Sexual harassment in media newsrooms is rampant in Kenya as captured in this survey that was conducted by Roshani Consultancy Services : HESHIMA SURVEY_ROSHANICS_2019. This survey of 70 journalists revealed that 45 respondents, knew someone who was sexually harassed, including respondents working in media houses with anti-sexual harassment policies coined for the work place.
Sexual harassment in the media has various effects. For the individuals who underwent sexual harassment and were not able to report the perpetrator and found the environment uncomfortable to work in at times chose to walk away and embraced different careers despite their passion for working in the media house.
In other situations it affected how stories on sexual harassment in other sectors were treated in the newsrooms when cited in other sectors. 9 out of 10 respondents say that sexual harassment perpetrators are mostly likely to be biased towards sexual harassment perpetrators or against sexual harassment victims when covering these stories.
This survey provides some insights into sexual harassment media houses that provide a background to interrogating what needs to be done so as to ensure that sexual harassment is stamped out of media houses.
If you have any comments on this survey we would be happy to hear from you.