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It is said that in every society there are different classes. We are very familiar with the first three that include the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. However, governments have been able to manipulate these arms to work for their favour and therefore the need to have an independent press that is free to speak as it wishes must be supported. The media together with the civil society, which are the forth and fifth estates respectively, can act as effective checks to the government which would ordinary abuse power to benefit it members.

Kenya, for example, has had the privilege of enjoying a free press over the last five years. Some how one can link the freedom of the press to economic development. Countries that allow for greater freedoms within the press, tend to experience renewed periods of increased growth as in the case of Kenya and China. This is because the international community tend to be more willing to trade with a country with greater respect for freedoms as stated in the bill of rights. The country in question also tends to receive more positive publicity about itself thus increasing investor confidence and investment.

Country's that also allow for greater freedom in the press make the government more accountable in respect to its public spending. Media freedom makes it very hard for government officials to channel funds for public use into their personal pockets. In Kenya, the recent Anglo Leasing scandal almost forced the ruling government out of power, caused a major fallout and lead to greater accountability under the watchful eye of the opposition party and most importantly of the public through the press.

A free press is also very useful in highlighting issues of national importance and thus mobilize resources for the same cause. In non free press freedom states, the government makes every effort in ensuring that the press is not powerful enough to convince the public to react to any issue presented by the press. This means that the press may lack the power to address the needs facing the general public. I do not deny that the same press can be used to promote violence and other bad things but a free press with the right controls can be more effective in a society to bring about positive change than one that is muffled.

So the issue here if the press should have freedom of speech with I support but how to ensure that it uses that freedom responsibly. In Kenya what the press have done is used the self regulation way which has been adopted by the government by making it law. This means that the press are still able to maintain freedom of speech but in instances where the government feels that that freedom is being abused or being used to cause insecurity, the government and the media owners association organise for a consultative meeting to discuss the issue at hand. This is a good example on how the government can still regulate the industry without using force.

Free press therefore means that there is no restriction on who enters the journalism sector and thus can allow for the explosion of contents creation and the provision of useful information. I a country where there is freedom of press, it is likely to find more publications that print information targeted towards given industrial sectors like tourism and thus spurring growth in that sector. This in turns created more jobs directly and indirectly helping the government achieve its social economic goals.

Governments therefore should support the freedom of the press and use other methods like self regulation to spur growth in the sector and in the country as a whole. Regulation has never helped any nation and therefore should be instead banned.

Learn more about this author, Magu Nguru.
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