NEWSPAPER AUDIENCES’ GAINS FROM READING NEWS ABOUT PARLIAMENT IN KENYA
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Jan 13, 2023
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Gate-keeping in journalism is of vital importance in the media environment today. In Kenya, the role of media in the safeguarding of transparency of democratic processes in modern-day politics and society cannot be underestimated. However, in building linkages between the people and their representatives, the gains for audience have remained clouded. This Study sought to analyze the newspaper audiences‟ gains from reading news on Parliament’s activities. The Study was anchored on Habermasian Theory of the Public Sphere as well as the Herman and Chomsky’s ‘Manufacturing Consent – A Propaganda Model’. Constructivist research philosophy adopted a mixed method design in which triangulation of tools was used. This study was conducted within Nairobi County, Kenya. The two main newspapers which were chosen were The Nation and The Standard. The results showed that overall public perception on Parliamentary reporting by print media had a negative score which in quantitative percentages would translate to 37% positive, 11% negative and 52% undecided respondents. The study concluded that Kenyans are not just passive consumers of parliamentary news. Instead, they question - and even react to – news that are likely to have great impact on their lives. The study thus recommended that vernacular newspapers be set up to specifically report on Parliament, so as to enable more people, especially those not conversant with either English or Kiswahili, to understand what happens in Parliament.
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Beale, S. (2016), 9 Factors that Help Define News Values for Journalists. Agility PR Solutions
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Binderkrantz, A., Christiansen, P & Pedersen, H. (2014), Interest Group Access to the Bureaucracy, Parliament and the Media. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions.
Bruns, A. & Highfield, T. (2016) Ishabermas on twitter? Social media and the public sphere. In Enli, G, Bruns, A, Larsson, A O, Skogerbo, E, & Christensen, C (Eds.) The Routledge companion to social media and politics. Routledge, United States of America, pp. 56-73.
Bruns, A., Enli, G., Skogerbo, E., Larsson, A. O., & Christensen, C. (Eds.). (2015). Theroutledge companion to social media and politics. Routledge.
Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (1988). Manufacturing consent: A propaganda model, excerpt from the book manufacturing consent. International Affairs, 61(4), 529-543.
Christians, C. G., Glasser, T., McQuail, D., Nordenstreng, K., & White, R. A. (2010). Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. University of Illinois Press.
Constitution of Kenya (2010)
Cresswell, J.W., Hanson, W.E., Clarke, V.E. & Morales, A. (2007). Qualitative Research Designs: Selection and Implementation, The Counseling Psychologist 2007; 35; 236, Sage Publications
Daily Nation (17 February 2011). Love-hate relationship between Kenyan media, MPs plays out.https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/love-hate-relationship-between-kenyan-media-mps-plays-out--757094.
Edekin, J. (2008). Whataresome-typesofresearchinstruments. https://www.quora.com/
Elahi, M. (2013). “They are Not Different from Others” Ethical Practices and Corruption in Bangladeshi Journalism, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol.28, Issue 3.
Eggington, B. (2011).Tips for Reporters Covering Parliament for the First Time: Media Helping Media.IJNet, a Training Information Site.
Flinders, M. (2002). Shifting the Balance? Parliament, the Executive and the British Constitution, Political Studies: 2002 VOL 50, 23–42, University of Sheffield.
Foley, B. (2018). Why You Should Consider Secondary Data Analysis for Your Next Study. https://www.surveygizmo.com/resources/blog/secondary-data-analysis/
Franfort-Nachmias, C. &Nachmias, D. (2000). Research methods in the social science. 6th Ed. United States of America: Worth Publishers.
Fuchs, C. (2016). Critical theory of communication: New readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the age of the internet (p. 230). University of Westminster Press.
Fraussen, B., Graham, T., &Halpin, D. R. (2018). Assessing the prominence of interest groups in parliament: a supervised machine learning approach. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 24(4), 450-474.
Global Parliamentary Report (2012), The Changing Nature of Parliamentary Representation, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Printed in Denmark
Griffin, E. (2014). A first look at communication theory. http://www.afirstlook.com/edition_7/theory_list
Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015): A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Gumbo, W.A. (2017), The Role of the Media in Fostering Diplomacy in Africa; A Case Study of Kenyan Media, an unpublished MA Thesis at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations, University of Nairobi.
