Effects of Media Reportage on Terrorist Activities in Mandera County, Kenya

Abstract

Presently terrorists are having a ‘good-day' in the media because of the unnecessary publicity given to them. Most terrorists often play on the psychology of media practitioners by carefully planning attacks that would compel the press to cover and disseminate them globally. The media has on a number of occasions been seen to act as an accomplice to the successes of these acts of terror. This has been witnessed more so during the processes of reporting and covering these acts of terror whenever they take place. Their reportage intentionally or unintentionally gives so much publicity to the terrorist groups, a mileage they really crave to achieve.  The objective of this study was to examine the effects of media reportage on terrorism in Mandera County. It was established that most of the media broadcasts relating to terrorism journalism were war or violence oriented and to a greater extent, media content opposed efforts aimed at fighting terrorism. The resultant effects included radicalization and youth recruitment into Al-Shabaab, poor infrastructural development, and increased hatred for Security Agencies. The study was motivated by the need to inform the drafting of new policies and guidelines and the re-drafting of existing policies regarding to the broadcast of terrorism activities.