Assessment of print media coverage of the war against terrorism in Kenya : a case of the Daily Nation and The Standard Newspapers
Abstract
he main purpose of this study
w
as
to
assess
the
print
media co
verage
of
war agains
t
terrorism in Kenya.
The study
focus
ed
on
terror
-
related
stories
in
the April 2014,
a
period
when the government b
eefed up
security operations
in
the
country
in an
operation
dubbed
‘
Operation Usalama Watc
h 2014
’
.
The
Daily
Nation
and the
Standard
newspape
rs
were
used in this study.
The
study sought to establish: The types of st
ories in the print media
related to terrorism
in Kenya
;
placement of stories on
war against terrorism
;
and the
m
essages
print
media
carr
ied
on
the
war against terrorism.
The
research
study
applied
retrospective
study design
to
establish
the
print
media coverage on war against terrorism
in
Kenya
.
Purposive sampling
w
as
used to
pick
suitable stories for the study
.
The data
collection procedure
applied
document review
method
to
collect
t
he necessary
stories
from
the respective news
pa
pers.
The data w
as
analys
ed using
content
and thematic
analysis techniques, based on the emerging issues
(themes)
under
study
.
The study
concluded
that news stories
on
terrorism
in Kenya
were given more promin
ence
in the
print media
than those from other beats
. The study recommends
that the media should
exercise a lot of caution in reporting on terrorism.
They
should avoid words
and images
that
magnify
the threat and fear in people
, and tone down on negative rh
etoric and instead
ensure objectivity
and
accurate
reporting
Publisher
University of Nairobi