Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
Transcript of Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
1/21
COVERAGE OF
POLITICAL,VIOLENCE
AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report
PREPARED BY AFRICAN WOMAN AND CHILD FEATURE SERVICE
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
2/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
2
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report
Final Report
June- September 2012
by
Arican Woman & Child Feature Service
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
3/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
3
TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
1 SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION 7
1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION 7
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT 7
1.3 PRINT MEDIA MONITORING OBJECTIVES 7
1.4 STUDY METHODOLOGY 8
1.4.1 Survey Design 8
1.4.2 Data Processing and Analysis 9
2 SECTION TWO: KEY FINDINGS 9
2.1.1 Coverage Allocated to Political and Violence Related News in the Print 9
2.1.2 Allocation o Space amongst Political Actors Aggregation by Party 9
2.1.3 Allocation o Space amongst Political Actors Aggregation by Party Leaders 10
3 SECTION THREE: HATE SPEECH AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE 11
3.1 NEGATIVE ASSESSMENTS AN OVERVIEW OF PRINT MEDIA MONITORING FINDINGS 12-16
3.2 ANALYSIS OF THE HATE SPEECH IN THE PRINT MEDIA 16
4 SECTION FOUR: CONTENT ANALYSIS 17
4.1 PLACEMENT OF STORIES ON HATE SPEECH AND VIOLENCE IN THE PRINT 17
4.2 LEVEL OF NEWSPAPER ACCURACY 17
4.3 NEWSPAPERS FAIRNESS 18
4.4 NEWSPAPER BALANCE 18
4.5 NEWSPAPER SLANTING 18
4.6 NEWSPAPER TONE 18
5 SECTION FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 20
5.1 CONCLUSIONS 205.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 20
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
4/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
4
AcknowledgementsThe print media monitoring o hate speech and violence related episodes was undertaken by a team Arican
Woman and Child Feature Service. We would like to thank the AWC sta or their support as well research
assistants or their time to glean over the relevant inormation rom the newspapers.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
5/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
5
Executive SummaryThis report provides the ndings o the print media monitoring activities in the period rom 1st June to 30th September
2012. This is the second report published by the Arican Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC) under the banner
Tuvuke - Initiative or Peaceul and Fair Electoral process in Kenya. The initiative advocates or peaceul and air electoral
process in Kenya as we head to March 4th 2013 General Elections. The overall objective o the Tuvuke Initiative is to
promote peaceul, air and democratic electoral process in Kenya by ostering a culture o peace, entrenching broad
participation and advocating or acceptance and diversity o cultures and political intolerance.
The report presents a comprehensive analysis o the print media reporting o electoral related news in particular
those relating to hate speech and political violence reporting in adherence to the standards in the Code o Conduct
and practice o journalism in Kenya. The reporting period runs rom 1st June 30th September 2012. The print
mainstream media monitored were The Daily Nation, The Standard, The People and The Star.
The purpose o this report was to document the quantity and quality o print media related news on hate speech and
electoral violence related issues. Further, the monitoring is intended to provide inormation on medias perormance
during and ater the elections period; and will also contribute to the overall assessment o the electoral process in
Kenya. Additionally, media monitoring serves as eedback to the media outlets themselves on their work, which may
enhance their reporting skills or present and uture elections. The monitoring o elections and political coverage was
based on both quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches aimed at observing and assessing the extent to which
media provided air and balanced coverage o politicians and political parties in relation to level o access or those
contesting or political positions to the media, the tone o the electoral process and reporting in Kenya. The key ndings
during the period under review is summarized below:
Coverage
The political coverage is skewed towards a ew political parties / movements namely :ODM (26.2%), URP (20.2%),UDF (14.3% and TNA (9.5%). The coverage or other political groupings / alliances were as ollows: WDP (8.3%),
Nark Kenya (4.2%), PNU (4.2%) and New Ford Kenya (1.8%).
ThepoliticalleadersgivenprominenceintheprintmediawereMusaliaMudavadi(22%),WilliamRuto(21.3%),
Raila Odinga (20.3%), Kalonzo Musyoka (12.7%), Uhuru Kenyatta (11%), Eugene Wamalwa (1.8%) and others
(3.2%).
Intermsofspaceallocatedtopoliticalrelatednews,TheStandarddedicatedaspaceof12,756.96cm2(32.1%)
to political related news compared to the Daily Nation 10,776.61 cm2 (27.1%), the Star 9,063.1 cm2 (22.8%) andthe People 7,213.76 cm2 (18.1).
