Press Freedom Violations Register (PFVR)
The Register was established in 2012, but was not used in a sufficiently wide manner. Efforts are ongoing to make it interactive and easy to use and access online. It will be enabled with archiving features and ability to show frequency of incidents by geographical location. An alert system will be inbuilt. It will also have the capacity to generate graphs and other visual features.
The Council has been trying with available resources to update its tools accordingly. The Press Freedom Violations Register has since 2016 been undergoing drastic changes. The data base has been built up from scratch and it is now an online platform which can be inputted by data through email, SMS and direct input into the data base. It has invariably made the data base available throughout the country. The online database also has an interactive function which once information has been processed and approved by the administrator it will appear on the interactive map. A network of countrywide coordinators for the register has received training to update them on the register and how to input data and information in it.
The data base is to be linked with social accounts on Face book, twitter, instagram etc. This will also help drive traffic to the database and MCT. The database is soon to be uploaded after testing is completed and after finishing touches are completed including ensuring that it is both in English and Kiswahili.
The PFVR will be used as a tool by national media houses, journalists associations, individual journalists, civil society organisations and international organizations for evidence-based advocacy. It will be an authoritative register that media houses, journalists, academics, human rights defenders, international organizations and even governments can refer to for up to date information on the state of press freedom in the country.
Periodic news releases will be made based on the register data as need be, while annually a report will be published and disseminated.