Trends in newspaper coverage of women in elections in Kenya- the case of 1997 2002, 2007 general elections

Abstract

There is no doubt that media messages and images are a powerful tool in shaping attitudes, perceptions and values concerning women in the society. This research was done to establish how the media especially the newspapers accord coverage to female political aspirants in Kenya. The Nation and the Standard newspapers were picked as the population as they have a wide reach and readership. These newspapers were studied, analyzed and inferences drawn out of them. The findings strongly point out that women are indeed accorded the least coverage compared to their male counterparts. Content analysis of the two dailies revealed that for a woman to be accorded favorable coverage, then she needs to fight it out with the male opponents and prove beyond doubt that she is indeed the best. Others who received significant coverage were either in political rallies called by male politicians or were associated in a way with male politicians, already considered tough. It is the hope of the researcher that the findings will specifically enhance and support gender equality activities by highlighting weaknesses in the newspapers in their portrayal of female political aspirants and by proposing practical solutions to these weaknesses. The results of the study will help gender scholars to look into practical ways of correcting this imbalance.