Newspaper coverage of post political election violence in Africa: an assessment of the Kenyan example

Abstract

The media in Africa are often indicted for being partly responsible for the conflicts and tensions in the continent, and the role of the radio in escalating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda is frequently cited in support of this indictment. This article examines newspaper reports of the post 2007 presidential election violence in Kenya and finds a contrast to the Rwandan ‘model’. Although the newspapers analysed did not provide any forewarning about the impending crisis, they relentlessly published news stories and house editorials that addressed peace-building in the country. The authors suggest that the Kenyan example raises two main issues: (a) the media can play functional roles in de-escalating conflicts in Africa; and (b) reporters should be society’s moral witnesses, not ‘objective’ bystanders, who watch and report on the collapse of humanity.