Media bill petty and personal - Kenyan editors

NAIROBI, Aug 9 (Reuters) Kenyan editors dismissed as ''personal and petty'' today a media bill that would enable the government to force them to disclose their sources.

The Media Bill, passed by parliament this month, was amended at the last minute to include a clause giving the government the right to demand the names of sources in news reports that give rise to legal disputes.

''This amendment was calculated to settle scores and punish the media for extremely personal and petty reasons,'' the Kenya Editors' Guild said in a press statement.

Reporters Without Borders yesterday urged President Mwai Kibaki to block the bill which it called an attack on press freedom.

''When a story includes unnamed parties who are not disclosed and the same becomes the subject of a legal tussle as to who is meant, then the editor shall be obliged to disclose the identity of the party ... referred to,'' the clause states.

The government says the bill aims to regulate the media which has experienced a boom since it came to power in 2002.

''We have a lot of freedom and democratic space, but even with democratic space you have to have regulation. If not, others' rights will be infringed,'' said Betenge Ndemo, a senior official in the Ministry of Communications.

But critics say the bill is a return to the dark days of former president Daniel Arap Moi, when journalists were routinely harassed and sometimes tortured.

''The bill (is) being rushed in an election year when members of parliament are sensitive to our coverage of the election.'' Hanningtone Gaya, Chairman of Media Owners' Association of Kenya, told Reuters by telephone.

REUTERS AE BST2121