Ambassador Macharia Kamau Bashes US Media over 'Myopic and Dark Pen' Reporting on Kenya

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Ambassador Macharia Kamau has bashed American media and journalists, particularly ones in New York for what he termed as "myopic and dark pen" reporting on Kenya

Kamau claimed that the reportage by the New York journalists has painted Kenya as a socially and politically dangerous country.

While giving his last speech as Kenya's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the envoy said the reports have also portrayed the country as "the least safe of its woeful and compromised neighbours, of which comparatively little if anything is written about".

Kamau, who has served as the Kenya's envoy to UN for the last seven years further noted that he had been reading articles about Kenya on the New York Times and the London Financial Times almost every morning.

He stated that the Kenyan stories by the two outlets have been "horribly negative, woefully biased and sadly misguiding if not entirely misinforming of its readers."

"I’m not sure why Kenya gets so much print in these two newspapers, disproportionate I am sure to it’s size and significance, but whatever the motivation, I have drawn the conclusion that it’s not intended to be positive or uplifting to the country or it’s people," Kamau said in a statement on Monday.

He specifically mentioned Jina Moore’s NYT story and photos of March 15th.

"But I thought I should say my bit anyway in hopes that they might indeed carry out an audit of their stories on the country and maybe even revisit their editorial position on Kenya, a position that I believe is serving a master other than servant journalism, without fear or favor," he said.

"I’ll just leave it at that. I’ll miss New York, NY1 and it’s people and culture. But as for the New York Times and its London cousin, I’ll miss only the none political scribes who are unsurpassed in the world."

On his stay at the United States city, Kamau noted: "New York 1 in particular left me feeling like I was a real New Yorker with all the good and the bad stories driven by excellent journalism and the daily fare of murders or shootings, of traffic, weather and the like, and the uplifting snippets of New York hope and culture."