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Habermas, J. (1992). Further reflections on the public sphere. Habermas and the Public Sphere, 428.
Habermas, J. (2010). The public sphere: an encyclopedia article (1964). The idea of the public sphere: A reader, 114-120.
Habermas, J., &Habermas, J. (1991). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. MIT press.
Habermas, J., Lennox, S., & Lennox, F. (1974). The public sphere: An encyclopedia article (1964). New German Critique, (3), 49-55.
Honebein, P.C. (1996). Seven goals for the design of constructivist learning environments. Educational Technology Publications, New Jersey, Engelwood Cliffs.
Ireri, K. (2012). Newspaper Visibility of Members of Parliament in Kenya. Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.Journalism and Mass Communication, ISSN 2160-6579 July 2012, Vol. 2, No. 7, 717-734
Keener, M. (2012). Positive media: An introductory exploration. University of PennsylvaniaScholarly Commons.
Kemmis, S. (1993). Foucault, habermas and evaluation. Curriculum studies, 1(1), 35-54.
Khamisi, J. (2011). The politics of betrayal: Diary of a kenya legislator (2011). Ottawa: Trafford Publishing.
Kikechi, B. (2018): Origin, ownership, editors, content and style as The Standard becomes the largest in the region. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001304624/origin-ownership-editors-content-and-style-as-the-standard-becomes-largest-in-region.
Kim, Y.S. (2018): The importance of literature review in research writing. https://owlcation.com/humanities/literature_review.
Kulkarni, P. (2013).What is triangulation of data in qualitative research? Foundation for research in community health. Researchgate.
Lavrakas, P. J. (2008). Encyclopaedia of survey research methods. Sage Publishing.
Levy, J.S. (2008). Conflict Management and Peace Science , Spring 2008, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 1-18 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26275102
Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory (Vol. 1). Sage Publication.
Littlejohn, S.W. (2002).Theories of human communication,7th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Mangal, F.J. (2020), Role of Media in Policy Making: Special reference to Afghanistan. The International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention, vol. 7, Issue 03, March,2020
Mbeke, P. (2010). Mass media in Kenya: Systems and practice, Nairobi. Kenya: TheJomo Kenyatta Foundation.
McFaul, M. (2005). “Transitions from Post-communism” Journal of Democracy 16 (July 2005): 11-12.
Media as a Government Watchdog: Introduction (last updated 2020), St. Francis University Library, https://libguides.francis.edu/communications
McQuail, D. (1987).Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, 2nd Ed..Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications.
McQuail, D. (1997). Audience analysis. London: Sage Publications.
McQuail, D. and Windahl (1981). Communication Models for the study of mass communication. London: Longman.
McQuail. D. (2000). Mass communication theory. (4thed.) London: Sage.
Mehler, Andreas (2007). Africa yearbook volume 3: Politics, economy and society south of the sahara in 2006. Boston:Leiden.
Mertens, D. M., & Hesse-Biber, S. (2012). Triangulation and mixed methods research: Provocative positions. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. 75-79.
Nation Media Group (February 20, 2020). https://www.nationmedia.com/who-we-are/history/
New Zealand History Online (2012). Reporting and broadcasting – Parliament’s people. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/history-of parliament/reporting-and-broadcasting
Norris, P. (2004). Global political communication. Comparing political communication: Theories, cases and challenges, 115-50.
Nyutho, E. N. (2015). Evaluation of kenyan film industry: historical perspective. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi.
Obala, R. (2018). Speaker muturi summons journalists over graft claims at parliament. The
Standard. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001290215/speaker-muturi-summons-journalists-over-graft-claims-at-parliament#
Ochieng‟, P.O (2013). Covering Kenya's Parliament: Assessing the Capacity of Parliamentary Journalists in Legislative Reporting. Unpublished MA Thesis.
Ogola, G. (2017).How African Governments Use Advertising as a Weapon against Media freedom.https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001237400/how-african-governments-use-advertising-as-a-weapon-against-media-freedom
Okong‟o, A. J. (2016). Influence of live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings on the knowledge, attitude and perception amongst members of civil society organizations in Nairobi. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi.
