A National Survey on the Professional Role Conceptions of Journalists in Kenya (original) (raw)
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The media landscape in Kenya enjoys a broad range of state-owned, private and (non-commercial) community media outlets. However, this pluralism is challenged not only by a high level of concentration and cross-media ownership but also issues of political ownership. These structures are reflected in a high level of political/societal activity and parallelism of media, and an ambivalent journalism culture which fluctuates between critical and concordant, clientelist reporting. Within this context, the journalistic profession is marked by varying standards of journalism education and declining systems of self-control and self-regulation. Furthermore, journalists have a poor public reputation as well as low levels of professional security facilitating bribery and various forms of self-censorship.
A national survey of demographics composition of Kenyan journalists
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This national survey conducted in 2012–2013 (N = 504) examines demographic characteristics of the Kenyan journalists. Findings indicate that the typical Kenyan journalist is male (66%), married (57%), and in his mid-30s (M = 34 years). He tends to have a Bachelor’s degree (46%) and has received college-level training in journalism or communication (91%). However, when it comes to majoring in journalism or communication, most of the journalists were trained at the level of associate degree (45%), followed by Bachelor’s degree (38.5%) and Master’s degree (13.6%). Thirty-three percent of the Kenyan journalists work in daily newspapers, with 73 percent of them employed on full-time basis. In ethnic grouping, about a quarter (24.9%) of Kenyan news people belong to the Kikuyu tribe, followed by Luhya tribe (20%). The results also indicate that the majority of the journalists are from the Rift Valley province (21.4%) – Kenya’s largest administrative unit – followed by Western (19.5%) and C...
Journal of Communication, 2017
The purpose of the study was to determine whether gaps exist in the Kenyan journalism training thatare now filled by other professionals. Materials and methods: The three study sites were local FM radio stations-Radio Citizen, Radio Jambo, and Radio Maisha. Using a 2014 Media Council of Kenya study of radio talk shows in Kenya as a background,the thesis placed more emphasis on the radio presenters and their content. The study applied Social Responsibility Theory which posits that media should be more responsible and accountable to the society. The study employed a descriptive survey using qualitative and quantitative approaches. In this study, four presenters, two key personnel from the Media Council of Kenya were interviewed. as well as a sample of their radio talk show content. Results: The media council of Kenya lacked the capacity to ensure that only trained radio broadcast journalists were hired by media houses. In addition, despite MCK having developed a curriculum for middle level journalism training institutions, its impact in standardising training had been negligible. Recommendations: The study recommended improvement of the journalism curriculum as well as embracing of the MCK curriculum by middle level colleges.
2017
Kenya boasts one of the vibrant media markets by the standards of East Africa. According to the Media Council of Kenya, there are about 3000 journalists operating in the country and who are registered with the statutory media regulating body. The number of journalists listed by the Media Council includes those who work for the media houses on a full time basis, correspondents, stringers or freelancers, and also students at the nation’s media schools. In order to appreciate the kind of journalist working in the Kenyan media it is helpful to first consider the Kenyan media landscape. There is almost an even spread of radio in the urban and in the rural, even if the urban may appear to have more stations. The majority of the media established in the city are the traditional ones: print, television, and radio. Most of these urban-based legacy media target the entire country and largely operate in either of the national languages of Kiswahili and English. The country has four national ne...
The International Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 2019
The performance of the mainstream media in Kenya is closely blamed on its relationship with the level of journalism training. It is believed that appropriate training provides Journalists with the knowledge and skills to write accurate, fair, balanced and impartial stories (Mbeke, 2010). In the 21 st Century, there has been a shift from traditional journalism to online journalism, bringing on board mixed news media which requires professional journalism across many media platforms. According to Haak, Parks and Castels (2012) in a technology-driven process of accelerated change, journalism is being transformed in the way it is produced, distributed and used. This therefore shows the need for better training of Journalists. Haak et.al. (2012) further argue that many journalists are of the view that journalism is facing a crisis because competition has increased, forcing media owners to overwork personnel in the news organizations to do more for less. This increase in workload, however, is not comparable to investment in staff training. The lack of innovation and poor working culture could be an indicator that training in new trends has been lacking. A number of researches have indicated that training institutions have failed to impart skills and knowledge to students that would be transferred to the industry upon graduation and employment (Wefwafwa, 2014; Gichobi 2015). Lando (2013) adds that the media in Kenya are increasingly criticized fortheirone-sided reporting, sleazy tabloid style of pornographic content and failure to control business interests of proprietors and advertisers. The critical question of this research was to examine what the training institutions and media houses in Kenya were doing to salvage the industry, gain the trust of the public and continue to mentor young, up and coming journalists. 1.1. Statement of the Problem A study done by Wefwafwa (2014) on training standards in Kenyan media colleges established that they lack common journalism training standards and as a result, the quality of journalists graduating from the colleges is wanting. Part of the reasons for this low journalism practice standards is inadequate training, inexperienced lecturers, ineffective regulation of the training institutions and inadequate funding (Ireri, 2017). Berger (2009) notes that complaints have been made by media players that most training institutions offer substandard courses, consequently, flooding the industry with "half-baked professionals". Due to this short fall, recruiters from news organizations are not always satisfied with the qualifications of recent graduates and that skills acquired by the college and university graduates often do not meet the expectation of employers (Blom& Davenport, 2012; Kaane 2014).
