Nyatete, Elias Mokua (2010) Local News in Global Frames: Media Construction of the Kenya Post-Election Violence. PhD thesis, University of Melbourne.
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Abstract
The study examines the impact of globalization on the reporting of political conflict in developing countries using Kenya as a case study. The globalization of news media in developing countries, particularly in Africa, has seen an increase of new actors in the public sphere. Internet accessibility continues to draw many people into the global public sphere. Radio, which is the leading source of news for most people in developing countries such as Kenya, has proliferated not just in major cities but also in the villages. Furthermore, newspapers, despite visible decline trends in circulation due to the challenges emanating from online news outlets, continue to be significant in the construction of political communication, especially during political conflict. In addition, television, though not accessible to most people in developing countries, increasingly broadcasts in “real time” because of the satellite technology that is now available across the continent. In addition, the increasing interdependence between developed and developing countries in news flow due to advanced news media technology appears to substantially transform newsroom routines and practices. For this reason, the reporting of political conflict is typified by non-journalists accessing and framing news stories in the public sphere. This complementary reporting – also a rival to mainstream journalism – is based on the justification of claims (and counterclaims) to local and global audiences. The outcome of these competing journalisms is the ‘priming’ of news stories by mainstream media, especially during political conflict as demonstrated in this research. The study employed a textual and cross-platform discourse analysis of Kenya’s two leading newspapers and mediated television clips sampled from five stations, local and global. The interpretive framework for this work is derived from Habermas’ Communicative Action. The principle finding indicates that local news media seem to adopt global news frames to justify local news reporting. In addition, the findings show that Kenya news media gave bad press to the warring factions during the 2007/08 political violence following a disputed presidential election result. This is because of the pressures of the 24/7 news delivery, market competition, increased interconnectedness between developing and developing countries and an increased local journalistic determination to promote human rights and values in countries such as Kenya.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BD Speculative Philosophy |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | JHI Africa |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Feb 2015 13:00 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Feb 2018 09:52 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/167 |
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