Analysing the Print Media Commentary of the Building Bridges Initiative in Kenya Through Editorial Cartoons: a Study of the Daily Nation and the Standard Newspapers

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the importance of Editorial cartoons on the main stream media especially during the Building Bridges Initiative at the peak of its campaign. The objectives of this study will be (i) to examine the major political themes such as political powers,power struggle among others contained in the editorial cartoons on the BBI published in the Nation and Standard newspapers, (ii)to discuss the main imagery used such as the use of irony,metaphor (iii) to examine the trend of political conversation as suggested by the cartoons. From the Cartoons in January they initially started as a handshake and BBI then change of law and now a referendum metamorphised to the current political status in the country. The study will restrict its analysis to the Nation and The Standard newspapers, for a 4-month period from the official launch of the BBI report on 27th November, 2019 by President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga at the Bomas of Kenya to March 2020 when the first case of Corona Virus was reported bringing the country to a standstill. The Nation and The Standard are chosen for the study because they have the widest newspaper circulation in Kenya. This study will use theory of rhetoric, which forms the focus of this study and the Agenda Setting theory. The research will utilise a qualitative approach where we will analyse the presentation through purposive sampling. The researcher will target editorial cartoons, their content, captions and headlines. As this is a qualitative approach, the researcher will use purposeful sampling where by 120 editorial cartoons published in the said period of newspaper for the study but only 39 were in regard to Building Bridges Initiative that will be deemed most responsive to the research objectives. A content analysis will be used to categorise editorial cartoons, their content, captions and headlines based on the political themes. The main study will be to find out if the Editorial Cartoons capture the reality on the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) agenda and who stands to gain or lose from the process. It will also delves into the impact political rhetoric has on the everyday lives of the Kenyan citizen and whether issues affecting the citizenry are at the forefront of the BBI process or whether they have taken a back seat as politicians satisfy their own individualistic agendas come the next election cycle. Thematic analysis will be used to analyse data which will be presented in narrative form.