The Role of the Print Media in Regional Integration: The Case of the East African Community

Abstract

Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania first made a (somewhat) successful attempt at integration in the post-independence era. However, this cooperation – christened the East African Community - collapsed in 1977. 1n 1999, the Community was revived with an ambitious roadmap that targeted, amongst other things, the establishment of a common market by 2010, the formation of a single currency for East Africa by 2015 and a political federation by 2020. Following the ratification of the EAC Re-Establishment Treaty, the East African Community Secretariat adopted an official policy to make use of the media for purposes of promoting awareness, encouraging discourses about key EAC issues among stakeholders, demonstrating the achievements, and competiveness of the regional bloc and promoting visibility of EAC effectiveness and efficiency. This study examined the actual role played by the print media in informing the East African public about the EAC for a period of three years. The study was predicated on three theoretical positions, these being, the theory of agenda setting: with particular emphasis on priming and framing, the theory of reinforcement and the gate keeping theory. The study combined qualitative and quantitative techniques – employing content analysis, key informant interviews and discourse analysis. The sampling frame included three mainstream newspapers – the Nation of Kenya, New Vision of Uganda and Mwananchi of Tanzania published between January 2010 and December 2012. 15% of each of the three papers published within this period was sampled for analysis. In addition, 15 Key informants purposively selected from the three newspapers and the East African Community Secretariat were interviewed to establish what factors determine EAC coverage. The study findings revealed that the EAC Secretariat has relied on a faulty, if ineffective, communications strategy that hardly attracts media interest. The study also established that coverage of the East African Community by the Nation, New Vision and Mwananchi was more or less similar: EAC issues hardly made the front or prime pages of the three newspapers. More often than not, they focused their EAC reporting on events presided over by heads of state. They gave the EAC very little attention and regarded it as a subject that appeals only to a small elite – especially the business class. They also regarded themselves as national publications whose primary responsibility was to focus on national (and not regional) news. However, the few EAC stories published in the three papers largely depicted the EAC favorably – as an initiative that is full of promise and benefit. The study concluded that the Nation, New Vision and Mwananchi played an insignificant role in enhancing the EAC agenda during the period January 2010 – December 2012. This is despite that fact that the EAC Secretariat engaged them consistently in their programs and the fact that EAC issues carry with them not only all the values of news but also the eventualities that the public ought to be prepared to embrace. It begs the question as to whether East Africa‟s three largest newspapers are in the business of telling the public what they need to know or what they want to know. The study recommended a strategy shift for the EAC Secretariat with respect to their media engagement patterns and an editorial policy change for the three newspapers that is more responsive to the socio-political and economic changes of a United East Africa