Framing of Police Enforcement of the Covid Laws in Kenya: a Comparative Analysis of the Daily Nation and Standard Newspapers

Abstract

This study analysed how the Standard and The Daily Nation newspapers framed via their reporting of the enforcement of Legal Notice No. 36 -The Public Order (State Curfew) Order, 2020 the 7 pm to 5 am curfew. The aim of this study was to identify the frames used by the Nation and Standard newspapers in reporting police enforcement of the curfew; to examine the figures of speech in reporting the National Police Service by the Nation and Standard newspapers during the 7 pm to 5 am curfew. The cultivation theory and the media framing theory guided it. A mixed method approach was employed. The methodology consisted content analysis and frame categorization. Data was collected using a code book looking at frames, tones, story placement, and figures of speech used. The key findings of the study were that the Daily Nation and the Standard newspapers had different numbers of stories that were published on the subject matter. Results also showed that most of the stories published had negative story tone, depicting the police service in a negative perspective. On story placement, the study found that the stories on state curfew were placed on pages considered prime. Among the figures of speech uswd are :meterphor, similies and antithesis. Generally the frames used by the two neswpapers were negative.