This study examines the relationship between self-censorship and the practice of journalism in Kenya's mainstream media by answering the following questions: What factors drive self-censorship in Kenya's media? What impact does self-censorship have on the practice of journalism? And are journalists willing to self-censor? The study also discusses the findings of different scholars on self-censorship in Africa and other continents. Kenya has one of the most robust and pluralistic media in Africa, however, it still faces challenges in achieving its full potential as a public watchdog. The findings of this study show that self-censorship is a serious threat to the practice of journalism, the practice is linked to the diminishing trust in the media as well as the declining consumption of news content. The study sheds light on the major factors that lead journalists to self-censor categorizing them into three broad components namely: Institutional (ownership and editorial policies), National (politics, economic and legal factors), and personal/cultural factors. Journalists are forced into self-censoring by power players who include media owners, advertisers, the government and politicians. The power players have made regulations meant to put journalists under control, those who dare not to obey are punished. Besides, media organizations need advertisement revenue for survival thus they accept whatever corporate organizations, the state, and politicians tell them to do in exchange for advertising money. This has led to media owners and managers forcing journalists to work under certain policies that influence them to censor themselves. As a result, journalists choose not to write against the interest of power players. They hide facts, leave out information they think will upset the power players and are not willing to work on sensitive stories which they cannot write truths about. The study adopted a mixed-methods research approach, the method provides a better chance to understand whether dishonorable journalistic practices, as well as the utilization of media organizations by several vested interests, are responsible for self-censorship among journalists. The study recommends that media organizations should focus on: production of quality news content, championing for the full implementation of Article 34 in Kenya's Constitution on press freedom and adhere to it, regulate media ownership, and align editorial policies to the journalistic principles.
وقت کی پابندی نحمدہ ونصلی علی رسولہ الکریم امّا بعد فاعوذ بااللہ من الشیطن الرجیم بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم معزز اساتذہ کرام اور میرے ہم مکتب ساتھیو! آج مجھے جس موضوع پر اظہار خیال کرنا ہے وہ ہے:’’وقت کی پابندی‘‘ صدرِذی وقار! کائنات کی رنگینیاں، کا ئنات کی رعنائیاں ، کا ئنات کی دلآویز یاں، کا ئنات کاحسن و جمال۔ یہ سب وقت کی پابندی کی مرہونِ منت ہیں، دن رات کی تبدیلی ، موسموں کا آنا جانا، گلستان ہستی میں بہار کی آمد یہ ہمہ قسم کی بوقلمونیاں نظام الاوقات سے وابستہ ہیں۔ جنابِ صدر! ستاروں کی چمک وقت پر ہوتی ہے، بدر و ہلال کی چاندنی کے لیے وقت مقرر ہے، آفتاب کی دمک کا ایک وقت مقرر ہے، آبشاروں کی کھڑ اکھڑاہٹ کا اپنا ایک وقت ہے، گلِ نرگس کی شگفتگی وقت پرممکن ہے، لالے کی حنابندی وقت پر ہوتی ہے ، مظاہر فطرت کی مشاطگی قدرت وقت پر کرتی ہے۔ صدرِ ذی وقار! جو وقت کی قدر کرتا ہے، وقت کو ضائع ہونے سے بچاتا ہے، وقت کی پابندی اپنی عادت ثانیہ بنالیتا ہے، وقت کی پابندی اس کی زندگی کا حصہ بن جاتی ہے، وقت کے میدان کا شاہسوار بن جاتا ہے، وقت کے گلشن میں موجودگل سرسبز سے اس کی سانسیں معطر ہوجاتی ہیں، وہ چرخِ علم ودانش پرآ فتاب ِنصف النہار کی طرح چمکتا ہے۔ جنابِ صدر! دنیا میں جس نے بھی کمال حاصل کیا وقت کی قدر کر کے کیا ، وقت کی پابندی نے اس کے افقِ حیات پر قوس قزح بنادی، آج ہم بھی کوئی مقام، کوئی مرتبہ حاصل کرنا چاہتے ہیں تو وقت کی قدرکرنا ہوگی اور وقت کی پابندی سے ہی ہماری ترقی ممکن ہے۔ یہ طاقت ہے یہ عظمت ہے یہ فتح و کامرانی ہے جہاں میں...
The graph of development of Islamic Banking system is increasing day by day. It deals only those transaction which are not conflict with Shari'ah. Therefor the procedure of transaction of Islamic Banking is completely different from the conventional Banking system. Murābaha (Cost plus sale) or Murābaha li al-Āamir be al-Shēraá. (Cost plus sale for the purchase orderer) is a well-known financing mood. In this mood of financing, the Islamic bank bound to buy the required goods to the orderer and to sells him at higher price than the purchase price. Islamic Banks occasionally appoints an agent to buy the goods. Sometime the Islamic Banks appoints the purchase ordere himself as an agent. In this case, the contract of Murabaha and the contract of agency should not be related to each other. When the purchase orderer buys the goods as an agent, he will inform the Bank of his purchase, and the possession of the agent will be considered as the possession of the Bank. In this way, both contracts Murābaha and Wakālah are not related to each other. After this, the Bank will offer to sell him (purchase orderer) the goods and then he will accept the offer.
This research work was aimed at assessing the seismic risk of unreinforced brick masonry buildings’ system of Northern Pakistan, constructed in stone dust mortar. To accomplish this, four series of unreinforced brick masonry piers constructed in stone dust mortar were tested in the in-plane direction using quasi-static method of testing. Each pier series comprised of three piers with identical properties and thus a total of twelve piers were tested. Aspect ratio and pre-compression were kept as the main variables. Various properties such as displacement ductility factors, ultimate drift ratios, coefficient of equivalent viscous damping, stiffness degradation and modulus of rigidity were determined using the experimental data from quasi-static cyclic tests on the piers. The effect of pre-compression on the coefficient of equivalent viscous damping and stiffness degradation were studied. Similarly, the effect of drift ratio on the coefficient of equivalent viscous damping was also studied. Various performance levels for unreinforced brick masonry piers, in relation to drift ratios, were also recommended. Based on the results of experimental work, a methodology was proposed for lateral strength assessment of unreinforced brick masonry buildings. The developed methodology produced satisfactory results when compared with the results of full-scale unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings tested at University of Pavia, Italy [MKC 95] and Georgia Institute of Technology, USA [ Yi 04]. Although the proposed methodology was used for brick masonry buildings, it can be applied to other types of masonry (such as stone and concrete block masonry constructed in cement: sand mortar, lime mortar, etc.) if the properties required to quantify the seismic performance (e.g., displacement ductility factors and ultimate drift ratios of masonry piers, etc.) are experimentally known. Various performance levels for unreinforced brick masonry buildings were also recommended in relation to drift ratios. Finally, seismic capacities of thirty-one buildings were evaluated. The buildings’ stock consisted of seventeen single-story and fourteen double-story buildings. The buildings were selected keeping in view their common typological use in urban areas of Northern Pakistan. Fragility curves, showing the probabilities of reaching or exceeding various performance levels at various levels of ground shaking, were drawn for various performance limit states. It was found by studying the fragility curves that the probability of occurrence for various performance levels of single- and double- story buildings do not differ significantly. It was also concluded that unreinforced brick masonry, if properly constructed, can be safely used in localities placed in seismic zone 2b [BCP 07] and below