PROPOSAL PAPER FOR MASTER OF ARTS

DEGREE IN COMMUNICATION THESIS

PROJECT

NAME OF STUDENT:
KIPKOECH TANUI

REGISTRATION
K50/81601/2015

PRESENTED TO:
DR GEORGE NYABUGA

TOPIC:
The Role of the Print Media in Political Conflict in
Kenya: A Case Study of 2007 Presidential and General
Election
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
In March 2008, Kenyas two rival leaders, both claiming electoral victory in a
disputed outcome that plunged the country into three months of chaos, signed a
power-sharing deal. The signing ceremony took place at the frontal steps of
Harambee House, which hosts the Presidency. The vital document was signed
under the watchful eye of the lead mediator on behalf of the international
community Dr Kofi Annan. This calmed the fear and anxiety that had gripped
many Kenyans given the wave of deaths, displacement of people and destruction of
property. At least 1300 people were killed and thousands uprooted from their
homes.
As the mediation effort bore fruit and as Kenyans reflected on her darkest chapter
in history, focus turned to what could have fanned the violence. Two commissions
were formed within the framework of mediation effort and by way of consensus
among the two parties to the dispute that was tearing the country apart: President
Mwai Kibakis Party of National Unity and incoming Prime Minister and leader of
Orange Democratic Movement Mr Raila Odinga.
The first was led by a retired South African Judge Johann Kriggler and it focused
on the deficiencies and weak structures of the national electoral body, Electoral
Commission of Kenya (which was later scrapped and replaced with the current
Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission).
The Kriegler Commission, officially referred to as The Independent Review
Committee (IREC) was mandated with the task of studying the conduct of the
election itself with focus on, the constitutional and legal framework with a view
of identifying weaknesses and inconsistencies.
The most relevant of IRECs tasks to this research paper was the mandate to study
and make recommendations on, the electoral environment and the role of the
political parties, civil society, the media and observers.
His verdict was discerned from document analyses, proceedings of public hearings
and personal testimonials as well as cache of official reports by expert security and
administrative arms of government such as the National Intelligence Service and
the Police headquarters. There were also independent investigations carried out and
published as reports by the civil society and church groups, and in particular the
Kenya Human Rights Commission Report (KHRC).
The KHRC report which later served as the foundation of the Waki Commission
and titled On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenyas 2007
Post-Election Violence, also mapped out the justification for the argument that the
violence was organised with a central command structure.
The report linked the criminal extortionist cartels, especially in urban areas, and
the organisation and financing by political operatives, to the escalation of the
violence. In all cases these gangs operated within ethnic-based conclaves in the
informal settlements within towns.

According to KHRC Report the violence broke out on the evening the results were
declared and Kibaki sworn in. In Nairobi, Eldoret and Kisumu they were clearly
patterned along ethnic lines with pro-ODM youths (mainly Luhya, Luo and
Kalenjin) targeting members of the Kikuyu community (the tribe of President
Kibaki and largely seen as the bedrock of Party of National Unity support). The
areas that imploded into violence that evening were largely in Nairobi: Kibera,
Dandora, Mathare, Kariobangi and Kawangware. In Eldoret it was the densely-
populated Kimumu and Langas, while in Kisumu it were the vast informal
settlement of Kondele, Nyalenda and Abungo.

Krieglers conclusion on the media partially contradicted the popularly-held view

then than the media was responsible for rising ethnic tensions before the election
and the final implosion on the evening of December 30, 2007 when the ECK
Chairman announced at dusk that President Kibaki had won a second term. The
commissions conclusion was that the most culpable contributor to the build-up
were the emerging vernacular or community FM stations that were mobilising
communities to support the candidate enjoying the backing of the community in
whose language the station broadcast in.

But on the mainstream media, Kriegler concluded that, even though the leading
newspapers, television and radio stations were not very openly biased for or
against any of the candidates, there were discernible preferences shown by the tilt
they gave in favour of or against the candidates and their campaign issues.
He shared his findings on how when the results started flowing in the various
media houses began competition on who was releasing the latest, often using
obscure and unverified sources.