Oensive Language and Hate Speech were exhibited:
Musicians charged with hate speech: Three musicians in Kenya were charged by the National Cohesion and
Integration Commission (NCIC) or composing songs alleged to contain inciting words and ueling hate speech.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
6/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
6
The songs were: Uhuru ni Witu (Uhuru is Ours) by Kamande wa Kioi and Witueti Hiti (You have made Yoursel a Hyena)
and Hague Bound by Muigai wa Njoroge were charged or composing songs that border on hate speech against Prime
Minister Raila Odinga. A leading presidential contender Uhuru Kenyatta criticized the NCIC over the arrest and prosecutiono the hate speech musicians. The songs were derogatory in nature and blamed the Prime Minister or the ICC cases.
Ethnicisation o politics: The period was characterized with ethnic-identity based politics. The political leaders grouped
along their ethnic communities to mobilize ethnic voting blocs e.g. UDF (Western), WDP (Eastern), ODM (Nyanza), URP
(Rit Valley) and TNA (Central / Mt. Kenya). This is clearly a potential trigger or violence with the minority communities
eeling excluded and marginalized.
Ethnic / Religion or Political Violence Fueled By the Media?
Worrying Wave o Violence and Killings in Tana River, Garissa and Nairobi Counties . The months under
review witnessed a wave o violent attacks pitting one clan / tribe against another. First, two clans in Mandera started
slaughtering one another, over the sharing o resources (water, pasture etc). Then ollowed by violence between Ogadenclans in Wajir and Garissa Counties. The worst and most deadly violence pitted the Orma and Pokomo communities o
Tana River County which let over one hundred people dead, 150 homes reduced to ashes / torched and thousands
o people mainly women and children displaced. The local dailies carried stories o the retaliatory deaths among the
Ormas and Pokomos o Tana River. The media mislead Kenyans on the existence o mass graves which the security
ocials ailed to unearth. The Standard on 21st September carried a story on the existence o mass graves within Tana
River County. The paper continued to misled the country by publishing a story on Wednesday 26th on the existence o
mass graves and equating the Tana River deaths to the 1994 Rwanda mass graves now ound in Tana. The Painul
discovery that never was read its headline o inter-ethic violence pitting the pastoralist Orma against the agriculturalist,
Pokomos.
Riots in Mombasa led by the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a loose grouping in Coast Province that hasbeen agitating or the secession o Coast Province rom Kenya. MRC led riots in Mombasa or a number o days ollowing
the assassination o sheikh Aboud Rogo, suspected Al-Shabaab militant. The killing o Rogo triggered unprecedented
riots in Mombasa.
Frequent Blasts in Garissa, Mombasa and Nairobi. Key towns namely Garissa, Mombasa, Mandera, Wajir and
Nairobi were hit by a series o grenade and gun attacks since Kenya sent its troops into Somalia last October in pursuit
o Al-Shabaab militants who were blamed or kidnapping Kenyan security personnel and Western tourists. These blasts
targeted churches, bars and night clubs and security installations police stations: During the period under review
(June to September 2012) the newspapers reported several incidences o blasts that killed and injured security ocers
and civilians in social places including within the churches. For example on 2nd July 2012, the newspapers carried
news related to terror attacks in twin churches in Garissa: 17 killed in Garissa attack read the lead story in the Star
newspaper while the Standard headline read Church under attack on the 2nd July 2012. The newspapers reported thatmasked gunmen had stormed 2 churches in Garissa killing 17 people including two armed police ocers. The Catholic
bishops and NCCK suggested that dubbed the attacks as religious war. The period also witnessed a number o attacks
in social places within Nairobi and places o worship resulting into atalities. At least 10 Kenyan police ocers were
injured when two grenades were hurled at them by suspected al Shabaab sympathizers during a police operation at the
countrys Coast province in the early hours o Wednesday, police said.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
7/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
7
Plane Crash: The June 10th helicopter crash in Kibiku area o Ngong orest killing the Internal Security Minister,
Pro. George Saitoti and his Assistant Minister, Hon. Joshua Orwa Ojode together with two bodyguards and the two
pilots died. The crashed removed one o the important players in Kenyan politics, as the Internal Security Minister
and as a top Presidential contender in the 2013 General Elections. The tragedy proved to be a real test into media
coverage o disaster and confict sensitive issues. Fair and accurate reporting proved to be a real challenge to
the journalists. The disaster was categorized as spot news and not beat story. Such stories require quick thinking,
mastery o writing, production skills and adherence to ethical principles that include intrusion into grie, use o
photos and names; air and accurate reporting; obscenity, taste and tone. The images exhibited in the local media
during this period let a lot o questions as to the level o airness and accuracy in reporting such events. Such were
the pictures in the ront pages o the local dailies with the most questionable one being the caption in ront page
o the Star on the 11th June depicting that the plane had caught re airborne.
Book Launch - Peeling Back the Mask by Miguna Miguna, the ormer Constitutional Advisor to the Prime Minister,
Raila Odinga became the lead story in the print media in the months o June to July with the The Daily Nation
serializing the book just beore the launch in June and later continued to dominate the headlines into July andAugust 2012.
