PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING IN KENYA: AN EVALUATION OF THE TWO LEADING NEWSPAPERS FOR THE PERIOD 2011-2021
Abstract
The print media in Kenya has been covering Kenya’s Parliamentary debates for decades. Parliament, on its part, has played the role of being an important news source for both the print and electronic media. As the media continues to fulfil its core mandate of informing the public about the operations of Parliament, the latter also provides a vital news source for the media, hence, leading to a symbiotic relationship between the two institutions, with the public being the main beneficiary. This research explored factors that affect reporting of Parliament and parliamentarians in two most popular Kenyan newspapers, namely the Daily Nation and The Standard. Firstly, it investigated factors that determine parliamentary news coverage in the print media in Kenya. Secondly, it established the role of media organizations in parliamentary reporting. Thirdly, it analysed the newspaper audience’s gains from reading news on Parliament activities. Herman and Chomsky’s Propaganda Model of Manufacturing Consent, and Jurgen Habermas’ Public Sphere Theory were the foundational theories used in this study. The study also employed Constructivism philosophical paradigm with mixed method approach through triangulation using structured questionnaires, face-to-face interviews and observations. The results showed most of the newspaper reporting on MPs during the period under study took a negative angle. The study concluded that Parliament will always act as a vital source of news for public consumption, and its role as a sphere for public debate is unlikely to diminish any time soon. The study recommended that a similar study needs to be carried out to investigate the foregoing phenomena in both radio and television stations. The study also found that ‘Manufacturing Consent’ Model by Herman and Chomsky did not feature prominently, save for situations where the Media uses profit-making as the main criteria for publishing news from Parliament.
Key words: Fourth Estate, Newsworthiness, Print Media, Propaganda, Public Sphere
CITATION: Kilonzo, O., Kiilu, T., & Githiora, B. (2022). Parliamentary reporting in Kenya: An evaluation of the two leading newspapers for the period 2011-2021. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (1), 80 – 95.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i1.2528
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