Media performance in democracy: a case study of political coverage by the print media in Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan news media are today at a critical point in their history. A liberalized political and social environment has opened a floodgate of all sorts of media products. Mainstream print and electronic media have had to change tact to remain relevant in the

ensuing cut-throat competition.

Moreover, the media in Kenya have, alongside other institutions, been undergoing reform. The new political dispensation, believed to have allowed immensely expanded space for expression, has occasioned tremendous transformation in the practice of journalism and communication in Kenya.

Communication scholars recognize an important paradox in contemporary political communication. The media, while helping end authoritarian regimes by fostering political pluralism (thereby spreading democracy), also fail to live up to their potential to improve the quality of democracy.

Is this paradox manifest in the Kenyan media during the country's period of political and social transition? Are the media in Kenya no longer non-partisan? Is the coverage of political issues decidedly negative and biased? How is the power of the media being exercised? In general, has the print media in Kenya utilized the perceived expansion of the freedom of expression to bring about greater democracy?

These issues are addressed in the study as it evaluates the performance of the mainstream print media in Kenya for one year during the Narc regime