Nairobi — With Kenyans set to go to the polls in just over two weeks, on Mar. 4, civil society has been closely monitoring the media's coverage of the political campaigns in this East African nation - and they have found them wanting.
According to some political activists, the Kenyan media have been magnifying political conflict and hate speech in their reporting in ways reminiscent the disputed 2007 presidential election that ended in riots and politically motivated ethnic disputes, leaving around 1,200 people dead and displacing 600,000.
"When a politician attacks another politician verbally, and it becomes headline news, there will be counter verbal attacks - just as was the case in the last general elections," Dinah Mukami, a human rights advocate and political activist consulting for local lobby group Bunge la Wananchi, told IPS.
Talking to IPS, Peter Otondo, a political analyst, agreed that that the media overall had been highly polarised during the 2007 general elections.
Prime Minister Raila Odinga accused the press of contributing to popular rhetoric that turned 41 out of the country's 42 ethnic groups against one, the Kikuyu, significantly fanning tensions and violence at the time.
In a case in point, radio broadcast journalist Joshua Sang is currently awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he's accused of crimes against humanity, for having used his broadcasts to spread hate speech, including calls to displace members of particular ethnic groups and incitement of violence.
This year it is the case once again. "You can tell based on the headlines - often provocative and in favour of certain politicians -that the airwaves are not impartial," Mukami said. "Neither are the political experts whose comments they seek."
Father Gabriel Dolan, a columnist with the Saturday Nation, and a prominent human rights activist here, told IPS that he takes issue with media houses that continued to publish columnists who are known to work for politicians.
"The public doesn't know that these so-called experts are consultants for politicians and tend to take their insights as gospel truth.
"If a writer is part of a campaign team, it is wrong for them to use the media to advance positions that favour the politicians they are beholden to," he said.
"Journalists are receiving stipends from politicians in order to cover them favourably and to malign their opponents," Oloo Janak, a media analyst and chairman of the Kenya Correspondents Association, told IPS.
Currently, there are over 20 TV stations and 120 radio stations in the country, Janak said. "Some of these media houses are owned by politicians, and others by businessmen beholden to certain politicians."
Some politicians went so far as to pay callers to promote their campaigns during call-in sessions on radio and TV, he said.
"Working in cahoots with unethical journalists, these callers are given a lot of airtime and they are often very extreme in their views," the media analyst added.
According to a Human Rights Watch report titled "High Stakes: Political Violence and the 2013 Elections in Kenya," in 2012 and early this year "inter-communal clashes in parts of Kenya have claimed more than 477 lives and displaced about 118,000 people. Many of these incidents have been linked to pre-election manoeuvring as local politicians mobilise support."
Meanwhile, a peace initiative called Tuvuke, Swahili for "Let's Cross Over", has been trying to educate the media on its role in the elections since 2012.
Hundreds of journalists, particularly in regions that experienced violence following the 2007 election, have since undergone training on how to remain objective and impartial throughout the electioneering period, Odhiambo Orlale, a media expert with Tuvuke, said.
But even the country's top politicians and contenders for the presidential post have been involved in hateful and bitter exchanges.
The emotive issues of land ownership and pending cases at the ICC have also been brought up.
The country's current vice-prime minister, and strong presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, is due to stand trial in the ICC for crimes against humanity and his contribution to the 2007/8 post-election violence - he is alleged to have funded retaliatory attacks. His running mate, William Ruto, also faces similar charges at the court.
Odinga, a front-runner in the race for the presidency, has used this to discredit his opponents and his emotive political campaigns have been widely covered by the media here.
"With the issue of land being such an emotive one in this country, these remarks can only flair tension," Mukami said.
According to a Human Rights Watch report titled "High Stakes: Political Violence and the 2013 Elections in Kenya," in 2012 and early this year "inter-communal clashes in parts of Kenya have claimed more than 477 lives and displaced about 118,000 people. Many of these incidents have been linked to pre-election manoeuvring as local politicians mobilise support."
Ibrahim Oruko, a parliamentary reporter with the local Star newspaper told IPS that objective reporting was necessary in a country where politicians mobilise along ethnic lines.
"We are facing a serious challenge for we still see ourselves as Luo's or Luhya's first, prejudices that we take to political rallies and they influence how we tell stories," he said.
"The main problem isn't in the stories we cover, but that we are so embedded in our ethnic and political prejudices. We cannot be part of the stories we tell and still claim to be impartial."
The Media Council of Kenya, the media regulatory body, which has released guidelines on election reporting, said that cases of biased media reporting have been filed with the council.
In an environment where journalists have come under fire for perceived exaggerated reporting and distortion of facts, the role of journalists in peace building is also under scrutiny.
"We can only keep that peace by remaining blind to ethnic prejudices, social class and political affiliations," Oruko said.