Justice Phillip Waki, then a judge of the Court of Appeal, chaired the Commission
of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence which started its sittings in May 2008. The
mandate was to flesh out the causes of the violence and to recommend justice
mechanisms to deal with the problem.
The commission linked the chaos to political competition for the presidency, an
office whose executive powers had over the years been enhanced, through ethnic
coalescing and mobilisation.

On the Kalenjin Communitys insistence PEV was a product of their alienation and
the deliberate transfer of their land to members of the Kikuyu community who
were not residents of the Rift Valley at Independence, Waki and his team concurred
with the Justice Akilano Akiwumis commissions findings years earlier that land
was the excuse but the main problem was competition for political power.

This research will be seeking to draw up the link between how this reporting of
ethnic rivalry could have tempered the political discourse by showing one
community was looking at the other as the enemy within, out to get power for the
purpose of exercising economic and political dominance over them.
The Kenyan case was a replication of the role of the media, specifically in political
reporting to that of Rwanda on the road to 1994s genocide in which international
media reports and humanitarian agencies estimated claimed the lives of over one
million people in the first 14 weeks alone.
Kill the Inkotanyi (cockroaches), broadcast Radio Tlvision Libre des Mille
Collines (RTLMC) Rwandese station in reference to the mass murder of the
majority Hutu tribe members.

In 2008, Internews held a workshop whose key objective was to bring Kenyan
journalists together to discuss where the media may have dropped guard and
contributed to the violence. The 30 Days in Words and Pictures: Media Response
in Kenya workshop listened to confessions by journalists working for FM stations
broadcasting in vernacular languages confess that they actually asked their
communities (audience) to defend themselves (meaning take up arms and fight!).
But it ended up with the common inconclusive verdict in all other previous cases
that the media might have played a role in either laying the ground for the violence
or fanning the fight when the ethnic tensions imploded with the release of the
disputed but delayed results. The tensions were aggravated by the delay in
releasing and the hurried swearing in of President Kibaki as darkness fell on that
fateful December 30th, 2007.

The blame on the media for the escalation of violence was a three-pronged attack.
The first onslaught was from politicians who claimed that specific media houses
incited certain communities against their people. They would also reinforce their
argument with the claim that the most they did during the violence was to raise
money for them to move out of the hotspots and get help, or to buy food and other
necessities given that with roads blockaded with tyres and boulders. Movement of
both commodities and people had been curtailed, triggering unprecedented food
shortages in towns.

But the opposing side would claim that the money raised by leaders of some
communities were used to buy arms, especially machetes, and to hire vehicles to
transport the killer tribal squads to specific areas. A case in point is Naivasha where
the Waki Commission was told the police cleared the way for Kikuyu youths from
Nairobi to go and blockade the Nakuru-Nairobi Highway, then pull out and kill
members of communities deemed ODM-friendly.

The media also came under criticism from the hHuman rRights groups that linked
partisan and ethnicised reporting to the escalation of the violence. KHRC
documented a case where Kass FM and Radio Injili reportedly interviewed elders
who added onto the propaganda and war-mongering already driving the Kalenjins
to hunt, evict or even kill members of the community. The Kikuyu on the other
hand armed themselves and in the contact areas, and in the end there were deaths
and loses of property on both sides.

At the International Criminal Court trial of initially six prominent Kenyans linked
to serious crimes against humanity charges killings, displacement and even rape
one was a Kass FM morning show presenter. Though charges against Mr Joshua
Arap Sang would later be dropped alongside same charges against President Uhuru
Kenyatta and his deputy Mr William Ruto for lack of evidence the court would
be told that Sang used his vantage position to direct the warriors in Eldoret and
Nandi using coded language.
Similar claims would be made by some of the witnesses who later recanted their
contradictory statements citing intimidation. In the investigation stages, ICC
advertised for translators who could turn what was said in Kikuku, Kalenjin,
Dholuo, Kiswahili and Luhya into English for the prosecution as it built its case.
The target was understood by Kenyans to be the broadcast news items and
interview programmes as the vernacular FM stations.
Finally, testimonials by journalists and media watchers describe a divided
newsroom in the period preceding the 2007 election and the heady and turbulent
period thereafter. News managers at the Nation and Standard Media Groups, for
example, revealed they had to carry post-PEV counselling programmes for their
reporting crews for two reasons. First, there was the Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder because of exposure to negatively impactful situations like decapitations,
hacking and burning of humans.
Secondly, the journalist are more likely susceptible to biased reporting (and
editing) based on their background, especially religion, gender and ethnicity. This
means that in reporting they may be tempted to swim, say along with the ethnic
tide swirling around the country. This gets more complicated when it influences
both their reporting or editing skills. Then one just needs to look at how the various
competing groups in the political platform begin to be reflected in the newsrooms.
Political enmity and ethnic rivalries split the journalists just as much as they divide
the society, for they are just an extension of their communities.