Content Analysis
The editorial line o each media outlet displayed a clear polarization in coverage based on their political leaning. Printmedia weremore diverse intheir coverageof parties and candidateswith5 political parties and their
presidential candidates dominating the space.
21.7%ofviolencereportedwereethnicbasedwithmajority(73.9%)beingofsocialclassinnature.
81.7%ofthestoriescapturedinthelocalmediawerebalancedwith12.9%consideredtobebiased
Recommendations
Supportregularmediamonitoringandreportingonhowmediashouldpresentpolitical,violenceandhatespeech
related news by ocusing on air and balanced presentations.
Conducttrainingsforthejournalistsfocusedonethicsandhowtoreportonpoliticsandpublicaffairsincluding
elections, political issues. Periodic training or media editors is also recommended.
Printmediatoprovideequalopportunitiestoallpoliticalplayersandfaircoverage.
NCICandotherregulatoryauthoritiestocontrol/regulatehatespeechandinammatorylanguageinthepolitical
rallies
Conducttailoredtrainingformediaprofessionals(journalists)focusingonelectoralnewscoverageandtheneed
or impartiality.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
8/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
8
1 SECTION ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background InormationTuvuke - Initiative or Peaceul and Fair Electoral process in Kenya is a country-wide project, with a special ocus on areas
oten viewed as hotspots because o the many years experience in perennial violence and also areas where womens
participation in an electoral process have been curtailed and excluded.
The project, is being implemented by 18 CSOs, and works with key stakeholders including the public, the media, women,
the general voters, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, political parties, law enorcement agencies, and
County governance structures to enhance a peaceul election and the culture o tolerance through the strengthening and
capacity building o networks at community, regional, national and the global level.
The overall objective or the project is to promote peaceul, air and democratic electoral process in Kenya by ostering a
culture o peace, entrenching broad political participation and advocating or acceptance and diversity.
1.2 Purpose o the AssignmentElections are the cornerstone o any democracy, and the media have a vital role in inorming the public and ensuring that the
polls are ree and air. This is particularly important in countries such as Kenya where the media came under sharp criticism
on its role in perpetuating the 2007/2008 post-election violence. The Tuvuke - Initiative or Peaceul and Fair Electoral
process in Kenya identied media as one o the critical partners in achieving its overarching objectives.
Going by the 2007/2008 PEV it is important that the media monitoring is done so that it can be used an early warning system.
This is because beore confict occurs, there are signs and i there is a systematic way o monitoring the media these issues
can be dealt with earlier beore confict erupts. The Media reporting can be used to stop any emerging violence.
Project Goal:
Engage media platorms and practitioners to enhance inormed and responsible civic participation and engagement in theelectoral process or ree, air and peaceul elections, with a particular ocus on women and youth.
Project description
The media project aims at engaging the media sector so that they can contribute towards ree, air and peaceul elections.
Without doubt, the sector has contributed to the expansion o democratic space in Kenya but beore and ater the 2007
General Elections, most media did not uphold proessional and ethical standards.
1.3 Print Media Monitoring ObjectivesThe objectives o the media monitoring are:
(i) Contribute towards confict sensitive reporting so that media do not increase tensions, light res or uel confict.
(ii) Increase accountability in the media sector. Encourage journalists to be cautious and careul, seek balanced, uphold
ethical practice and ollow code o conduct, proessional conduct, and responsible journalism. Reduce the tendency by
private media to maximize prot making through sensationalism during elections.
(iii) Promote a public service agenda in the media around the electoral process and its outcomes.
(iv) Encourage innovative use o alternative media and social media to reach diverse audiences
(v) Create visibility and galvanize constituencies through the branding o Tuvuke Initiative
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
9/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
9
1.4 Study MethodologyThe media monitoring involved evaluation o the content o what was reported by the mainstream print media outlets.
The study used both qualitative and quantitative inormation sources. Both sets o the inormation are highly relevant toa comprehensive analysis o print media reporting o violence or hate speech related matters.
Qualitative Data
The qualitative monitoring is used to evaluate the eectiveness o the work o the print media in relation to such
indicators, such as ethical and proessional standards which are hard to measure. In the qualitative data, the main
elements considered are context and tone. The rst o these, context, reers to the way the story is ramed. The second
criterion, tone, reers to the overt acts and tone o the story. The combinations o these two elements are used to
determine whether the overall coverage granted by a print media outlet on the topical issue o hate speech is negative,
positive or neutral. The qualitative component also looked at explicit judgements, manipulative use o pictures, the
choice o words and the basic proessional standards. It is important to note that assessment were made on the
conduct o the media outlet and not the controlled subject (politician or party). In determining the tone, a great deal
o attention is attached to taking a context into account. The tone is positive, i the subject is presented positively inarticles in the article and context is also positive. I both actors are negative, the coverage is considered as negative.
