Print Media Coverage of the Kenya Defence Forces' Operation 'Linda Nchi'
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PRINT MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE KENYA DEFENCE FORCES’ OPERATION ‘LINDA NCHI’ IN SOMALIA: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF NATION AND THE STANDARD NEWSPAPERS BY OBWOGI, CLIFF OOGA K50/79605/2012 A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE IN MASTER OF ARTS IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI 2015 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this is my original work and that it has not been presented at any other University for award of degree therefore, no part of this document should be reproduced or copied without the permission from the author or the university. NAME: OBWOGI, CLIFF OOGA K50/79605/2012 ………………………………………………... ………………………………………………. SIGNATURE DATE: APPROVAL This research project has been submitted for examination with my approval as the supervisor. ………………………………………………... ………………………………………………. SIGNATURE DATE: SUPERVISOR: DR. SAMUEL SIRINGI ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation to the Almighty God for enabling me to complete this project. I sincerely thank Dr. Samuel Siringi, my supervisor, for ably guiding me through the entire process. Dr Siringi showed concern and devoted his valuable time correcting my project to ensure its completion. I also thank the Kenya Army for offering me the chance to study and specifically Lieutenant Colonel Kelius Mwadime, Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Juma and Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy Kilel for facilitating my studies, and Major Robert Gekara and Major David Ojwang for their expert advice and encouragement. I am grateful too to the Defence Staff College (DSC), Defence Forces School of Higher Learning (DEFSHE) and International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) – Karen libraries‘ staff for their support towards accessing study and research materials. Finally, my appreciation goes to my colleague Amos Kibet of the 2011/12 class at School of Journalism and mass communication for his advice throughout the period of study. May God richly bless you all. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this project to my beloved wife, Mary, daughter, Amy, and my extended family for their entire support during my studies. iv ABSTRACT War coverage has since time immemorial been a challenge due to its complexity. From previous wars, reporting has been a challenge in the sense that the media rely a lot on news given out by the combat forces. In the Kenyan case, the Kenya Defence Force was engaging in a maiden international war. Similarly, the Kenyan media were engaging in the first international war coverage. The principal objective of this study was to determine the manner and extent to which print media covered the Kenya Defence Forces incursion on Somalia, otherwise dubbed Operation ‗Linda Nchi‘. The study will also seek to establish who or what the sources of news were during the operation. The study also sought to find out techniques used by the media and also to find out if the media made the audience believe in the conduct of Operation ‗Linda Nchi‘ in Somalia. The following theories were used: the theory of agenda setting, gatekeeping theory and the propaganda theory. Content analysis research methodology was used. The study was confined to a content analysis of two leading newspapers in Kenya, the Daily Nation and The Standard. The key findings of this study were that the media relied a lot on news from Government agencies instead of residents and eyewitnesses accounts of the combat in Somalia. The study recommends the need for media houses to train and deploy independent journalists for the sole purpose of gathering news independent of the official Government sources. This is so because, if they rely on Government agencies for news, then it will be in the whims of these agencies to release any news and to have reporting done the way they (agencies) want it done. It was also found that most news were done and reported from Kenya. Very little reporting was done from Somalia which raised the issues of credibility of the news presented to the public. The media were embedded in the troops and so opted to remain in the tactical centres rather than venturing out in the live combat areas. The study thus recommends the need to get facts from the ground of the operation. Further, the study recommends that much needs to be done in terms of training and equipping journalists to beef up war reporting in Kenya bearing in mind that the Kenyan media was exercising a maiden responsibility since the Kenyan troops had never gone to war with another nation before. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................... III DEDICATION............................................................................................................................. IV ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. V TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... VI LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................... X DEFINITION OF TERMS......................................................................................................... XI CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 1.0 OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 STUDY BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 World View on Media and War Coverage ............................................................................................ 1 1.1.2 The Angola Civil War Coverage .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1.3 Operation ‗Linda Nchi‘ ............................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT ............................................................................................................... 2 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................................. 3 1.3.1 General Objective ......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Specific Objectives ....................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................... 3 1.5 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY ........................................................................................................ 4 1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY .................................................................................................... 4 1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS ........................................................................................................... 4 1.8 JUSTIFICATION FOR SELECTION OF NEWSPAPERS ....................................................................... 5 1.9 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 7 2.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................... 7 2.1 MILITARY AND MEDIA ............................................................................................................... 7 vi 2.1.1 Los Angeles Times Poll on News sources ........................................................................................... 10 2.2 MEDIA AND PROPAGANDA ....................................................................................................... 12 2.3 MILITARY AND GATE KEEPING ................................................................................................ 12 2.4 MEDIA AND AGENDA SETTING ................................................................................................. 14 2.4.1 The Vietnam War coverage...................................................................................................................... 14 2.4.2 How Photos ended the Vietnam War .................................................................................................... 15 2.4.3 The Iraq War Coverage ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.4.4 The Kenyan Media Coverage of War ................................................................................................... 19 2.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................... 21 2.5.1 Propaganda Theory ....................................................................................................................................