Role of Media in Government Counterterrorism Strategy A Case Study of Kenya

Abstract

This study aimed at examining media’s role in government counterterrorism strategy. The motivation for the study arises from the fact that governments all over the world are confronted with threat of terrorism and strive to win public support in their counterterrorism strategies. Depending on their view of terrorists, government have applied various counterterrorism measures such as extensive intelligence gathering and use of military force; establishment of special anti- terror police units; and use of criminal justice system where terrorists are viewed as criminals. The use of media in counterterrorism has eluded most states in Africa and Kenya in particular. On the other hand, terrorists use media extensively to promote their ideology and goals. They have developed a symbiotic relationship with media whereby terrorists feed media with news items and media is a channel through which terrorists advance their goals. It is in this light this study focused on role of media in counterterrorism strategy. In doing so, the study focused on answering three key questions: what is the relationship between media and terrorism; what role can media play in counterterrorism; and how can government collaborate with media to come up with sound counterterrorism strategies. In attempt to answer these questions extensive literature review was conducted and primary and secondary data collected and analyzed. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted in data collection and analysis from 318 respondents coming from security agencies, media houses and citizen randomly selected from six counties in Kenya. The study found an interdependent relationship between media and terrorists with implications for government counterterrorism efforts. The study also established that media influences public perception by setting the agenda on what people should think about and also the media reminds people how important the issues are by continuous broadcasting of the same issues over and over until it resonates with the public. This agenda setting practice has implications for counterterrorism strategy especially when government has no control or influence on what the public feels about war on terrorism. The study determined that Government-media relationship in Kenya is adversarial in nature due distrust between media personnel and government officials. The study proposes a number of ways through which collaboration between media and government may yield better counterterrorism strategies during coverage of terrorist attacks and during peacetime. They^include joint trainings of selected personnel from both government and media who will be accredited to cover terrorist events. Together with family security units the two parties can be deployed to handle terrorism issues pertaining to media. The study recommends regular seminars attended by leaders selected from both sides to discuss openly coverage issues. Sustained collaboration between government and media in Kenya will greatly change people’s perception on terrorist matters and produce better counterterrorism strategies that involve government, media and the citizen in safeguarding the country against terrorism.