As this research project would attempt to establish, the focus on the role journalists
might have played in the political conflict has majorly been on radio, television
and other digital platforms but hardly on television and nearly zero on newspapers
side.

Previous studies, as we shall see in the next sections, concentrated more on digital
broadcast platforms probably because of the ease with which technology makes it
easy to organise and analyse the archived oral material.

The media is also vulnerable to manipulation by politicians, especially at the

ownership and board level (for business considerations) to tilt their coverage in
their favour. This is more pronounced on the incumbent government leadership.
The catch is always the assurance that government and party advertising would be
diverted to the friendly media house that plays ball with government. Of course
there are serious ethical and professional issues underlying this approach but then
the media managers and owners may have to weigh in the impact of government
advertising, which constitutes 60 per cent of most media houses revenues, and the
lack or less of it in regard to the whole business enterprise equation.

Then there is the infiltration of the newsrooms by the different political actors
through corrupting and bribing targeted journalists or media houses in return for
prompt and favourable coverage. Whereas most media managers frown at this
possibility on the basis of having a strong ethical culture and journalists of
integrity, most of them also concede that they have either participated in a
disciplinary case of this nature or have even had to fire or transfer journalists
caught in the act.

The other dimension of the role journalists play in political conflict manifests itself
in the fact that whereas we have been referring above to situations where media
owners and management can tilt the coverage in favour of one side for commercial
reasons, there is also a more dangerous side to this. We sayM more dangerous
because in the case of business interests the company would still strive to present a
sense of balance for the sake of audience retention and diversifying advertising
revenue streams.
This more damaging situation to neutrality of journalists is when the owners decide
to use the media platforms as an extension of their political campaign machines or
tools for seeking favours from government.

There are two situations in which this plays out in Kenya.

The first is where the owners are active politicians seeking new office or fighting
to retain one. In Kenya the family of retired President Daniel Arap Moi own the
vast media staple The Standard Group whose platforms include The Daily
Standard, The Standard on Saturday and The Sunday Standard as well as the
Nairobian. On the broadcast side there is Radio Maisha, Standard Digital and the
premier private Television in Kenya KTN and its latest addition 24 hour
channel, KTN News.
The family of Kenyas first President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and the fourth
President Uhuru Kenyatta own the Mediamax Company that in turns own the K24
Television and the People Daily newspaper.

The second tier of control of media houses is where the owner does not have direct
political interests but put their media empire at the disposal of a political wing.
This in Kenya manifests itself in the way the owner of Royal Media Services
which owns the television station with the widest reach and multiple local radio
stations engaged with both the Kibaki government and the current one.
Lastly in this league is the privately owned Radio Africa associated with Mr
Patrick Quarcoo as well as Nairobi Governor Dr Evans Kidero as well as theand
Kittony family - Senator Zipporah Kittony and influential Kanu politician, and
Mr Kiprono Kittony, a well-connected businessman and chairman of the Kenya
Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Infotrak Research and Consulting is firm associated with frequent opinion polls in
Kenya, especially on presidential race ratings among other political, economic and
social issues. In March 2016, it released a report that the most trusted institution in
Kenya was the media.

The poll showed that 87 percent of Kenyans trust the media while the second
institution ranked was the civil society but 24 percentage points lower. This study
whose results have been supported by that of another pollster Ipsos Synovate
(formerly Steadman) in past researches that are in public domain.
The influence the media wields in the society should be understood based on the
fact that civil society too, though ranked second, does in fact drive its agenda
mainly through the media. This is best exemplified by their combined efforts
during the agitation for return of multiparty democracy in Kenya the lobby for a
new constitution. The two institutions are also the cornerstones of public watchdog
role in Kenya today, keeping the Legislature, Judiciary and the Executive in check.