Palinkas, L.A, Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom. J.P, Duan, N. &Hoagwood, K. (2013). Purposeful Sampling for Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed Method Implementation Research, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
Rogers, E.M & Kincaid, D.L (1981). Communication networks: towards a new paradigm for research. The Free Press, Macmillan, Inc.
Rosales, L.A. P. (2004).The relationship between media and parliament in the promotion of ethics. A paper presented to the House of Representatives, Philippines.
Rutherford, P. (n.d.). Endless propaganda: The advertising of public goods. Toronto: University of Toronto
Severin, W. J., & Tankard, J. W. (2014). Communication theories: origins, methods, and uses in the mass media. Harlow, Essex: Pearson.
Shoemaker, P.J. &Vos, T.P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory, Journalists as Gatekeepers, The Handbook of Journalism, Syracuse University Press.
SiteResources (2016). The Relationship between Parliament and the Media. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/PSGLP/Resources/mediaunit2.pdf.
The Electoral Knowledge Network (3rd Edition, 2012) Media and Elections, Ace Publications, http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/me/introduction/me10/me10d
Tresch, A. (2009). Assessing the Prominence of Interest Groups in Parliament (p. 70) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13572334.2018.1540117.
Tresch, A. (2009). Politicians in the media: Determinants of legislators' presence and prominence in Swiss newspapers. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 14(1), 67-90.
Tutheridge, G. (2017). What is the Role of Gatekeeping Journalists in Today’s Media Environment?
Vliegenthart, R & Montes N. (2014), How Political and Media System Characteristics Moderate Interactions between Newspapers and Parliaments: Economic Crisis Attention in Spain and the Netherlands, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Sage Perspectives.
Walgrave, S. Soroka, S. &Nuytemans, M. (2000). The Mass Media’s Agenda Setting Power, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Wandera, S. &Mugubi, J. (2014). Public perception of parliament broadcasting in kenya: towards altering mutual attitude and augmenting knowledge. International Journal of Art and Art History 2, (1).
Webster, F. (2014): Theories of the information society. Oxon: Routledge.
Wicks, R.H (2001): Understanding audiences: Learning to use media constructively. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Williamson, A. (2009). MPs online: Connecting with constituents: A study into how mps use digital media to communicate with their constituents. Hansard Society.
Wolfsfeld, G. (2004). Media and the Path to Peace, Institute for Palestine Studies https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/41543
Agora (2010). Portal for parliamentary development. https://agora-parl.org/resources/aoe/parliament-and-media-relations.
Baran, S., & Davis, D. (2011). Mass communication theory: Foundations, ferment, and future.
Belmomt CA: Nelson Education.
Beale, S. (2016), 9 Factors that Help Define News Values for Journalists. Agility PR Solutions
Bhandari, P. (2020), Research Methods, https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/quantitative-research/#:~:text=Quantitative%20research%20is%20the%20process,generalize%20results%20t o%20wider%20populations.
Bhat, A. (2019). Qualitative research: Definition, types, methods, and examples. Question Pro. 10(21).
Binderkrantz, A., Christiansen, P & Pedersen, H. (2014), Interest Group Access to the Bureaucracy, Parliament and the Media. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions.
Bruns, A. & Highfield, T. (2016) Ishabermas on twitter? Social media and the public sphere. In Enli, G, Bruns, A, Larsson, A O, Skogerbo, E, & Christensen, C (Eds.) The Routledge companion to social media and politics. Routledge, United States of America, pp. 56-73.
Bruns, A., Enli, G., Skogerbo, E., Larsson, A. O., & Christensen, C. (Eds.). (2015). Theroutledge companion to social media and politics. Routledge.
Chomsky, N., & Herman, E. S. (1988). Manufacturing consent: A propaganda model, excerpt from the book manufacturing consent. International Affairs, 61(4), 529-543.
Christians, C. G., Glasser, T., McQuail, D., Nordenstreng, K., & White, R. A. (2010). Normative theories of the media: Journalism in democratic societies. University of Illinois Press.
Constitution of Kenya (2010)
Cresswell, J.W., Hanson, W.E., Clarke, V.E. & Morales, A. (2007). Qualitative Research Designs: Selection and Implementation, The Counseling Psychologist 2007; 35; 236, Sage Publications
Daily Nation (17 February 2011). Love-hate relationship between Kenyan media, MPs plays out.https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/love-hate-relationship-between-kenyan-media-mps-plays-out--757094.
