British media coverage of the post-election violence in Kenya, 2007-08

Abstract

The post-election violence in Kenya in December 2007 through to April 2008 was reported extensively but erratically in the British media. While BBC News Online, the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent gave regular coverage with online updates on their websites, other mass circulation media like Sky, the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail were|more sparing in their coverage. But a common factor to all was a tendency to rely on simple, all-encompassing descriptive and analytical language to frame the reporting of the conflict focusing on tribal and ethnic issues to the virtual exclusion of broader and|deeper analyses of factors involved. This paper examines the coverage and compares and contrasts that coverage with some of the more thoughtful and in-depth analyses produced by experienced journalists and academics. The paper looks, too, at the journalistic processes and habits that may have led to this concentration on, in particular, the tribal and ethnic explanations of the violence. The...