The role of journalist was aptly captured by the Media Council of Kenya through
its book Training and Welfare of Kenyan Journalists which is based on a study of
the status of journalists in Kenya by its consultant - Dataline International.

The Ccouncil drew a direct link between the degree of media freedom in a country
to level of development and democracy through investigation of human rights
abuses and ills such as corruption perpetrated by those in government. Apart from
the watchdog role the media according to the council, journalists are sources of
dependable information for the citizens that would help them confront impunity
and also to dialogue on national discourse The media also helps in educating the
citizens on their rights and enhances the knowledge they need to watch over and
contribute to democratic process.
A free media, the council points out, one of the greatest assets of democracy, which
as we shall see on this research was severely put to test in the 2007 Kenya
elections. The more diverse information voters receive the more accurate social
valuations they can make, the council posited.
These assumption on the role of the journalists are largely on the ideal level, but
the situation on the ground could be different. This depends on the influences
society exerts on the journalists through such social filters as tribe and ethnicity,
religion, education, economic and social statuses as well as operating environment
within the newsrooms.
As the council argues the capacity for a journalist to be independent depends on the
remuneration levels, training and professional support as well as the prevailing
national standards on such pervasively negative influence as the monster called
corruption and tribalism.
The role journalists played in political conflict like this one under study here
with emphasis on the 2007 pre-election tensions and rivalry culminating in
disputed election results and violence are heavily determined by the degree of
independences and the negative influences they fall into.
One cannot therefore discuss the role of the media in either escalating or de-
escalating conflict without an assessment of these influences. One of the ways of
doing this would be to look at how tribal loyalties, corruption and bribery by the
political elite, and unprofessionalism manifested itself in the manner journalists
covered the period leading to and after election itself.
This research a bias towards newspaper coverage, which in effects means that
analyses of key words used by writers and the choice of headlines would serve as
key indicator of the exact role.
Anthony Garant and Robin Carlson (2012) broke down the stages of conflict of
any form into five. Well adopt this model for this research taking into cognizance
the fact that communication permeates each of these stages as the parties to the
conflict use the media as the platform and conduit for their grievances. They also
use the media to try and convince the neutral citizens that their side is good, means
well, is the aggrieved and should be the most trusted. In this case at the centre of
the conflict is getting or retaining political power.
In Africa, where power and privilege accompanies political dominance, an election
is a serious national spectacle, hence the bitter rivalry by politicians through
mobilization of their ethnic groups and inter-community coalescing around ethnic
coalition premised on collective gain they stand to make if they power. These
coalitions are therefore anchored by power-sharing deal. It is in this context that we
now begin look at the journalist as a major actor in political conflict.
The five stages of conflict that Anthony Garant and Robin Carlson (2012) drew up
start with the Latent Stage where, participants not yet aware of conflict followed
by Perceived Stage which is the point the parties to conflict are aware there one
already. Third stage is the Felt Stage which is where fear and anxiety reigns. Fourth
stage is Manifest Stage where conflict bursts to the open, and finally there is the
post-conflict stage or as these academicians call, aftermath. In the Kenyan
context the apex of the conflict was the Election Day and release of results while
the mediation process from January to March 2008 is the aftermath.
The intellectual exploration of the role of journalists in the political conflict in
reference will revolve around these phases, and in particular the last three stages.
However there is a rider to this; the first two stages are majorly built on what those
seeking power referred to as historical injustices such as the land issue in Rift
Valley that featured in the ICC trials as the one thing that added fuel to the
Kalenjin-Kikuyu conflict.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
This research study seeks to investigate the role journalists may have played in the
escalation of the 2007-2008 conflict culmination in Post-Election Violence.
1. To determine the extent to which Kenyan newspaper reporting reflected
prejudice and bias that led to mounting inter-ethnic tensions.
2. To assess the validity of claims that Kenyan journalists were key actors in
the political conflict that ended up in Post-Election Violence.
 3. To examine the ways journalists became key actors in the political discourse
in the country and the heightening power struggle of 2007 Election.

RESEARCH QUESTION
Why understanding the means and ways in which newspapers contribute to
political conflict is important in conflict prevention programmes and conflict
resolution strategies like the one Kenya faced in 2007-2008.