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YES IT IS UP TO AFRICANS TO SHOW A MUCH MORE INTENT DECISION MAING PROCESS TO BECOMMING MORE WIZE IN INTEGRITY EQUA;ITY FAIRNESS JUST WITH ALL KNETYN CITIZES BEING OPEN TO NON PARTIALITY. WE HAVE A BIGGER QUEST WHICH IS THE OVERALL DVELOPMENT OF ALL AFRICA AND ITS OVER 1 BILLION PEOPLE. WE MUST STOP SPEAKING IN TERMS OF DIVISIONS WHJEN WE REFER TO AFRICA WE MUST EQUALISE THE OUR DIFFERNCES BY INTEGRATTING ALL AFRICA AS OEN THE DIVISVE STATEMENTS FORM BROADCATSERS WITH THE NORTH THE SUB AND SO ON IS STILL PART AND PARCEL OF THE BRAINWASHING AND LIES WE WERE TAUGHT ABOUT AFRICA; THIS WAS DOMINATED BY THE FORCED BORDER RESTRICTIONS THE LONGEVITY OF THE DIVISIONS THAT SEPERATED AND MADE NOT ONL;Y OUR INDIVIDUAL NATIONS MORE DIVISIVE FI;;ED WITH ETHNIC TENSION SA STRATEGY USED FOR OPPRESSION AND DICTATORHIP. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT WE WERE UNDER DICTATORSHIP WHILST WE WERE BEING COLONISED THERE IS NO OTHER WORDS FOR THIS BEHAVIOUR""". 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IT HAS BECOME EASIER FOR US TO BE GREEDY UN CHARITABLE TAKING SHORTCUTS DEVISING EVIL AGAINST OUR VERY HUMNAITY; THERE IS NO WAR IN THE HEAVENS THERE IS SATAN AND DISGRACED ENITYT WHO WISHES THAT HE COULD STILL BE IN THE GOOD BOOKS OF" OUR LORD"; SATAN KNOWS THAT HIS DAYS ARE NUMBERED!!!. WE ARE THE KEYS TO THIS PUZZLE WHEN CHRIST WAS HERE HE SPOKE OF BRINGING FORWARD THE REDEMPTION OF ISRAEL . HE WAS NTO SPEAKING OF THE ZIONIST WHO RESIDE IN THE CITY OF IRUSALEM WHICH WAS THE CROWNING GLORY FO DAVID AND SOLOMANBLACK AFRICANS AS WE KNOW OURSELVES TODAY. WHATVEEVER WE BELIVE WHAT WE MUST KNOW TO BE TRUE IS THAT OUR HEARTS TELL US A DIFFERNT TALE THAN OPUR ACTIONS.. IN VERY BLACK MAN THERE BEATS A HEART THAT IS VERY EMOTIVE AND PRONE TO DO GOOD!!! WE HAVE LEARNED TO DO BAD WE HAVE BEEN FORCED TO CARBON COPIES AND DUPLICATES OF OUR FORMER ENWSLAVERS!!!.. WE USED THESE MODUS OPARANDI TO SURVIVE IT WAS OUT OF NECSSITY THAT WE FOLLOWED WITH SUCG DOCILE AND COMPLACENT MEHDOLOGIES. TODAY WE DO NOT WE MSUT ABSOLOUTELY DISPELL OF THESE MENTALTIIES WE MUST REVOGNISE THAT WE DO LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND THERE IS ENOUGH WEALTH FOR US AND THE WHOEL WORLD SHOULD WE SEE THE GLORY OG OGD AND HIS PROMISE TO US HIS CHILDREN"""". WE MUST REFRAIN FROM BEING WEAK WE MUST STAND UNITED AGAINST WEAKNESSES WE MUST LERAN TO TRUST AND BELEIVE IN THE GREAT THINGS THAT HAS BEEN PROVIDED FOR US ,THAT IS NO WHERE ELSE ON THIS PLANET. "WHAT WE HAVE IS TRULY MIRACULOUS! "ALL THE CTREATION OF OUR LORD" IS DISPLAYED IN ITS GLORY"OUR ONE MASTER AND LORD".. WE OWE NO GRATITUDE TO ANY FORM OF MAN IN ANY GUISE THIS WAS THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR FORE PARENTS ;'THEY WORSHIPED NOT MAN?/ THEY WORSHIPED THIS GREAT ENTITTY THAT WAS "INDIVISIBLE UNDIVIDED AND PURE' ALL POWERFUL!!!!! 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I MUST SAY THAT IN ASNTIQUITY MUCH LONGER THAN WE ARE LED TO BELIEVED TO UNDERSTAND!!! THE PEOPLE USED RERENEWABLE ENERGY AND WERE ABLE TO KEEP OUR PLANET IN PRISINE CONDITIOSN FOR US TO SURVIVE.. THERE WAS SOME THAT USED THESE VERY PRODUCTS OIL GAS NUCLEAR TO GAIN POWER AND THEY DESTROYED THEMSELVES!!!!!! " MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THIS SUN!!!!!!!!!!. "OUR LORD " IS WIZE MERCIFULL HE HAS SEEN IT ALL AND KNOWS IT ALL, SO WE MUST BE WIZE IN OUR UNDERTAKINGS LIVE IS AT STAKE!!!!!!!PEACE AND LOVE FOR THE ELECTIONS MAY THE LORD' GUIDE AND PROTECT AND EN MPOWER YOU IN WIZENESS!!!!!