RMS named most trusted media house as Citizen TV leads in viewership - MCK

Royal Media Services (RMS) is the most trusted media outlet for information, according to the Media Council of Kenya's annual State of the Media Survey Report.

Citizen TV and Radio Citizen are also the most watched and listened to television and radio stations, with their audience share growing year on year.

The annual performance and public perception of media reports was launched alongside a revised code of conduct for media practice by the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, William Kabogo.

Citizen TV carried the day on Thursday, the report showed it to be the most dominant television station, with 75 per cent of respondents tuning in weekly.

Citizen TV is building on its dominance to emerge as the most watched television station in 2024 at 53 per cent. This is up from 35 per cent in 2023.

Inooro TV comes in second at 6 per cent, K24 and NTV were tied at 5 per cent, with both dropping from 11 per cent and 7 per cent in the last year. Ramogi TV is in the top 10.

Radio Citizen is the most listened-to station, with 29 per cent of respondents reporting it as their preferred choice. This is a significant positive change compared to 2023, where Radio Citizen led with a 22 per cent share according to the report.

Citizen Digital also made a good showing, coming in second as the most popular news website.

Boasting a stable of 13 radio stations and three television stations, Royal Media Services was found to be the most trusted media outlet for information, as voted by 59 per cent of respondents. The national broadcaster was a distant second at 9 per cent.

A revised code of conduct was also launched at the annual media summit, in keeping with a court order issued by Justice Lawrence Mugambi on November 7 last year, in the interest of protecting children from inappropriate content.

The code also sets out guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence, media responsibility in ensuring that even user-generated content aligns with the code, and seeks to limit exposure of children and other vulnerable persons to gaming, betting, or lottery content.