"The study examined various sampled media content and interviewed key informants to understand professional and ethical considerations informing media coverage of terror, religious extremism and radicalisation. From the findings, it is evident that the media somehow contributes to the propagation of
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the dominant narratives that: People of Somali origin are potential terrorists; all Muslims are potential terrorists because most suspects arrested are Muslims; and that Islam preaches and supports radicalisation and extremism, among other narratives. The study reveals that journalists now face serious security risks especially in the coastal region following perceived media biases. In fact, some have been attacked or threatened. The media does not strictly adhere to professional tenets and code of conduct. Some of the noted violations include use of bloody pictures and abhorrent scenes, inability to separate fact from commentary; and use of single news sources which creates impressions of biased reporting. Journalists should equally be careful about words and phrases they use when reporting terrorism and associated issues. They should promote diversity, and have different voices and perspectives on terrorism, religious and radicalisation issues. Consequently, promotion of inter-religious dialogue through the media is important in ensuring a cohesive society. The media should also go beyond superficial reporting and critically interrogate social, economic and political issues and provide a platform for better understanding of the problems that face society." (Executive summary)
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"Education and language skills are the main factors that influence which platform women access most frequently. Daily TV use is similar for men and women but women tend to lag men in frequent radio and internet use. Once a country reaches a critical mass in mobile penetration, gaps between both male
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and female ownership levels decrease. The largest gaps exist in countries that are still developing mobile capacity." (Summary, page 35)
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"This article explores the factors surrounding the introduction of television broadcasting in Kenya, and those issues that have historically instigated how television producers in Kenyan television conceptualise audiences. It highlights that the political economic legacy of the beginnings of broadca
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sting in Kenya continues to influence the processes involved in the production of television programmes, and therefore how producers view the audiences of these programmes." (Abstract)
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"To better understand who participates in media-driven public discussion and opinion-making, this working paper presents the results of a randomised household survey implemented in four constituencies in Kenya and Zambia, one urban and one rural constituency in each country. The survey was conducted
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as part of Politics and Interactive Media in Africa (PiMA), a collaborative research project analysing the nature and political implications of expressions of public opinion in broadcast media in Kenya and Zambia, via new information and communication technologies (ICT) such as mobile phones. This paper presents descriptive survey results that are the basis of a deeper comparative analysis of drivers of listenership and participation in interactive broadcast media shows, also published in the PiMA Working Paper series. Nevertheless, a few results are highlighted here. The survey reveals that level of radio listenership of interactive shows in the two Kenyan constituencies is high, particularly in Kenya, ranging between 80-90%, whereas in Zambia listenership levels range between 40-60%, contrasting with listenership to radio shows generally (70-85%). Radio listeners tend to listen to all types of shows, from politics and development shows to social/cultural and music/entertainment shows. Yet country differences in interactive show listenership are not reflected in the levels of participation in interactive radio shows. Both in Kenya and in Zambia, roughly 20% of the total population have participated at one time or another in interactive shows. However, contrasting with listenership, participation tends to be more segmented across types of shows. Rural and urban constituencies show an inverse pattern of participation in Kenya and Zambia, with higher levels of participation in the urban sample from Zambia (21% versus 12% in the rural), and the rural sample from Kenya (21% versus 19% in the urban). Across the four sites, male and more educated listeners are more likely to engage interactive shows. Three to four times more men engage in interactive shows than women. Of the women who participate in interactive shows, they tend to be younger, single, more educated and wealthier compared with those who do not participate. Calling in to the studio is the most frequent form of engagement in radio shows, especially in rural areas. SMS is more popular in urban constituencies, particularly in Kenya. Only 10% of those who have participated in interactive media shows have ever used social media to communicate with stations. Across all sites, the main barriers to participation identified are cost and expectations of not getting through." (Abstract and introduction, page 4)
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"Kenya’s 2010 Constitution guarantees press freedom in a way the country has never previously seen. However, the concentration of media ownership and pending consensus on new media legislation are tarnishing the triumphs of Kenya’s media liberalization and development. Regulation of news content
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, including hate speech and political bias, as well as journalistic standards are also issues provoking discussion and sullying the image of Kenya as a role model for other East African countries. On May 21, 2014, international scholars gathered in Bonn to discuss their research under the heading “Kenya’s Media Landscape: A Success Story with Serious Structural Challenges”. This publication provides a supplement to the presentations and discussions held at the fifth annual DW Media Dialogue." (Publisher description)
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"The expansion of access to mobile phones in the developing world has provided new opportunities for development and peacebuilding institutions to reach communities, and for communities to develop local development and peacebuilding solutions. Kenya has seen a particularly high concentration of prog
