Human rights and peace building media reporting in the Kenyan Kerio Valley conflict: local radio perspectives.

Abstract

The Kerio Valley, situated in the North Rift region of Kenya, has experienced sporadic inter-ethnic conflict documented since the pre 1870s, driven by fight for land resources and cattle rustling among the Pokot, Marakwet, Tugen, and Turkana communities (Chelal 1969). Although efforts to resolve the conflict have been made by the government, non-governmental organisations and religious institutions, it continues unabated, resulting in killings and displacements of many people. The resultant humanitarian issues necessitate resolute efforts at various levels for conflict prevention and resolution. The mass media, including radio, can play an important role in this regard if they communicate news and feature stories through the Peace Journalism framework (Joseph, 2014; Maweu 2019). Although radio is a major source of information in Kenya, there is inadequate research on it, especially with respect to human rights and peacebuilding reporting (Okinda 2017). Even more scarce are studies focusing on local-language radio reporting of this conflict, which create knowledge, practical and theoretical gaps in this critical area of journalism practice. Through a qualitative design, this study addressed these gaps in media reporting of both human rights and peacebuilding by analysing 53 news and feature stories from two selected radio stations, Kass FM and Alpha Radio. The media texts were complemented with in-depth interviews with four selected journalists from the two stations. The objectives of the study were to: identify what narratives and discourses the selected news and feature stories use in reporting the Kenyan Kerio Valley conflict; examine the factors that influence the selection of discourses on human rights and peacebuilding reporting in the Kenyan Kerio Valley conflict; provide suggestions on how human rights and peacebuilding reporting can be framed within the peace journalism framework in Kenya and similar contexts using local language radio stations. Theoretically, the study was guided by Peace Journalism, Representation theory and the slow violence concept. Data were analysed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, which examines how language is used to enact power and ideology in specific contexts such as the newsroom. Findings show that journalists are aware of human rights issues and peace journalism practices, but are not consistent in their use, hence the presence of derogatory, dehumanising and hate speech-promoting narratives in the selected media reports. Peace journalism reporting was hindered due to external factors that negatively impacted the safety and security of journalists. The study argues that representing the slow violence effects of the conflict works towards peace journalism principles and practice. However, while there was some evidence that the wider contextual and temporal effects were reported, it was secondary to sensationalism. Despite the practice-led limitations noted, this study explains the reason for why peace journalism remains an appropriate guide in conflict reporting. The study concludes that peace journalism is feasible in the Kerio Valley conflict and ought to be consistently applied in media reports to promote human rights, peace, and to represent its slow violence effects. Thus, this study contributed to the extant literature in radio reporting of human rights and peacebuilding in the sporadic inter-ethnic conflict in Kerio Valley.