Furthermore, when both indicators are neutral, the monitor denes the tone as neutral. When these two indicators are
dierent, the monitor has to determine which actor in the article is prevailing the content or the context and taking
the matter into account, s/he determines the subjects tone.
Also the researchers / monitor has to assess the participation o the journalist in the story, especially when it comes
rom interviews and has to dene all abusive or hate speech related expressions that contribute to strengthening o the
speech that attacks a person / group on the basis o tribe, gender or sexual orientation.
Quantitative Data
The quantitative component determined the quantitative indicators, which are possible to count and analyse. On the
quantitative research, the monitors assessed the space apportioned to relevant subjects: a political party or leader ismentioned, spoken o, quoted or appears in a particular newspaper and is engaged in courting violence or hate speech
during the political rally, press briengs as covered by the mainstream newspaper.
1.4.1 Survey DesignThe print media monitoring exercise was designed to collect all the relevant inormation rom the our mainstream
newspapers: Daily Nation, The Standard, The People and The Star between 1st June to September 30th May 2012.
1.4.2 Data Processing and AnalysisThe data collected rom newspapers ormed the critical pillars o the print media monitoring exercise. As a matter o
procedure, initial data extraction was done by trained Research Assistants who had been trained on the data capture
the print reporting. All questionnaires were processed through initial coding o open-ended questions. Thereater,
the data was captured using an Excel spread sheet. All questionnaires were double entered to ensure data quality.
Erroneous entries and potential outliers were then veried and corrected appropriately. A total o 2 data entry personnel
were engaged during the exercise.
The captured data were then exported to Statistical Package or Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19 or cleaning
and analysis. The cleaned data was then analyzed based on requency runs and cross-tabulations which assisted
in comparing grouped data characteristics, and political related variables. The qualitative data were captured and
analyzed using content analysis.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
10/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
10
Quantitative analysis implied the selection o elements o the media output content that could be counted and ocused on
space allocated to dierent parties or candidates. Each mention o the subject was logged separately and the amount o
space allocated was then recorded. Each mention was also classied in terms o tone in which a political actor was described
according to a three value scale o positive, neutral and negative.
The qualitative analysis was based on the systematic observation o specic themes and issues: political party or party
leader, acts o violence reported, type o violence (ethnic, racial, social class), placement o the story, summary o the
issues discussed, level o accuracy, airness, slanting o the story, attitudes o the graphics / pictures used amongst other
variables.
The monitoring hate o speech or infammatory language either reported on or originating rom the media themselves
aimed to assess whether the media acted as agents o pacication or rather contributed to increase any potential tensions
related to elections. This exercise was able to observe: whether the media published hate speech through and by any political
speakers, whether the media themselves promoted violence, who were the main sources o hate speech and who were the
target groups aected by it: ethnic, racial or social class.
2 SECTION TWO: KEY FINDINGS2.1.1 Coverage Allocated to Political and Violence Related News in the PrintThis report provides the ndings o the print media monitoring activities in the period rom 1st June to 30th September 2012.
In the assessment, the research assistants measured all the spaces that were allocated to the political leaders / parties. The
result o the assessment indicates that The Standard dedicated a space o 12,756.96 cm2 (32.1%) to political related news
compared to the Daily Nation 10,776.61 cm2 (27.1%), the Star 9,063.1 cm2 (22.8%) and the People 7,213.76 cm2 (18.1)
as captured in gure 1 below.
2.1.2 Allocation o Space amongst Political Actors Aggregation by Party
The print media coverage o political events was analyzed by party and monitoring assessment indicates that the political
coverage is skewed towards a ew political parties / movements namely : ODM (26.2%), URP (20.2%), UDF (14.3% and TNA
(9.5%). The coverage or other political groupings / alliances were as ollows: WDP (8.3%), Nark Kenya (4.2%), PNU (4.2%)
and New Ford Kenya (1.8%).
Figure 1: Space allocated to political parties and violence related news in cm3
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
11/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
11
2.1.3 Allocation o Space amongst Political Actors Aggregation by Party LeadersThe political leaders that were given prominence in the print media were Musalia Mudavadi (22%), William Ruto
(21.3%), Raila Odinga (20.3%), Kalonzo Musyoka (12.7%), Uhuru Kenyatta (11%), Eugene Wamalwa (1.8%) and others
(3.2%). Cross analysis by newspapers indicate that Daily Nation dedicated 40.7% o its political news coverage to the
ODM party, the Standard 31.7% and People (39.1%) while Daily Nation allocated 16.7% o its political coverage space
to URP while Standard (15%) and the People (7.8%). UDF was widely covered by the Standard (11.7%) compared to
the People (9.4%) and Daily Nation (5.6%). The Star gave ODM (37.7%) o its political news coverage to while UDF was
allocated (15.9%) WDP (8.7%), URP (7.2%), PNU (5.8%), G7 (5.8%), UDM (4.7%) and TNA (2.9%).