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ramming geared towards using mobile phones for banking, election monitoring and violence prevention, using crowdsourcing methods to collect and share information. While there have been a number of notable crowdsourcing programmes that have been successful at preventing violence, there remains limited theorisation in the peacebuilding community about why these successes occurred. Using Fearon and Laitin’s (1996) models of inter-ethnic cooperation, intra-group organising and inter-group policing, we explore whether success in crowdsourcing for violence prevention is a function of direct intra-community organising, or is an outcome of previously unavailable information being broadcast on traditional media such as radio." (Abstract)
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"Kenya has over a hundred radio stations today a good number of them being commercial stations while the others are community Radios. Some of these commercial stations broadcast in vernacular therefore causing confusion as to what exactly is the difference between a community radio and the commercia
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l radio broadcasting in a local language. This paper attempts at elucidating vividly the difference between the two and the role they play in the society with a bias to the Kenyan context of legal and policy frame work." (Abstract)
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"This assessment was done to determine the level of quality content at the community radio stations in Kenya, as well as the key determinants of this content quality, with the aim of informing interventions to address the identified challenges or gaps at the various targeted radio stations. The asse
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ssment is part of a project to strengthen the capacities of community radio stations in Kenya better their content, and hence develop the much needed identity, funded by Hivos, through its Kenya Media Programme. In developing this report, a desk review summarizing key findings from the recent assessment reports on the kind of content and programming being carried out by community radio stations in Kenya was done, as well as a sample of actual practice on the content and programming by three partner community radio stations: Baliti FM (Isiolo), Koch FM (Nairobi) and Ekialo Kiano (Homa Bay)." (Executive summary)
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"In Brazil, India and Kenya, a wide range of factors currently inhibit media from playing their full role in promoting awareness of child rights and in helping children realise their rights, says this report. Crucial issues identified in all three countries include lack of media coverage, inadequate
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professionalism among journalists, absence of children's voices in the public debate, and scarce coperation among the media and child rights advocates. For each country, a detailed chapter provides insights into the national media landscape, the child rights reporting practice (based on a content analysis), the "media perspective" (based on focus groups and interviews with media professionals), and the "civil society perspective" (based on focus groups and individual interviews). The report recommends creating more youth journalists by training young people to produce radio programmes; establishing incentives for journalists to specialise in child rights; improving networking among civil society organisations and media, and establishing and monitoring guidelines for reporting on child rights." (CAMECO Update 1-2015)
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"Campaigns and movements targeting corruption often face decentralized targets rather than an identifiable dictator or external government, and can be found both in undemocratic and democratic systems. Graft and abuse are manifested in a systemic manner rather than a hodgepodge collection of illicit
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transactions. Consequently, this research brings to light new applications of civil resistance beyond the more commonly known cases against occupations, such as the Indian independence movement, and authoritarian regimes from Chile to Poland. It also expands our understanding about the dynamics of how people collectively wield nonviolent power for the common good. The focus of this research is on citizen agency: what civic actors and regular people—organized together and exerting their collective power—are doing to curb corruption as they define and experience it. Hence, the analytical framework is based on the skills, strategies, objectives, and demands of such initiatives, rather than on the phenomenon of corruption itself, which has been judiciously studied for more than two decades by scholars and practitioners from the anticorruption and development realms. I selected cases that met the following criteria: they were “popular” initiatives. They were civilian-based, involved grassroots participation, and were led and implemented by individuals from the civic realm, rather than governments or external actors, such as donors, development institutions, and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs); they were nonviolent. They did not threaten or use violence to further their aims; they involved some degree of organization and planning, which varied depending on the scope—objectives, geographical range, duration—of the civic initiative; multiple nonviolent actions were employed (thus, instances of one-off demonstrations or spontaneous protests were not considered); objectives and demands were articulated; the civic initiative was sustained over a period of time." (Introduction, pages 2-3)
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"In a pilot field study, conducted in February 2014 in Kenya and Uganda, news journalists reflected on the use of and interest in the Chinese international media offered in East Africa at the moment. An earlier survey, done in 2009, showed that Kenyan journalists emphasized several factors that play
