Research report on Kenyan media coverage of the 2022 election

This report examines Kenyan news media coverage of the 2022 elections, focusing on four key publications, nine television stations, 11 radio stations, and three digital media channels. The report explores the attention Kenyan print media, television, digital media, and radio stations paid to election-related news and issues from 1 May 2022—to 8 August 2022 and the nature of their coverage.

Comparisons are made across the four months of monitoring. The publications studied are; Daily Nation, owned by NMG, The Standard, owned by Standard Group, The Star, owned by Radio Africa Group; and Taifa Leo, a Swahili publication, owned by NMG.

The television stations studied are national TV stations; Citizen TV, K24, KBC Channel 1, KTN Home, KTN NEWS, and NTV, which broadcast predominantly in English with segments in Swahili. Also monitored are local language TV stations Inooro TV Kass TV and Ramogi TV, which broadcast in Gikuyu, Dholuo, and Kalenjin languages, respectively, and reaching a more regional audience segment. The digital media channels reviewed were; Tuko.co.ke, Kenyan-Post, and Kenyan.co.ke.

The report relies mainly on quantitative content analysis to explore the volume of coverage of election-related news and issues by these selected media houses, the reporting formats employed, the topics covered, and the tone of coverage. The analysis also covers the voices in the coverage, including the occupation and gender of sources.

The report further pays particular attention to the coverage of the four presidential candidates, focusing on who appeared on the front pages of the newspapers, the volume of coverage on each of them, how much space or airtime was dedicated to each candidate across the three media platforms monitored, and the tone of coverage of the contenders. Finally, conclu- sions and recommendations are shared.

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