Edekin, J. (2008). Whataresome-typesofresearchinstruments. https://www.quora.com/
Elahi, M. (2013). “They are Not Different from Others” Ethical Practices and Corruption in Bangladeshi Journalism, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol.28, Issue 3.
Eggington, B. (2011).Tips for Reporters Covering Parliament for the First Time: Media Helping Media.IJNet, a Training Information Site.
Flinders, M. (2002). Shifting the Balance? Parliament, the Executive and the British Constitution, Political Studies: 2002 VOL 50, 23–42, University of Sheffield.
Foley, B. (2018). Why You Should Consider Secondary Data Analysis for Your Next Study. https://www.surveygizmo.com/resources/blog/secondary-data-analysis/
Franfort-Nachmias, C. &Nachmias, D. (2000). Research methods in the social science. 6th Ed. United States of America: Worth Publishers.
Fuchs, C. (2016). Critical theory of communication: New readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the age of the internet (p. 230). University of Westminster Press.
Fraussen, B., Graham, T., &Halpin, D. R. (2018). Assessing the prominence of interest groups in parliament: a supervised machine learning approach. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 24(4), 450-474.
Global Parliamentary Report (2012), The Changing Nature of Parliamentary Representation, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Printed in Denmark
Griffin, E. (2014). A first look at communication theory. http://www.afirstlook.com/edition_7/theory_list
Griffin, E., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015): A first look at communication theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Gumbo, W.A. (2017), The Role of the Media in Fostering Diplomacy in Africa; A Case Study of Kenyan Media, an unpublished MA Thesis at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations, University of Nairobi.
Habermas, J. (1991): The public sphere. In Mukerji, C. &Schudson, M. (Ed.): Rethinking popular culture: Contemporary perspectives in cultural studies. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Habermas, J. (1992). Further reflections on the public sphere. Habermas and the Public Sphere, 428.
Habermas, J. (2010). The public sphere: an encyclopedia article (1964). The idea of the public sphere: A reader, 114-120.
Habermas, J., &Habermas, J. (1991). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. MIT press.
Habermas, J., Lennox, S., & Lennox, F. (1974). The public sphere: An encyclopedia article (1964). New German Critique, (3), 49-55.
Honebein, P.C. (1996). Seven goals for the design of constructivist learning environments. Educational Technology Publications, New Jersey, Engelwood Cliffs.
Ireri, K. (2012). Newspaper Visibility of Members of Parliament in Kenya. Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.Journalism and Mass Communication, ISSN 2160-6579 July 2012, Vol. 2, No. 7, 717-734
Keener, M. (2012). Positive media: An introductory exploration. University of PennsylvaniaScholarly Commons.
Kemmis, S. (1993). Foucault, habermas and evaluation. Curriculum studies, 1(1), 35-54.
Khamisi, J. (2011). The politics of betrayal: Diary of a kenya legislator (2011). Ottawa: Trafford Publishing.
Kikechi, B. (2018): Origin, ownership, editors, content and style as The Standard becomes the largest in the region. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001304624/origin-ownership-editors-content-and-style-as-the-standard-becomes-largest-in-region.
Kim, Y.S. (2018): The importance of literature review in research writing. https://owlcation.com/humanities/literature_review.
Kulkarni, P. (2013).What is triangulation of data in qualitative research? Foundation for research in community health. Researchgate.
Lavrakas, P. J. (2008). Encyclopaedia of survey research methods. Sage Publishing.
Levy, J.S. (2008). Conflict Management and Peace Science , Spring 2008, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 1-18 Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26275102
Littlejohn, S. W., & Foss, K. A. (2009). Encyclopedia of communication theory (Vol. 1). Sage Publication.
Littlejohn, S.W. (2002).Theories of human communication,7th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
Mangal, F.J. (2020), Role of Media in Policy Making: Special reference to Afghanistan. The International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Invention, vol. 7, Issue 03, March,2020
Mbeke, P. (2010). Mass media in Kenya: Systems and practice, Nairobi. Kenya: TheJomo Kenyatta Foundation.
McFaul, M. (2005). “Transitions from Post-communism” Journal of Democracy 16 (July 2005): 11-12.
