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Papers by Sylvia Mutua, Ph.D.

Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa

This article provides an overview of online safety in Kenya by outlining key threats and the inte... more This article provides an overview of online safety in Kenya by outlining key threats and the interventions that have been implemented to combat these threats. Using the social responsibility theory, this article further explores internet users' perceptions of online social responsibility in cyberspace. Results of the study indicate that the internet media environment which is characterized by interactivity significantly moderates the internet users' perception of their online social responsibility. However, despite the court suspensions of some of the laws, the existing online content regulations still have a significant influence on online safety. Consequently, the article advocates the need to associate the concept of human dignity with the responsibilities that each person must take for his or her online actions. This implies that one’s online dignity would entail one owning up to their online conduct in the quest for safe, respectful, inclusive, and harmonious cyberspace...

Journal of African Media Studies, 2020

This article identifies the key but common challenges in the regulation of online content in Keny... more This article identifies the key but common challenges in the regulation of online content in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa (EA), both in terms of the regulatory challenges and the controversies surrounding government legislative responses to curbing illegal and harmful online content. To address these challenges, the article proposes the incorporation of digital literacy into the existing cyber legislations through content regulation and digital literacy, a new concept geared towards empowering the internet users in EA to be not only aware of the existing content legislation but also develop critical thinking skills and abilities to take action on illegal and harmful online content on a daily basis.

European Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Education, 2020

The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic that purpoted to originate in the city of Wuhan draws a lot... more The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic that purpoted to originate in the city of Wuhan draws a lot of questions on the extent of crisis health communication concerning the international media. At the inception stage, in January 2020, it was reported that about ten major cities in China had been affected by this virus at that time labelled as 2019 nCov. By March 10, 2020, the disease had spread to Europe, the UK, Middle-East, and Africa, with more than 114,344 confirmed cases reported globally. In this situation, various scholars have often criticized the media for framing, misinformation, or exaggeration in the news information. In contrast, others have hailed the media for playing an educative and informative role to the public. Utilizing content analysis, framing and consecutive day sampling, this study focused on examining the media coverage of the initial two months of the COVID-19 Pandemic by four international news media organizations namely; BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera and the People's Daily. The article contributes to the discourse of mass media practice, and application of various research paradigm in deconstructing media framing during critical periods.

Journal of Cyber Policy, 2021

The digital explosion experienced in Africa has rendered old media laws and ethics inapplicable i... more The digital explosion experienced in Africa has rendered old media laws and ethics inapplicable in dealing with cases of abuse and misuse on social media platforms. As a result, authorities in most...

Multidisciplinary Journal of Technical University of Mombasa

This article provides an overview of online safety in Kenya by outlining key threats and the inte... more This article provides an overview of online safety in Kenya by outlining key threats and the interventions that have been implemented to combat these threats. Using the social responsibility theory, this article further explores internet users' perceptions of online social responsibility in cyberspace. Results of the study indicate that the internet media environment which is characterized by interactivity significantly moderates the internet users' perception of their online social responsibility. However, despite the court suspensions of some of the laws, the existing online content regulations still have a significant influence on online safety. Consequently, the article advocates the need to associate the concept of human dignity with the responsibilities that each person must take for his or her online actions. This implies that one’s online dignity would entail one owning up to their online conduct in the quest for safe, respectful, inclusive, and harmonious cyberspace...

Journal of African Media Studies, 2020

This article identifies the key but common challenges in the regulation of online content in Keny... more This article identifies the key but common challenges in the regulation of online content in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa (EA), both in terms of the regulatory challenges and the controversies surrounding government legislative responses to curbing illegal and harmful online content. To address these challenges, the article proposes the incorporation of digital literacy into the existing cyber legislations through content regulation and digital literacy, a new concept geared towards empowering the internet users in EA to be not only aware of the existing content legislation but also develop critical thinking skills and abilities to take action on illegal and harmful online content on a daily basis.

European Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Education, 2020

The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic that purpoted to originate in the city of Wuhan draws a lot... more The outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic that purpoted to originate in the city of Wuhan draws a lot of questions on the extent of crisis health communication concerning the international media. At the inception stage, in January 2020, it was reported that about ten major cities in China had been affected by this virus at that time labelled as 2019 nCov. By March 10, 2020, the disease had spread to Europe, the UK, Middle-East, and Africa, with more than 114,344 confirmed cases reported globally. In this situation, various scholars have often criticized the media for framing, misinformation, or exaggeration in the news information. In contrast, others have hailed the media for playing an educative and informative role to the public. Utilizing content analysis, framing and consecutive day sampling, this study focused on examining the media coverage of the initial two months of the COVID-19 Pandemic by four international news media organizations namely; BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera and the People's Daily. The article contributes to the discourse of mass media practice, and application of various research paradigm in deconstructing media framing during critical periods.

Journal of Cyber Policy, 2021

The digital explosion experienced in Africa has rendered old media laws and ethics inapplicable i... more The digital explosion experienced in Africa has rendered old media laws and ethics inapplicable in dealing with cases of abuse and misuse on social media platforms. As a result, authorities in most...