Journalist and Human Rights Defender Hanifa Adan has explained why the Gen Z demos stopped.
Speaking during the second day of the Digital Media Africa Conference, Hanifa stated that they took a step back to protect people's businesses.
"We had to protect these businesses because if they were destroyed, then it would beat the logic of why we were demonstrating," she said.
According to Hanifa, they were also demonstrating for the welfare of business owners.
"People were also being killed. That too made us step back. There were also reports of hired goons. So that's what happened," she said.
Hanifa was among the panellists who spoke on the topic of how traditional media covered the Gen Z protests.
Other panellists were Standard Group Editor-in-Chief Ochieng Rapuro, Uganda's Vision Group Digital Content Manager Penelope Nankunda, Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media and Communication Lecturer Denis Galava and Nation Media Group Editor-in-Chief Joe Ageyo.
Hanifa also asked journalists to remain credible and independent.
She stated that journalists did well in the coverage of the Gen Z demos but on the subsequent days, the coverage went down.
"We need an independent and credible media. You may be shaken, but we need you to stay strong," Hanifa said.
"The digital media didn't do so well because of some of the headlines they were writing in their stories. The Gen Z were more interested in reading the newspapers."
Hanifa also said greeting politicians (sharing their numbers with Kenyans) enabled them to air their grievances and the issues that affected them in the community.
"The idea was borne out of the Gen Z movement. Some politicians were graceful enough to respond to the messages they received from their constituents," she said.
The conference which entered day 2 on Thursday, is being held at the Aga Khan University, under the theme "Innovative Solutions for Today’s Media".
Speaking at the same event, Standard Group Media Editor-in-Chief Ochieng Rapuro also raised the issue of misinformation and disinformation.
In his remarks, Rapuro stated that there was a big fight for media freedom.
"We did a lot of fact-checking because there was a lot of disinformation and misinformation," he said.
"If journalists are not involved in fact-checking or if citizens were also left to break news, then there would be a lot of disinformation."
Rapuro also said as journalists, they had not abandoned their cause which is accountability.
He added that from the Gen Z protests, the media trust was rebuilt.
Nation Media Group Editor-in-Chief Joe Ageyo reiterated Rapuro's remarks on accountability in Journalism.
"The Gen Z movement brought back accountability. This now makes our work more exciting but also a bit challenging," Ageyo said.
