The Kenya Editors Guild and Kenya Union of Journalists have declined to attend the Energy journalism awards to be held on Thursday evening.
Kenya Pipeline had sent invitations to the two associations for this year’s edition of the Energy Journalism Excellence Awards (EJEA).
In their responses, the two groups raised integrity concerns on the company’s operations and termed the festival “an affront to independent journalism in Kenya.”
KUJ secretary general Erick Oduor wrote on Tuesday, “We are in receipt of your invitation to attend the gala night on April 4, 2019, in reference to the above matter. However, we wish to disassociate ourselves from the awards because we believe the awards lack integrity.”
Kenya Editors Guild CEO Rosalia Omungo said the awards sought to put journalists in a situation where they were to be celebrated by subjects of their coverage, all in the claim of rewarding excellence.
She said in a letter dated April 1, “Naturally, this constitutes a major conflict of interest, a grave matter for editors in particular and the larger fraternity of free media.”
“I, therefore, on the above-stated ethical grounds, wish to inform that we are unable to participate in EJEA as currently constituted,” she wrote.
The KUJ also questioned the integrity of the companies that have sponsored the awards.
“We are aware that some of the companies who have sponsored these awards have either been investigated or are being investigated over corruption and cannot stand the test of integrity the media fraternity as the watchdog would like to associate with,” Oduor said.