The trend analysis reveals that Musalia Mudavadi and William Ruto were given more coverage within quarter under
review in the print media compared to last quarter o February to May when Raila Odinga was the most widely covered
in the local dailies.
Figure 2: Space % allocated to political parties b the print media in Kenya (June -
September 2012)
Fig 3. Percentage o Coverage allocated to the Presidential
contenders by the Print media (June - September 2012
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
12/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
12
3 SECTION THREE:
HATE SPEECH AND POLITICAL VIOLENCEThe debate continues about the causes o the 2007/8 post-election violence that led to 600,000 Kenyans displaced and
about 1,300 killed ater the announcement o the bungled 2007 presidential election outcome. However, there is one aspect
o the pre-election period about which there is little disagreement: the ethnic based politics that that shaped 2007 and
continue to characterize the current political parties in the run up 2013 general election and campaigns. Political leaders in
Kenya have continued to mobilize and are currently involved in the mobilization o voting blocks along regional and ethnic
lines. Such electoral campaigns is clearly a political trigger or violence pitting one community against another with minority
tribes eeling marginalized and isolated.
To guard against the consequences o the 2007/8 post election violence, the Tuvuke - Initiative or Peaceul and Fair Electoral
process in Kenya identied media as one o the critical partners in achieving peace as we progress to the next generalelections. Going by the 2007/2008 PEV it is important that the media monitoring is done so that it can be used an early
warning system.
Defnition o Hate SpeechHate speech is a term which reers to a whole spectrum o negative discourse, stretching rom hate or prejudice and inciting
to hatred. Hate speech is designed to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a person or group o
people based on their race, gender, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, language
ability, moral or political views, socio-economic class, occupation or appearance, mental capacity and any other distinction-
liability. Speech covers not only oral or written communication but also any other orm o expression such as music, movies,
arts, gestures (symbolic speech) etc. In summary hate speech are not only words, but according to Richard Delgado words
that wound which lead to harm and violence. We could ace it in Nazi Germany or in Rwanda, where hate propaganda andmedia brought unbelievable suering and genocide, but even now hate speech occurs very requently in modern democratic
societies hurting ethnic, racial or sexual minorities.
The Media Council, whose responsibilities include investigating complaints against the media, describes hate speech as
language that might incite violence or cause social turmoil. The Code o Conduct and Practice o Journalism in Kenya, the
media should avoid presenting violence, armed robberies, banditry and terrorist activity in a manner that glories such anti-
social conduct. Also newspapers should not allow their columns to be used or writing which tend to encourage or gloriy
social evils, warlike activities, ethnic, racial and religious hostilities.
The National Cohesion and Integration Act o 2008 denes hate speech as words intended to incite eelings o contempt,
hatred, hostility, violence, [or] discrimination against any person, group or community on the basis o ethnicity or race.
According the National Cohesion and Integration Policy Document (2011), the print and electronic media have an important role
to play in promoting national cohesion and integration through responsible journalism. This can be achieved by: highlightingpositive trends and developments; ensure air and balanced reporting; and in relation to national politics emphasizing national
issues over sectarian issues such as ethnic-based politics. The media, thereore, was identied as a key ally to the government
and other stakeholders in promoting awareness o the activities alluded to in the national cohesion and integration policy; and
co-operation with other organizations in promoting national cohesion and integrations. It is on the above background that the
print media monitoring by AWC aims at highlighting both quantitatively and qualitatively some o hate speech as covered in
the print media or expressed by the politicians and other public gures in Kenya which undoubtedly may lead to emergence
o violence as we approach the next general elections.
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
13/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
13
3.1 Negative Assessments An Overview o Print Media Monitoring Findings
This component o the analysis was based on the qualitative monitoring in relation to context and tone indicators. Therst o these, context, reers to the way the story is ramed. The second criterion, tone, reers to the overt acts and tone
o the story. The combinations o these two elements are used to determine whether the overall coverage granted by
a print media outlet on the topical issue o hate speech is negative, positive or neutral. The qualitative component also
looked at explicit judgements, manipulative use o pictures, the choice o words and the basic proessional standards. It
is important to note that assessment were made on the conduct o the print media outlet and not the controlled subject
(politician or party). In determining the tone, a great deal o attention is attached to taking a context into account. The
tone is positive, i the subject is presented positively in articles in the article and context is also positive. I both actors
are negative, the coverage is considered as negative. Furthermore, when both indicators are neutral, the monitor
denes the tone as neutral. When these two indicators are dierent, the monitor had to determine which actor in the
article prevailed the content or the context and taking the matter into account, s/he determines the subjects tone.
