Rethnic stereotyping in the Kenyan online standard and nation Newspapers

Abstract

The role of media in enhancing peaceful co-existence among communities is widely accepted; however, in Kenya, media has been blamed for propagating ethnic conflict during crises moments by assigning blame to some ethnic groups and innocence to others. The objectives of this study are threefold. First, the study sought to identify discursive strategies used by reporters to assign blame and innocence. Second, the study aimed to explain how the strategies identified are used to assign blame and innocence. Finally, to explain the implications of blame and innocence on the relationships among ethnic groups in Kenya. The study employed a qualitative approach and a descriptive research design. To achieve the set objectives, 40 editorials from the online version of the Daily Nation and The Standard newspapers published between the years 2013 and 2015 were purposively sampled (20 from each daily). The Standard and Daily Nation newspapers were selected because of their high readership numbers. The study period was selected because it was a period when the two terrorist attacks happened in Kenya. Editorials that responded to the Westgate and Mpeketoni attacks and related ethnic affairs from the two newspapers were downloaded, and data was collected using content analysis. Discursive strategies were identified and grouped according to their role in the assignment of blame and that of innocence. Using principles from Critical Discourse Analysis, the study analyzed the identified discursive strategies. The analysis of these strategies was done using Fairclough's three-step method, which is identification, explanation, and interpretation. The findings show that through lexical choices, naming, and over- lexicalization, reporters categorically apportion blame to ethnic groups. Using passive voice and lexical choices, they apportion innocence to other groups. Further, using lexical choices, reporters categorically assign innocence, and using passivization, they non-categorically assign innocence. The tendency to categorically assign blame to one ethnic group and innocence to another suggests that reporters emphasize differences among ethnic groups. The findings imply that if the tone of discussion in online newspaper media platforms is not regulated, it could lead to situations that may ignite and escalate ethnic conflicts. The results of this study will benefit media houses, both print and electronic, as they will help improve the quality of discussions and debates on their platforms. This study recommends that further research should be done on other different types of hate speech bordering on religion, race, and gender.