Images of Corruption as Framed by Kenya’s Two Main Dailies 2003-2008

Abstract

Kenya suffers a negative image with regard to its commitment in the fight against corruption. The change in political leadership in Kenya in 2003 on an anti-corruption platform provided the context for this study. This study set out to establish the images of corruption as framed by Kenya’s two main dailies from 2003 to 2008. The researcher carried out a content analysis of the newspapers over the six-year period and found that corruption issues were largely unfavourably framed. It also established the presence of politics, public services, police, socio-economic, legal, regional/ethnic and civil society frames among others. The results suggest that the media is not giving corruption issues adequate attention. This is seen in the relatively few editorials and front page appearances and that most of the corruption stories were placed in the inside pages of the newspapers. Further, the private sector was framed unfavourably, while police, Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, and legal sector were favourably framed. However, editorials were largely unfavourable in respect of nearly all the frames. Another key result of this study was that the media view on the framing of regional/ethnic corruption was unfavourable.