The researchers urther assessed the participation o the journalist in the story, especially when it came rom interviews
and had to dene all abusive or hate speech related expressions that contributed to strengthening o the speech thatattacks a person / group on the basis o tribe, gender or sexual orientation.
A number o episodes where both the tone and context were classied as negative were captured during the period
under review (June September 2012). In total sixteen (16) episodes o coverage o political parties / leaders were
classied as negative. By the print media (source), situations where both actors: tone and context were classied as
negative are captured in Table 1:
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
14/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
14
Source oStory/Name o
Print Media
Political Party/Leader being
covered
Page Date Summary o Print Media Coverage where both theTone and Content were Negative
1 The People ODM 16 10/08/12 Area CID boss said Siaya County mjini ward ODM chairman
is alleged to have threatened area Physical planning ocer
over a disputed piece o land. Ater storming the oce, the
chairman told the ocer to keep o the disputed land or ace
death. The suspect vowed to eliminate the ocer i she didnt
obey the order. This ollows a case where the lands ocers
predecessor was killed by unknown people in his house the
previous year.2 The Star NCIC 11 1/8/12 Kaya elders deended Minister Chirau Ali Makwere over a
hate speech. They dismissed it as a claim by rivals to bring
him down and not to contest in the coming polls. The elders
blasted Keriako Tobiko and Dr. Mzalendo Kibunjia or selective
justice. Former Kwale County Council chairman wondered
why the DPP had not ordered the arrest o those who shot
a councilor and burnt his vehicle during the by election.
Makwere is alleged to have said that indigenous Coast people
have been oppressed by Arabs
3 Standard ODM 6 14/08/12 Violence marred Ndhiwa nomination ater violence eruptedamidst claims o rigging. Some voters attacked the presiding
ocer or delaying the voting exercise. The aspirants
demanded nullication o the polls We want this election
postponed because its already ull o faws. We shall not
honour this election unless its redone said Mireje.
4 The Star NCIC 1& 6 21/08/12 The National Cohesion and Investigation Commission said
its investigating hate message on social media targeting PM
and Uhuru Kenyatta. The commission said it has received
a complaint o campaign on Face Book seeking to block
Raila and Uhuru rom vying or presidency. The Stop UhuruKenyatta Now page on ace book was created on 14th o
August while the Stop Raila Now page created two days
later. By 20th aternoon the anti Uhuru page had 3,082
people liking it and a urther 3,372 had posted comments
either approving it or against it. The anti Raila had 235 people
liking it.
Table 1
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
15/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
15
5 Daily Nation ODM, Raila 11 21/08/12 PM pledges the review on contentious issues beore
enacted in parliament. During his visit Mombasa mayor
Ahmed Mohdhar asked the PM to revoke the appointment
o the NGOs Coordinator Board executive director, saying he
was wrongly appointed. The coastal people eel betrayed
by this appointment because their own led the panelists
outcome but to the chagrin o all somebody ranked sixth was
appointed he said
6 Daily Nation URP, Ruto 11 7/08/12 Ruto accuses Clinton o meddling on Kenya issues. Speaking
at Kutus and Ngurubani in Mwea Ruto said her eorts were
dictatorial and should stop dictating to Kenyans how they
should conduct their elections as this demonstrates supreme
arrogance. The sentiments were echoed by MPs Joshua
Kutuny,Elijah Lagat, Francis Chachu, Kazungu Kambi, and
Benjamin Langat.
7 Daily Nation URP Ruto 14 14/08/12 Presidential hopeul William Ruto urged squatters to ignore
a quit notice issued by the government. Mr. Ruto said lands
minister James Orengo has ailed to address the emotive
land issues in the country adding that ODM the ministers
party was insensitive to plight o the poor. In his remark Ruto
said You cannot treat people like wild animals, i they want
land they should look elsewhere because this one has its
owners
8 Standard URP, Ruto 5 22/07/12 Ruto roots or peaceul elections, ends in Narok. Ruto said
Kenyans should learn rom 2007-2008 PEV and ensure
election is peaceul. However he said that election will be a
contest between reormist and non reormist and condemned
Railas sentiments that election will be a game between
horses and donkeys. That is abusive because Kenyans will
vote or candidates who will turn around the lives
9 Standard WDP Kalonzo
Musyoka
7 26/07/12 Five parties plotting alliance to ace ODM in polls. Kalonzo
also revisited the 2007 poll debacle, criticizing ODM or not
accepting deeat in the controversial election.