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a role for their independence, such as their collective professional status and media owners’ financial and political interests. What foregrounds in this context, is the media organizations’ manipulation of news in favour or disfavour of various interests. The field study found that a pluralist media in itself does not guarantee a coherent debate based on factual information (Helander, 2010). Building on this analysis of the media in East Africa, my current research seeks to investigate the role of China’s international media in the local media system. China Central Television and China Radio International have their regional base in Nairobi, and work in close cooperation with the government led Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. The study has found that politically sensitive issues, which can have negative economic repercussions for China and the host country, are barely covered by Xinhua News. The correspondents at CCTV, CRI and China Daily Africa apply a cautious approach to the reporting of some important stories (Interview in Nairobi 14-02-10). Because China’s initiative in media is state-led and thereby less independent, these communication channels have yet to gain credibility among the media practitioners. However, the field study conducted in Nairobi and Kampala in February 2014, points to anther other question regarding the current efficacy, or popularity, of the Chinese news sources. The interviews gave cause to doubt the importance of perceived credibility of the content, to rather stress the question of whether Chinese international media is interesting. Both the framing, and the choice of news stories, were deemed by interviewees using the words boring, uninteresting or lacking political news value. After further interviews with media practitioners were conducted in Johannesburg and Nairobi in December 2014, a more varied view of Chinese news sources transpired. The opinions within the population of journalists in South Africa and Kenya ranged from trust and interest to very poor trust and complete disinterest, in reports from Chinese news sources." (Pages 1-3)
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"The first decade of the 21st century has seen a proliferation of North American and European films that focus on African politics and society. While once the continent was the setting for narratives of heroic ascendancy over self (The African Queen, 1951; The Snows of Kilimanjaro, 1952), military o
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dds (Zulu, 1964; Khartoum, 1966) and nature (Mogambo, 1953; Hatari!,1962; Born Free, 1966; The Last Safari, 1967), this new wave of films portrays a continent blighted by transnational corruption (The Constant Gardener, 2005), genocide (Hotel Rwanda, 2004; Shooting Dogs, 2006), ‘failed states’ (Black Hawk Down, 2001), illicit transnational commerce (Blood Diamond, 2006) and the unfulfilled promises of decolonization (The Last King of Scotland, 2006). Conversely, where once Apartheid South Africa was a brutal foil for the romance of East Africa (Cry Freedom, 1987; A Dry White Season, 1989), South Africa now serves as a redeemed contrast to the rest of the continent (Red Dust, 2004; Invictus, 2009). Writing from the perspective of long-term engagement with the contexts in which the films are set, anthropologists and historians reflect on these films and assess the contemporary place Africa holds in the North American and European cinematic imagination." (Publisher description)
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"The Internet will generate economic growth and social transformation in six sectors in particular: financial services, education, health, retail, agriculture, and government. In financial services, for example, M.Pesa's mobile money solutions have brought millions of Kenyans onto the financial grid
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for the first time. Remote diagnostics are expanding medical services to rural areas that have few healthcare professionals. Students are beginning to learn with new digital education tools, and e-government initiatives are connecting citizens with services. This report examines the progress and potential of the Internet in 14 economies that together make up 90 percent of Africa's GDP. In addition to measuring the size of their current Internet economies, it evaluates the strength of five fundamental pillars of Internet readiness: national ICT strategy, infrastructure, business environment, access to financial capital, and the development of ICTrelated human capital. By combining these factors, it is possible to map each country's progress on its digital journey. Kenya and Senegal, for instance, are not Africa's largest economies, but they have nevertheless emerged as the continent's leaders in terms of the relative economic contribution of the Internet." (Executive summary)
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"In Spider Stories 2012 you will get an overview of results from Spider projects initiated in 2011-2012 in collaboration with project partners in Cambodia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. In partnership with local organizations, we have supported innovative projects in democracy, education, and
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health. Our project partners have also explored Spider’s crosscutting themes, from Free and Open Source Software and mobiles for development to cultural creativity and youth empowerment. Spider Stories 2012 is in the format of “storytelling” to capture the voices of our project partners as well as the ultimate beneficiaries of their efforts: ordinary people in different social settings." (Spider website)
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"In online journalism, the virtues associated with ethics—accuracy, honesty, truth, impartiality, fairness, balance, respect for autonomy of ordinary people—are barely respected, largely because there is no effective way of policing this, and there are no legal penalties. Concentration of owners
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hip has increased in the last five years and transparency in ownership of media has improved only slightly over the past five years. The government controls media licensing—a process that is shrouded in secrecy, so that it is difficult to establish who owns which media house. The overall framework of policy and law is not yet adequate for digitized media in Kenya. The national ICT policy of 2006 committed the government to support and encourage pluralism and diversity. While this led to a proliferation of channels, it did not do much for content diversity due to the level of concentration of media. A lack of resources to build the digital infrastructure, consumer ignorance of what the switch means and whether the public can afford the end-user devices are some of the challenges faced in Kenya’s digital switchover." (Open Society Foundations website)
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