Incisive coverage of key national events like the referendum, military recruitment, appointment of government officers, corruption in State ministries have taken the centre stage of media reportage, says the report.

The report notes that media recognition by the State in exposing malpractices conducted by citizens and senior government officials were high, placing a boost on press freedom in the country, which is vital for democracy.

While launching the report at the Meridian Hotel in Nairobi last week Mr Ezekiel Mutua director of information at the Ministry of Information and Communication lauded the media over their role in acting as the alternative opposition by probing matters of national concern.

“It is no longer possible to ambush the media. This is a long gone practice,” said Mr Mutua as he urged media outlets to embrace the results of the review.

Following the 2007 General Election, the grand coalition government was set up to end the political impasse and the “demise” of the opposition.

The African Media Barometer also stated that spates of debates in the media that endeavoured to engage public officers was rated high in the report, with TV and radio taking the lead, closely followed by daily newspapers.

The report further cited a strong trust in the media by the public which showed that most Kenyans took news carried in the media as the “gospel truth”.

Ms Grace Githaiga, a media consultant heralded the media over the progressive strides, adding that the media landscape in the country looked promising.

Use of the Internet through media-owned websites, according to the report, had increased coverage and access to audiences, and introduced greater efficiency in media operations which the report adds had encouraged growth of citizen journalism where locals send news stories to media outlets.

The report also shows that more media houses were reporting on local content and had increased coverage of human interest stories, a breakaway from the news dominated press.

Also in the report was the sporadic growth of radio stations which stood at 80, with vernacular stations taking a bigger percentage compared to local stations.

From the report, content in local stations was perceived to be above board in terms of sexual matters. But the report indicated that continued reporting on relationships in local radio painted a picture of a Kenya experiencing a relationship crisis, contrary to popular belief.

However the report faulted the agenda setting function of the media, stating that they gave more coverage to politics and neglected development journalism.

Developmental journalism involves attempts to document the conditions within a country so that the larger world can understand them.

A decline in investigative reporting was also noted, according to the report which was conducted over a three year period by stakeholders drawn from the media under the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES).

The report points out that majority of the mainstream media houses placed low premium on investigative journalism despite a decrease in threats and assassination of journalists.

Ms Githaiga noted that corruption was also an undercurrent behind the low use of investigative stories.

“The stories are normally killed at the editors’ level after a phone call has been made or an ‘envelope’ has been dished out,” she said.