen, which is owned by Royal Media Services, was ranked as the most listened to radio station with 18 per cent, followed by Radio Jambo, owned by Radio Africa Group which had 16 per cent.
Tuko.com took the lead with 28 per cent as the most visited website followed by Citizen Digital which had 23 per cent.
Facebook displaced WhatsApp from the number one slot it held in 2021 with 27 per cent but dropped to 22 per cent.
According to the survey, approximately seven in every ten respondents surveyed, 69 per cent either have some trust or a lot of trust in media as 10 per cent have no trust in media.
The survey stated that the level of trust declined over the last two years as TV took the lead with 33 per cent and Radio 32 per cent.
The survey also revealed that 62 per cent of the population trust Royal Media Service with 62 per cent approval. This was attributed to its wide range of coverage and the localisation of its content to suit cultural needs.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) took the second position with 13 per cent followed by Standard Group (13 per cent), Nation Media Group (six per cent), Radio Africa Group (five per cent) and Media Max which had four per cent.
Despite having 26 per cent of the population trusting the media in reporting important issues, Kenyans raised concern of the media spreading fake news at 24 per cent, biasness in the media (20 per cent) and poor coverage at 14 per cent.
However, 31 per cent of the population celebrated the freedom of the media, 26 per cent quick dissemination of information and 16 per cent celebrated the high level of technology used.
Diversification of platforms to access information like social media is also another step made in the media.
Omwoyo said that there is also a percentage of people who have lost trust in media and the number is on an upward trend.
He therefore urged journalists and media houses to up their game so that Kenyans can have trust in them and ensure the news being disseminated is not fake.
“More research and verification of news before they are aired needs to be done to ensure that what is being aired is factual and not fake because losing trust to an organisation or individual is a sign that they have done their work in unsatisfying manner.
“Therefore, journalists should engage the public and get to know why they are losing trust in the media in order to better their work and reduce the number of people who are losing trust in the media,” Omwoyo said.
Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir who was once worked in the media prior to joining politics urged journalists to stick to the code of ethics and code of conduct as enshrined in the Media Council Act.
“I'm hoping that we are going to work together to build on local content so that we are able to showcase our talent and try to see what it is that we can do together to nurture the young talents that are upcoming,” he said.
The governor called on MCK to provide such reports in a devolved state so that every single county can be able to get its own analysis.
Starting this year, Nassir said that Mombasa county will have its own media awards to acknowledge journalists that have made positive impact in society.
Nassir said that he will ensure there is access to information and directed all departments to share information with the media so long as there is no element of conflict of interest.
"We have plans to revamp the ICT department so that all the information can be available. My administration will also be giving priority to the local media houses in terms of funding of county programmes, adverts and everything so that other organisations can also follow suit,” he said.