Media as a Government Watchdog: Introduction (last updated 2020), St. Francis University Library, https://libguides.francis.edu/communications
McQuail, D. (1987).Mass Communication Theory: An Introduction, 2nd Ed..Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications.
McQuail, D. (1997). Audience analysis. London: Sage Publications.
McQuail, D. and Windahl (1981). Communication Models for the study of mass communication. London: Longman.
McQuail. D. (2000). Mass communication theory. (4thed.) London: Sage.
Mehler, Andreas (2007). Africa yearbook volume 3: Politics, economy and society south of the sahara in 2006. Boston:Leiden.
Mertens, D. M., & Hesse-Biber, S. (2012). Triangulation and mixed methods research: Provocative positions. Journal of Mixed Methods Research. 75-79.
Nation Media Group (February 20, 2020). https://www.nationmedia.com/who-we-are/history/
New Zealand History Online (2012). Reporting and broadcasting – Parliament’s people. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/politics/history-of parliament/reporting-and-broadcasting
Norris, P. (2004). Global political communication. Comparing political communication: Theories, cases and challenges, 115-50.
Nyutho, E. N. (2015). Evaluation of kenyan film industry: historical perspective. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi.
Obala, R. (2018). Speaker muturi summons journalists over graft claims at parliament. The
Standard. https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001290215/speaker-muturi-summons-journalists-over-graft-claims-at-parliament#
Ochieng‟, P.O (2013). Covering Kenya's Parliament: Assessing the Capacity of Parliamentary Journalists in Legislative Reporting. Unpublished MA Thesis.
Ogola, G. (2017).How African Governments Use Advertising as a Weapon against Media freedom.https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/article/2001237400/how-african-governments-use-advertising-as-a-weapon-against-media-freedom
Okong‟o, A. J. (2016). Influence of live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings on the knowledge, attitude and perception amongst members of civil society organizations in Nairobi. Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi.
Palinkas, L.A, Horwitz, S.M., Green, C.A., Wisdom. J.P, Duan, N. &Hoagwood, K. (2013). Purposeful Sampling for Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis in Mixed Method Implementation Research, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y
Rogers, E.M & Kincaid, D.L (1981). Communication networks: towards a new paradigm for research. The Free Press, Macmillan, Inc.
Rosales, L.A. P. (2004).The relationship between media and parliament in the promotion of ethics. A paper presented to the House of Representatives, Philippines.
Rutherford, P. (n.d.). Endless propaganda: The advertising of public goods. Toronto: University of Toronto
Severin, W. J., & Tankard, J. W. (2014). Communication theories: origins, methods, and uses in the mass media. Harlow, Essex: Pearson.
Shoemaker, P.J. &Vos, T.P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory, Journalists as Gatekeepers, The Handbook of Journalism, Syracuse University Press.
SiteResources (2016). The Relationship between Parliament and the Media. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/PSGLP/Resources/mediaunit2.pdf.
The Electoral Knowledge Network (3rd Edition, 2012) Media and Elections, Ace Publications, http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/me/introduction/me10/me10d
Tresch, A. (2009). Assessing the Prominence of Interest Groups in Parliament (p. 70) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13572334.2018.1540117.
Tresch, A. (2009). Politicians in the media: Determinants of legislators' presence and prominence in Swiss newspapers. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 14(1), 67-90.
Tutheridge, G. (2017). What is the Role of Gatekeeping Journalists in Today’s Media Environment?
Vliegenthart, R & Montes N. (2014), How Political and Media System Characteristics Moderate Interactions between Newspapers and Parliaments: Economic Crisis Attention in Spain and the Netherlands, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Sage Perspectives.
Walgrave, S. Soroka, S. &Nuytemans, M. (2000). The Mass Media’s Agenda Setting Power, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Wandera, S. &Mugubi, J. (2014). Public perception of parliament broadcasting in kenya: towards altering mutual attitude and augmenting knowledge. International Journal of Art and Art History 2, (1).
Webster, F. (2014): Theories of the information society. Oxon: Routledge.
Wicks, R.H (2001): Understanding audiences: Learning to use media constructively. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Williamson, A. (2009). MPs online: Connecting with constituents: A study into how mps use digital media to communicate with their constituents. Hansard Society.
Wolfsfeld, G. (2004). Media and the Path to Peace, Institute for Palestine Studies https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/41543