Giving Hope amid Hopelessness? Kenyan Dicastery for Communication Consultor on Practice of Hope Journalism amid Distress

Low remuneration is another challenge Catholic media practitioners in Kenya grapple with, compromising their ability to practice hope journalism, she told ACI Africa. 

The Director of Nairobi-based Radio Waumini of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) admitted, “The salaries that we pay our journalists, our media personnel in the Catholic Church, are very minimal. And that's why you find that many of them don't even stay. They come, they find greener pastures, and they go.”

“The question is: how can this Catholic media journalist give hope when she or he is so disturbed; when he is feeling so low, no motivation, nothing? How do I give hope?” the Kenyan member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) posed. 

Sr. Ndilu went on to fault traditional journalism practice characterized with news negativity, which she said dominates Kenya’s mainstream news media channels and can compromise the wellbeing of news consumers in the East African nation, including Catholic journalists.

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“When you watch news on the commercial media houses, sometimes I sit and I watch ... from the beginning to the end, it's all bad news, nothing to give hope; nothing to give hope,” the board member of the African region of the World Catholic Association for Communication, SIGNIS Africa since her appointment in July 2022 lamented.

Credit: ACI Africa

Cases of tragedy and social catastrophes are told “with much negativity” to the effect that “you go to bed sad, (wondering), is there hope in this world?”

“I cannot watch the news when it's all negativity,” Sr. Ndilu confessed, and alluding to the need to transition from traditional to constructive journalism that includes solutions to news media reports, added, “That's why we, as Catholic communicators, are being called to give people hope.”

For her, a Catholic media practitioner should make a deliberate effort to “communicate a message of hope, and especially when the world around you seems to be all negative.”

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The immediate former National Executive Secretary of KCCB’s Commission for Social Communications said that audiences Catholic journalists serve hunger for hope, including those “feeling like God is not hearing my prayers,” one who has “been praying to God to give me a good partner (and) a good partner is not forthcoming.” Such people, she emphasized, can benefit from journalism content characterized with hope. 

“We are called to be givers of hope. And even if I don't feel that hope in my heart, I always believe, and I call the young people to believe, that there's a tomorrow that is bright,” Sr. Ndilu said, and continued, “When we talk of hope, actually, it's looking at tomorrow; tomorrow will be better than today.”

She appealed, “Let us not give up, even when there's a lot of negativity.”

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The Kenyan Consultor of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication expressed the need for the people of God in Kenya to contribute towards the operations of Catholic media entities in the country. 

“Catholic media needs to be supported. Many people may not listen to our channels because we have not yet reached them. We are not yet able to compete with the commercial media because we somehow struggle,” she added. 

The board member of SIGNIS Africa further appealed, “We call upon the Church – the Church in Kenya, the Church in Africa, the Church in the world – to to support media, especially communications in Africa.”

ACI Africa was founded in 2019. We provide free, up-to-the-minute news affecting the Catholic Church in Africa, giving particular emphasis to the words of the Holy Father and happenings of the Holy See, to any person with access to the internet. ACI Africa is proud to offer free access to its news items to Catholic dioceses, parishes, and websites, in order to increase awareness of the activities of the universal Church and to foster a sense of Catholic thought and culture in the life of every Catholic.