Source o Story/
Name o Print
Media
Political Party
/Leader being
covered
Page Date Summary o Print Media Coverage where both the Tone and
Content were Negative
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
16/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
16
10 Standard 29/07/12 Railas key challenges or presidency including Vice-
president Kalonzo Musyoka, have since termed Railas reorm
credential as ake. Musalia equated the PM to Brazilian
soccer legendary, Pele euphemism or old glory that does
not count.
11 Nation WDP Kalonzo
Musyoka
10 11/07/12 Kalonzo attacks Raila on reorms. The VP surprises riends
and oe with hard hitting criticism o the PM and MP Haroun
Mwau. At his launch o his presidential bid Musyoka said
I Hague was there in 1982, then some o us who areseeking leadership should have been in jail somewhere in the
Netherlands. They tried to overthrow an elected government,
and in the process caused many deaths and made economy
to suer. These are these are the same people who today
claim to be reormists
12 Nation URP, William
Ruto
6 14/07/12 Book shows Raila cannot be trusted to lead. Ruto said that it
is clear that the architects o various scandals in the country
were people surrounding the PM. How can you talk o being
democratic when the people around you are involved in
underhand deals? Ruto accused PM o being a pretenderwhose secrets have been laid out in the open.
13 Standard URP, Ruto 6 Ruto Raila to ace o over rivalry between South, North Rit
politicians. A party turned into a religious outt where Raila
was the only daity in whose shrine we were to worship, its
becoming unortunate that the same is showing in URP.
Ruto is using the Chepalungu MP to ght those who seem
independent minded.
14 Standard 1 Uhuru blames Kibaki and Raila or violence Did you see
Uhurus name on the ballot papers? Why then should I be the
one to be asked why there were clashes? They should askthose who contested
Source o Story/
Name o PrintMedia
Political Party
/Leader beingcovered
Page Date Summary o Print Media Coverage where both the Tone and
Content were Negative
9
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
17/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
17
15 The People TNA Uhuru
Kenyatta
ICC wont derail my ambition, Uhuru reminded Kenyans that
when he run and lost against president Kibaki in 2002, he
quickly conceded deeat and graceully accepted peoples
verdict, adding that was the way he could have involved in
inciting people to violence. Uhuru said the cause o PEV was
a result o one presidential aspirant not accepting the result
and inciting people to demonstrate
16 Standard ODM, Raila 3 Raila laughs o rivals plotting to beat him in race, he claimed
they are like those rats that ater making a nice bell startedarguing who would tie it around the cats neck.TNA said no I
cant and UDF said no as well. Nobody was able to belt the
cat and that cat is called ODM
3.2 Analysis o the Hate speech in the Print Media
1. Hate Speech Episodes: Between June September 2012, cases o hate speech constantly grew during the period. Theepisodes o infammatory language during the period were comparatively high at 14.3% compared to 7.3% reported
during the last quarter. The type o hate speech reported were mainly ethnic related (21.7%), social class (73.9%) and
racial (4.3%).
2. Target: The target is the individual or group against who hate speech is directed, as reported by the media, in this case
the hate speech were directed towards the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The source is the person or group originating
the hate speech, as reported by the media. The analysis o the sources o hate speech showed that politicians / parties
that had broken away rom ODM were the main culprits.
3. Sources: The main source o infammatory speech were politicians and election competitors pitting ODM against the G7
political groupings o (UDF/G7/URP/UDM and TNA).
Source o Story/
Name o Print
Media
Political Party
/Leader being
covered
Page Date Summary o Print Media Coverage where both the Tone and
Content were Negative
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
18/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
18
4 SECTION FOUR: CONTENT ANALYSIS4.1 Placement o Stories on Hate Speech and Violence in the PrintNews media plays a substantive / crucial role in the ormation o public opinion and shaping public policy on major social,
political, and economic issues. The print media monitoring looked at the placement o hate speech and violence related news
or the period (June-September 2012). The nding o the review is that the print news on hate speech and violence were mainly
in the ront and back pages (87.2%) captured in the inside pages o the newspapers compared to 32% in the ront pages and
12.8 % in the inner pages.
Table 2: Placement o Hate Speech and Violence Related News in the Print Media
Placement Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Valid Inner pages 22 12.8 12.8
Front / Back page 150 87.2 87.2
Total 247 100.0 100.0
Cross analysis by newspaper indicate that the Star (49.2%) and the Standard 36.4%, were more likely to have carried such
news related stories in its ront pages compared to the People (19.8%) and Nation (24.8%).
4.2 Level o Newspaper AccuracyThe print reporting on hate speech and violence related news were largely (86.1%) accurate compared to 13.9% which
were not actual. Cross analysis by newspaper indicate that The Daily Nation (92.8%) was the most accurate ollowed by
The Standard (89.3%), The Star (87%) and The People (73.3%). Figure 4 below compared the level o newspapers reporting
accuracy across the mainstream newspapers monitored.
