Kenyan Media Discourse : The Discursive Construction and Interpretation of Kenyan Newspaper Reports on the 2007 Election Campaigns

The Kenyan mass media is rated as one of the most trusted institutions by pollsters. Despite their popular rating and communicative importance, Kenyan mainstream newspaper reports have not been adequately studied to reveal their discursive construction and interpretation by the public. This book, therefore, offers valuable critical insights about the Kenyan print media's reportage. It identifies and describes the linguistic features used in reporting the run-up to the 2007 general election; highlights the readers' interpretations of the news reports and reveals the socio-political implications of the reports on the public. The book applies the theory Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in the analysis of sampled newspaper texts and respondents' data. The findings sheds some light on the compulsive need for a comprehensive legal framework to regulate the language and content of news reporting especially during the electioneering period. The analyses enlightens the newsreaders on the need to peel back the underlying ideological slant of the mainstream media houses.