Journalism
VS Patriotism
in Highly Competitive Poll
In covering the polls, journalists had to weigh journalistic ethics against their responsibility to the country. JOE KADHI reports on the numerous conflict- sensitive reporting and challenges of peace journalism that emerged.
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othing tested the adherence by editors to the ethical principles and the Media Council of Kenya’s Guidelines for Election Coverage more than the manner in which the print media covered the presidential election results this year. The outcome of the March 4 event took a week to cover beginning from the polling day until March 9 when it was quite clear the Uhuru team was headed for victory. Compared with the manner in which the 2007 presidential election results were covered by the print media, this time editors made deliberate attempts to be more professional and less sensational. In 2007, there were a number of screaming headlines that drew severe criticism from the Kriegler and the Waki reports. A day after the polling day for example, The Standard of Friday, December 28 had a headline reading "Tight Race as Giants Fight for survival". While the whole headline was on white on black tone to emphasise its importance, the word Fight was on yellow on black tone to highlight the significance of hostility surrounding the process. When the results were delayed the Sunday Nation of December 30 had a one word screaming headline reading "STANDOFF". Needless to say the headline was so provocative and alarming it led to the criticism by Waki and Kriegler. The story below 10
The Media
OBSERVER
talked of chaos and angry protests. A day before, when the country was still waiting for the results The Daily Metro was even more angry with screaming headline crying "WHY? WHY? WHY?" The paper played with the people's emotions and raised their temper when it asked: "Why were polling centers still not open until 9am? Will ECK ever get polling stations to open on time at 6.00 a.m.?" It further heightened the anger by asking: "Why would ballot papers for one constituency end up hundreds of kilometers away? Or disappear? How, after months of preparation don't we have names of hundreds of people, including Raila Odinga on the register?" The coverage of presidential
In 2007, there were a number of screaming headlines that drew severe criticism from the Kriegler and the Waki reports.
election results in 2013 was extremely different from that of 2007. This time, editors made deliberate efforts to avoid controversies that would lead to any form of instability caused by confrontational disagreements between contesting parties. A number of papers went out of their way to remind the people of the importance of peace. The deliberate attempt to avoid a repeat of the 2007 bloodbath was conspicuously noticeable. It was a thoughtful departure from dramatic reporting that concentrates on sensational events of conflict and disagreements characterised by the PEV of 2008. Long before the 2007 elections, however, the Media Council had elaborate guidelines to journalists about how to cover the events. Among other things the guidelines advised the media not to run or broadcast stories, commentaries and/or graphics that promoted or seemed to promote individual parties or candidates on the eve of elections. Needless to say not much was done to abide with this directive and the consequences are still fresh in many professionals' minds. In an effort to avoid the repeat of the 2007 blunders, editors must have looked at the political division with a clear determination of doing everything possible to avoid plunging the country into another bloodbath. Realising Kenya was hopelessly torn along tribal lines and therefore potentially facing a conflict situation they consciously evoked the