While we struggle with post-hurricane recovery, our sister Commonwealth country Kenya struggles to retain a critical element of freedom of the press: the protection of information sources.

Kenya, which is due to have parliamentary elections later this year, has been ranked by Transparency International as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. But unlike much of the rest of Africa, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe being a prime example, the country has a relatively free and lively media.

The media are under some significant pressure. Last year, armed police raided the offices of The Standard newspaper and of broadcaster KTN, smashing equipment and burning newspapers. The Gleaner is not a stranger to threats from the Stat never so directly attacked. Media in Guyana, our CARICOM associate have been facing considerable pressure from the Bharrat Jagdeo government in carrying out their duties. So are media in Venezuela where the Chávez government has closed the most popular privately owned television station RCTV. There is no free media in Cuba to be harassed by the State. We stand in solidarity against threats to the freedom of the media anywhere.

The Kenyan parliament has passed a law with a clause which gives the courts the power to force journalists to reveal sources or unnamed indivi-duals quoted in a story. President Mwai Kibaki, exercising his powers of veto, on Wednesday, August 22, refused to sign the bill into law. The legally required presidential memorandum to the National Assembly providing reasons of objections said, "The bill is a threat to the democratic gains that Kenya has made in the recent past." The country has only recently thrown off the near-dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi and his predecessors with its curtailment of press freedom.

The protection of sources is fundamental to the role of the media as the principal information-providing institution in democratic states. But even in the United States, whose constitution was the first to explicitly protect freedom of the press, this hallowed principle of journalistic practice has come under threat. The main reason generally, as is the case in Kenya now, has always been to restrain an over-exuberant media from defamation of character.

The power and freedom of the media must of course be accompanied by an appropriate exercise of responsibility. But muzzling the freedom to investigate and publish is not the way to go. Those who offer themselves for public life and service must expect greater scrutiny by the media, especially in conditions of rampant corruption. And generally, over-generous libel laws and official secrets acts provide more than enough protection.