Ethnic Polarization in Kenya: Media Framing in Political Interviews Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

Abstract

Ethnic polarization is a common and growing issue in Kenya due to heightened political contentions surrounding general elections held every five years. A popular media genre employed in political communication is the ‘political interview' that involves the journalist (as the interviewer) and the politician (as the interviewee). Often, several politicians representing opposing factions are engaged.  This article investigates the frames used by the media in ethnic polarization in Kenya. News framing analysis is used to find out these frames. The political news interview is a specialized genre that is used to disseminate political information. Among the key findings is that the media practitioners are guided by the competitive nature of the industry. For them to be profitable they have to pull a huge audience to their programmes because for them the audience is a product for sale to the advertiser.  This leads them to select contentious topics as well as controversial figures who will defend, with firm stances, the parties they represent. The interviews are also broadcast over a long time as compared to normal news programming. The result of this kind of framing is a polarized audience.