Figure 4: Level o accuracy in reporting hate speech and violence news in the print media
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
19/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
19
4.3 Newspapers FairnessOverall, 95.9% o hate speech and violence related news were airly reported in the local dailies compared to 4.1% which
were not airly reported.
Table 4: Percentage o News Reporting classifed Being as Fair or Not Fair
Categorization Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Fair 163 94.8 95.9
Not Fair 7 4.1 4.1
Missing 2 1.2 100
4.4 Newspaper BalanceOne o the objective o the print media monitoring was to increase accountability in the media houses by encouraging
journalists to be balanced in their reporting through upholding ethical practice and ollowing the Code o Conduct orresponsible journalism / reporting. The nding indicate that 87.1% o violence and hate speech related news were airly
balanced compared to 12.9% which were not.
Table 5: Newspapers Balance in Reporting Hate Speech and Violence (Feb-May 2012)
Categorization Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Balanced 148 86.0 87.1
Not balanced 22 12.8 12.9
Missing 2 1.2 100
4.5 Newspaper SlantingThe print monitoring established that 95.9% o hate speech and violence related news reported in the print were not slanted
towards a particular side o the political divide compared to 4.1% which exhibited slanted language in their content.
Table 6: Newspaper presenting Slanting or Not Slanting in Its Reporting o Hate Speech
Categorization Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Slanting 7 4.1 4.1
Not Slanting 163 94.8 95.9
Missing 2 1.1 100
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
20/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
20
4.6 Newspaper ToneThe print monitoring urther assessed whether the tone o the language used by the journalists were sensitive or were somewhat
inciting. The review established that 11.3% o the language used in the newspapers were inciting and hence not confictsensitive compared to 88.7% o coverage reported to be confict sensitive / positive in reporting.
Table 7: The Tone o News Coverage in the Print Media
Categorization Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Inciting 15 8.7 11.3
Confict sensitive 118 68.6 88.7
Missing 39 22.7 100
-
7/28/2019 Print Media Monitoring Report 2012
21/21
COVERAGE OF POLITICAL,VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH
Print Media Monitoring Report | June- September 2012
21
5 SECTION FIVE:
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS5.1 ConclusionsWith only ve months to the March 4th, 2013 General Elections, ethnic-identity-based politics has gained ground as politica
leaders mobilize their communities and regional voting blocks to identiy with their political parties. This has best been exhibited
by potential contenders or various political oces deecting to political parties that has larger ollowing in their respective
regions / communities. The emerging scenario and political violence that characterized political events in Coast Province and
the re-emergence o illegal youthul groups are signs or a red fag that violence is likely to re-emerge as the election / polling
date approaches. All indications are that the leading presidential contenders are already actively mobilizing their tribes in the
name orming political alliances. The use o hate speech and ethnicity to advance political interests may see Kenya all back
to the consequences o post-election violence witnessed between December 2007 to March 2008. It does matter who speaksor speech to move to violence and more so i there has been a history o impunity or previous violence, as well as control o
comort to the war lords. Naming and shaming in a society that gives rhetorical value to being a nationalist has made some
political leaders more circumspect in using hate speech overtly, using more coded language than beore. But without the threa
o real accountability, either rom the top-down using law, or rom the bottom-up by the public rejecting such leaders, then the
violence will most likely explode as we near the 2012 elections.
The media plays a crucial role in hate speech and its attendant problems since it legitimizes and normalizes what is oten in
the private domain, by its publicity. The more something is heard on radio or read in the print, or instance, the more right i
eels to the listeners or to the readers. Moreover, media reaches ar more people than rallies and direct contacts can, and in
this way, it can more quickly exacerbate electoral tensions into violence. This calls or media houses to put in place editoria
policies to avoid polarizing the country based on ethnicity or political parties / alliances. Furthermore, the borderline between
the propaganda o politicians and editorial news coverage is sometimes blurred, as the media are inclined to repeat certainstatements without any commentary, eedback or analysis. The tone o coverage used by journalists when reporting politicians
must always remain neutral or be confict sensitive.
Based on the ndings o the print media coverage or the quarter (June to September 2012), the ollowing recommendations
are necessary:
5.2 Recommendations Supportregularmediamonitoringandreportingonhowmediashouldpresentpolitical,violenceandhatespeechrelated
news by ocusing on air and balanced presentations.
Conducttrainingsforthejournalistsfocusedonethicsandhowtoreportonpoliticsandpublicaffairsincludingelections
political issues. Periodic training or media editors is also recommended. Printmediatoprovideequalopportunitiestoallpoliticalplayersandfaircoverage.
NCICandotherregulatoryauthoritiestocontrol/regulatehatespeechandinammatorylanguageinthepoliticalrallies
Conduct tailoredtraining formediaprofessionals(journalists)focusing onelectoral news coverageand the need fo
impartiality.