MMUST Journalism and Mass Communication students and DeustcheWelle Akademie (DW) representatives from Germany had an opportunity to share their experiences on issues facing journalists in Kenya, on 18th October 2018. This was during an open forum organized by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC-MMUST).

The DW Akademie has been on the forefront in addressing challenges facing journalists in Kenya. The enthusiastic MMUST journalism students took centre stage in deliberating on how to deal with contemporary issues affecting the practice of journalism in Kenya. The common challenges that were addressed included security and safety of journalists, media viability, the question of gender in the media and general media developments. However, corruption came out prominently as the major challenge affecting journalism. Currently, the world is trying to deal with the shocking murder of the top journalist Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, with a mixture of the mentioned challenges playing a role in the unfortunate event.
The Germany team was led by the Country Coordinator of DW Akademie, Juta vom Hofe. Other participants were three MMUST Alumni including the Standard Newspaper reporter, Kevin Omolo, the Nyota FM presenter and programs manager, Kate Kulo who is also a DW Akademie Alumnus, and Maurine Onganga Ondiro a Brand TV presenter in Nairobi. The forum was also attended by Maseno University media students. MMUST staff present at the forum were the Chairman Dr. Peres Wenje and his JMC team Dr. Lydia Anyonje, Tom Ouko, Wafula Nyongesa and Gabriel Bombo. Kenya is a hotspot of journalistic interests, currently being visited by the renown English journalist, Richard Quest, who is a CNN International anchor.