SSRG International Journal of Communication and Media Science, 2021
Influential discourses on news presentation across conventional newspapers consistently undervalue the final causality of insufficient journalistic professionalism in the embodiment of biased news on such platforms. This undervaluation manifests primarily in manifold media discourses in Kenya, where ongoing ampliative and existential statements on the concatenation of lower levels of journalistic professionalism, and biased news on newspapers, are either rudimentary or bland and vague. An iterative review of these discourses suggests that newspapers' news biases are products of external interference from market-forces and the most influential actors' egoism. This functionalist conceptual traction, which is deeply entrenched in the cognitions, affective, and evaluation of the kleptocratic class in the production of biased news in Kenya's press, intends to reproduce unhelpful topoi of looking at the dialectic consilience of such bias in its entirety. In the context of this straw position, there is a need to subsume this framework of thinking into that of a news reporter's unpropitious conduct in newsgathering and delivery. This paper is ergo pedestaled on interactionist dualism in demonstrating how a news reporter's deficient rectitude underpins a legacy of biased news in Kenya's press. It provides a perfect backdrop for a systematic and rigorous analysis by propounding, in a rationalist fashion, the exclusionary and inclusionary decisions that are derivable from a professional journalist ipso facto a print medium's news reporter. It makes an ineliminable link to the ideal observer theories of ethics in affording leverage points to reconcile journalistic unprofessionalism with pejorative news production. It adopts a qualitative systematic review research design in its underlying commitment to bring about such linkage to the fore by analyzing relevant secondary data. This analysis demonstrates inter-rater reliability through media experts' holistic views that many news reporters succumb to coercion in the form of goodies to produce biased news. There is Pyrrhonism that the trend will change, given the zeitgeist of this era that contributes to news reporters' lack of probity. It is proposed that individuals such as these experts are better placed to advocate for adopting a desirable and obligatory approach to news reporting in Kenya's press.
Exploring Journalism and Mass Communication Training in Kenya: A National Survey
Journalism & Mass Communication Educator
Conducted in 2012 to 2013, the current national survey of Kenyan journalists ( N = 504) examines major characteristics of journalism and mass communication training in Kenya. Findings show that training in journalism or mass communication is a prerequisite to practice as a journalist in Kenya. While 45% of journalists were trained at the level of associate degree, 91% said they need to get further training. Kenya Institute of Mass Communication is the most popular institution of journalism and mass communication. Moreover, 65% of respondents perceive the quality of journalism training as good—Though in contrast to this favorable evaluation, local colleges face a litany of serious problems.
Journal of New Media and Mass Communication, 2015
The theme of this paper is that the communal approach should be used in solving moral hitches in journalism. The individualism and divisionism that permeate the practice of journalism in Kenya today should be thrown away since they are not only unKenyan but also professionally unpleasant. The article asserts that Kenyan journalism should have an ingrained self-correcting mechanism that facilitates journalists counseling one another. It is submitted herein that world journalism, equally overwhelmed with divisionist and selfish styles to the practice of ethical journalism, could learn from Kenya the value of journalistic solidarity and common problem-solving. The paper ends with a recommendation that the world needs journalism with a human face.
While both Journalists and Public Relations practitioners play a distinct role in the Kenyan society like is the case elsewhere, their professional relationship seem to be marred by turbulent because of perceptions brought about by inbuilt hostility, mistrust and suspicion when they carry out their work even though at the face value, everything look normal. This is because the professionals have no option but tolerate each other and work towards achieving their organization's goals. This is a purposive survey carried out amongst Journalists in Kenya's Capital, Nairobi. It involved practicing journalists working in the mainstream media between November 2016 and April 2017. The research revealed that though all looked rosy in the eyes of the public, the two had strained relationship despite their make-believe symbiotic relationship.